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

John George Lang is considered to be Australia s first native-born writer. Australian fiction during the late XIX and early XX century reflects the country s development as a colony. Unlike America, whose early immigrants left the mother country in search of freedom for their beliefs and full of high ideals, the first white settlement in Australia was a prison camp (Port Jackson, 1788). So, as well as other themes common to colonisation, the treatment and life of convicts is important in Australian fiction. Moreover, migrants, both those who had been unwillingly transported as prisoners and ordinary people full of hope for a new start, had to face hardship and cruelty. Living in a new colony involved getting used to an entirely different way of life in a foreign landscape with its unknown dangers, ancient ghosts and mysteries. The stories written at that time gave facts about the new country, perhaps in an attempt to document them. In fact, from the beginning, writers were concerned to establish the veracity of their tales as faithful representations of real life. John Lang s The Ghost upon the Rail (published in 1859 and one of the earliest Australian attempts at the genre of the ghost story) is based on the true story of Australia s most famous apparition, Fisher s ghost. The story inspired a number of writers and exists in a variety of versions including articles, a verse narrative, a film and a play. The facts are that Frederick Fisher, a ticket-of-leave convict3 and farmer, disappeared on June 16, 1826, after visiting a neighbour, George Worrall. Months later a man called John Farley reported seeing Fisher s ghost sitting upon the rail of a bridge and pointing to the creek4 below, where the body was subsequently found. Worrall was hanged for Fisher s murder on February 5, 1827. Since that time the creek has been known as Fisher s Ghost Creek. Lang elaborates on these basic facts to create a credible story which includes a plausible motive, several witnesses to the ghost, a secret accomplice and a final confession of guilt. At the same time he aims at journalistic realism adopting a detached narrative style and a realistic psychological description of the murderer s manipulation of his victim. 3. ticket-of-leave convict: detenuto in libertà vigilata. 4. creek: ruscello, torrente. 70 

  The Ghost upon the Rail BEFORE READING 1 Look at the map of Australia and find the following places mentioned in the story. New South Wales - Sydney - Parramatta - Penrith PENRITH PARRAMATTA 2 What do you know about Australia? Tick the correct alternative. a. What is its capital? c Sydney c Canberra c Adelaide c Melbourne b. The first English settlements in Australia go back to c the last century c the first half of the XVIII century c the XIX century c the second half of the XVIII century 3 c. When the first Europeans landed in Australia they found. c no fresh water c native people c a desert land c native people and unknown animals d. What do we call the original inhabitants of Australia? c Blacks c Aborigines c Maoris c Natives Can you write down the names of three typical Australian animals? ........................................................................................................................................................... 71 

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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