title: The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories
author:  Michael Cox 
description: &quot;In 1944 the critic Edmund Wilson expressed surprise that the ghost story was still alive and well in the age of the electric light. But why should he have been surprised? Ghost stories, as a literary genre ... have always maintained an adaptable relationship with the contemporary world.&quot; These 33 stories (17 by female authors) include the delicious ambiguities of Robert Aickman and Walter de la Mare; the family/relationship horrors of Ellen Glasgow, May Sinclair, Fay Weldon, and A. S. Byatt; a wicked tale with a twist ending by Graham Greene; Fritz Leiber's brilliant, postindustrial &quot;Smoke Ghost&quot;; and others that range from the poignant to the humorous to the terrifying. As Peter Cannon writes in <i>Necrofile</i> (the premiere journal of horror criticism), &quot;Readers can expect both quality and good taste.... For those of us who prefer the old-fashioned literary virtues, <i>The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Ghost Stories</i> is the goods.&quot;
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  A Thin Ghost and Others
  
  
    
  
  
    
  [PREFACE  
  
  
    
  [THE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER  
  
  
    
  [THE DIARY OF MR. POYNTER  
  
  
    
  [AN EPISODE OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY  
  
  
    
  [THE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE  
  
  
    
  [TWO DOCTORS
  
  
  
  
  
  This page formatted 2007 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  # A Thin Ghost and Others
  
  
  ### M. R. James
  
  
  This page formatted 2007 Blackmask Online.
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  
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  [PREFACE
  
  
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  [THE RESIDENCE AT WHITMINSTER
  
  
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  [THE DIARY OF MR. POYNTER
  
  
  ####
  
  [AN EPISODE OF CATHEDRAL HISTORY
  
  
  ####
  
  [THE STORY OF A DISAPPEARANCE AND AN APPEARANCE
  
  
  ####
  
  [TWO DOCTORS
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  E-text prepared by Diane Monico and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
  (http://www.pgdp.net/c/)
  
  
  A THIN GHOST AND OTHERS
  
  by
  
  MONTAGUE RHODES JAMES, LITT.D.
  
  Provost Of Eton College Author of “Ghost Stories of an Antiquary,” “More Ghost
  Stories,” etc.
  
  Third Impression
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  New York Longmans, Green &Co. London: Edward Arnold 1920 (All 