Isabella Bruschi

A cura di I. Bruschi 
 
 Six short stories having the world of the supernatural as their main theme.
 Disquieting and mysterious presences, suspense, the atavic fear of the unknown are the characteristic ingredients of these stories.
 They were written in a pre-freudian time where the irrational was still unknown and therefore enigmatic and threatening. Taken from top-level authors – E. A. Poe, J. K. Jerome, E. G. Swain, E. F. Benson, M. R. James, J. G. Lang – they are accompanied by inserts on supernatural entities and on cultural and historical aspects related to the contents of the tales. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Transcripts - Summing-up Activities
 
 Sei racconti che hanno come tematica il mondo del soprannaturale.
 Presenze inquietanti e misteriose e la paura atavica dell’ignoto sono gli ingredienti di queste storie in cui, in un’epoca pre-freudiana, l’irrazionale risulta completamente sconosciuto e minaccioso.
 Tratte da autori di grande livello – E. A. Poe, J. K. Jerome, E. G. Swain, E. F. Benson, M. R. James, J. G. Lang – sono corredate dalle biografie degli autori, da schede sulle "short stories" e "ghost stories" e su aspetti storico-culturali collegati ai contenuti dei racconti.

Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe

Ligeia

Extension: A film director who loved Poe

Montague Rhodes James

The Rose Garden

Extension: What’s in a rose

Jerome Klapka Jerome

A Ghost Story

Extension: Supernatural company

John George Lang

The Ghost upon the Rail

Extension: Transportation to Australia

Edmund Gill Swain

Bone to his Bone

Extension: Ghosts, spirits or human imagination?

Edward Frederick Benson

The Confession of Charles Linkworth

Extension: The death penalty in the U.K.

Summing-up activities

  Ligeia BEFORE READING 1 The title of this story is the name of a woman. What do you think her role in the narration is? Choose from the alternatives given below. c c c the protagonist the narrator the antagonist 2 Look at the pictures and try to guess which one represents Ligeia. 3 Read the following words pronounced by Ligeia and try to guess the circumstance in which they are said. Choose from the alternatives given below.  O God, O Divine Father! Shall Death, the conqueror, be not once conquered? Are we not part of You, who knows the mysteries of the Will, with its vigour? Man does not yield himself to the angels, nor to death completely, except only through the weakness of his feeble Will.  c c c c she is praying in a church she is reading aloud from a book she is dying she is at her husband s death-bed 10 

I Edgar Ligeia Allan Poe m I cannot remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first u met the Lady Ligeia. Long years have passed since then and my memory is feeble through much suffering. Or, perhaps, I cannot now remember these points, because, in truth, the character of my beloved pervaded my heart so stealthily1, that they have been unnoticed and unknown. Yet I believe that I met her first and most frequently in some large, old, decaying city near the Rhine2. Of her family I have surely heard her speak; I have no doubt it was an ancient family. Ligeia! Ligeia! Buried in my studies and isolated from the world, it is by that sweet word alone   by Ligeia   that I bring before my eyes the image of her who is no more. And now, while I write, I realize that I have never known the paternal name of her who was my friend and my betrothed3, and who became the partner of my studies, and finally my wife. I haven t discovered yet the reason why I never asked her family name: was it a playful trick played by my Ligeia? Or was it a caprice of my romantic character given to the most passionate devotion? I recall the fact itself indistinctly, so how could I remember the circumstances which originated it? There is one dear topic, however, on which my memory doesn t fail. It is the person of Ligeia. In stature she was tall, q somewhat slender, and, in her last days, even emaciated. I would in vain attempt to describe the majesty of her behaviour, or the incomprehensible lightness and elasticity of her footfall4. She came and departed as a shadow. I was never made aware5 of her entrance into my closed study, except by the dear music of her low sweet voice, when she placed her marble hand upon m 1. stealthily: furtivamente. 2. Rhine: Reno. 3. betrothed: promessa sposa. 4. footfall: passo. 5. aware: consapevole. 11 

Sei racconti gotici con atmosfere inquietanti e figure misteriose da autori come E. A. Poe, J. K. Jerome, E. G. Swain, E. F. Benson, M. R. James e J.

Tales of The Supernatural - Collana Rainbows

Level B2 • Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

Tales of The Supernatural

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