Robert Aickman: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|British writer and conservationist (1914–1981)}} |
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{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}} |
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{{Infobox writer |
{{Infobox writer |
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|birth_name |
| birth_name = Robert Fordyce Aickman |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1914|6|27}} |
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| birth_place |
| birth_place = [[London]], England |
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| death_date |
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1981|2|26|1914|6|27}} |
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| death_place |
| death_place = London, England |
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| occupation = Writer, conservationist |
| occupation = Writer, conservationist |
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| nationality = British |
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| education = |
| education = |
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| alma_mater = |
| alma_mater = [[Highgate School]] |
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| period = |
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| genre = |
| genre = [[Horror fiction|Horror]], [[Supernatural fiction|Supernatural]] |
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| subject = |
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| movement = |
| movement = |
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| notableworks = ''Cold Hand in Mine''<br/> ''Sub Rosa''<br/>"Ringing the Changes"<br />''[[The Late Breakfasters]]'' |
| notableworks = ''Cold Hand in Mine''<br/> ''Sub Rosa''<br/>"Ringing the Changes"<br />''[[The Late Breakfasters]]'' |
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| spouse = |
| spouse = Edith Ray Gregorson |
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| partner = |
| partner = |
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| children = |
| children = |
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| relatives = [[Richard Marsh (author)|Richard Marsh]] (grandfather) |
| relatives = [[Richard Marsh (author)|Richard Marsh]] (grandfather) |
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| awards = World Fantasy Award |
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| influences = [[E. T. A. Hoffman]], [[Thomas Mann]], [[Oliver Onions]], [[Walter de la Mare]] |
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| influenced = [[Clive Barker]], [[Peter Straub]], [[Gene Wolfe]], [[Ramsey Campbell]] |
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'''Robert Fordyce Aickman''' (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English [[conservation movement|conservationist]] |
'''Robert Fordyce Aickman''' (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and [[conservation movement|conservationist]]. As a conservationist, he co-founded the [[Inland Waterways Association]], a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's [[Canals of Great Britain|inland canal system]]. As a writer, he is best known for his [[supernatural fiction]], which he described as "strange stories". |
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The writer of his obituary in ''The Times'', as quoted by [[Mike Ashley (writer)|Mike Ashley]], said: "... his most outstanding and lasting achievement was as a writer of what he himself like to call 'strange tales.' He brought to these his immense knowledge of the occult, psychological insights and a richness of background and characterisation which rank his stories with those of [[M. R. James]] and [[Walter de la Mare]]."<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13">[[Mike Ashley (writer)|Ashley, Mike]]. "In Memoriam: Robert Fordyce Aickman", ''Fantasy Newsletter'' (June 1981), p. 13.</ref> Ashley himself wrote: "Aickman's writings are an acquired taste like fine wines. I have no doubt that his work will always remain unknown to the majority of readers, and perhaps he would have wanted it that way. He wrote what and how he wanted, for expression, not for popularity. In another of his letters to me he said 'I have received a good deal of esteem, but never a big commercial success, and am usually wondering whether anything by me will ever be published again.' ... It is astonishing that someone of Aickman's stature should have difficulty in selling his work. Perhaps now, too late for Aickman's benefit, someone will have the sense to publish it."<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13" /> This situation has since been remedied by an extensive programme of reprints of Aickman's work by [[Tartarus Press]], [[Faber and Faber|Faber]], and [[New York Review Books Classics]]. |
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''Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography'' (2022), by [[R. B. Russell]], is the first full-length biography of Aickman. |
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==Life== |
==Life== |
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Aickman was born in |
Aickman was born in London, England, the son of architect<ref>Reginald, Robert, ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature'', vol. 2, Detroit: Gale, 1979, p. 791.</ref> William Arthur Aickman and Mabel Violet Marsh. He attended [[Highgate School]] from January 1928 until July 1931.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last= Hughes|editor1-first=Patrick|editor2-last=Davies|editor2-first=Ian F.|title=Highgate School Register 1833–1964|page=265|edition=6th}}</ref> Mike Ashley reported that at the time he compiled his ''Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction'', Aickman objected to the inclusion of his date of birth. Instead he said that the entry should read "Aickman, Robert. Man of Mystery". "That", he said, "would be helpful. I should approve entirely."<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13" /> On his mother's side, Aickman was the grandson of the prolific Victorian novelist [[Richard Marsh (author)|Richard Marsh]] (1857–1915), known for his occult thriller ''[[The Beetle (novel)|The Beetle]]'' (1897), a book as popular in its time as [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula]]''.<ref>Crawford, Gary William. ''Robert Aickman: An Introduction'', Gothic Press, 2003, p. 3.</ref> |
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He was involved in an investigation into the well-known haunting of [[Borley Rectory]]. Another indication of his lifelong interest in the supernatural is his longstanding membership of [[The Ghost Club]]. He remarked in a letter to Mike Ashley, "What impact such things have had on me, and the sources of my inspiration, are simply too much for a letter. If you wish to pursue such topics, I shall be pleased to have a talk." Unfortunately that talk never took place, but Ashley points out that Aickman's early life, including some supernatural episodes, will be found detailed in his autobiography, ''The Attempted Rescue'' (Gollancz, 1966).<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13" /> |
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He originally received his training in [[architecture]], the profession of his father. In the opening lines of his autobiographical work ''The Attempted Rescue'' (1966), Aickman described his father as "the oddest man I have ever known".<ref>Aickman, Robert. ''The Attempted Rescue'', Tartarus Press 2001, p.3</ref> |
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He originally helped with some clerical work in his father's architectural office.<ref>[[R. B. Russell]]. ''Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography''. Tartarus Press 2022, pp. 31–32</ref> In the opening lines of ''The Attempted Rescue'', Aickman described his father as "the oddest man I have ever known".<ref>Aickman, Robert. ''The Attempted Rescue'', Tartarus Press 2001, p.3</ref> |
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Aickman was married to literary agent and children's book author Edith Ray Gregorson (1914–1983) (known as 'Ray') from 1941 to 1957. She authored ''Lemuel'' and ''Timothy tramcar.'' |
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Of Aickman's character, [[Elizabeth Jane Howard]] said in a 2011 interview at the Tartarus Press blog, that he "hated children" and of his childhood that "He told me about his childhood but I think he exaggerated that. I went to the house in Stanmore where he was brought up, and his mother did go and leave him, and that probably had a much worse effect than he realised on him. He was reading by the time he was four and he went to very good schools. Highgate was a very good school. I think it probably was a fairly lonely childhood. … He could be very prickly and difficult, or he could be very charming. He certainly had the gift of the gab." |
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With a keen interest in the theatre, ballet, and music, Aickman also served as a chairman of the London Opera Society and was active in the [[London Opera Club]], the [[Ballet Minerva]], and the [[Mikron Theatre Company]] in London. |
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Aickman was married to literary agent and children's book author Edith Ray Gregorson (1914–1983) (known as 'Ray') from 1941 to 1957. She authored ''Lemuel'' (illustrated by [[Peter Scott]], husband of Elizabeth Jane Howard, with whom Aickman had an affair) and ''Timothy Tramcar''. |
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Aickman was diagnosed with cancer in the winter of 1979. He refused to have conventional treatment and consulted a homeopath. He had planned to go to the Strates in the autumn of 19080, to recive a fantasy award, but he was too ill to travel, despite rallying in the summer. He died in the Royal Homeopathic Hospital [[Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine]] on 26 February 1981. His obituary appeared in ''[[The Times]]'' on 28 February. Later, there was a memorial concert at the [[Royal Society of Arts]], at which various well-known people, including the naturalist [[Sir Peter Scott]], paid tribute to him. <ref>"Jean Richardson. "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, ''Cold Hand in Mine'', London: Faber, 2014. </ref> |
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He had been responsible for the general direction of the very successful [[Market Harborough]] Festival of Boats and Yachts, attended by more than 50,000 visitors. This was topped in 1962 when he directed the Waterborne concert with fireworks at the City of London Festival, with an audience of 100,000.<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13"/> |
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==Conservation== |
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With a keen interest in the theatre, ballet, and music, Aickman also served as a chairman of the London Opera Society (1954–69) and was active in the [[London Opera Club]], the [[Ballet Minerva]], and the [[Mikron Theatre Company]] (a company which performs via touring the canal waterways of Britain). |
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Aickman is probably best remembered for his co-founding of the [[Inland Waterways Association]], a group devoted to restoring and preserving England's then-neglected and largely derelict [[Canals of Great Britain|inland canal system]]. |
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In the mid-1970s, Aickman lived in a flat in Willoughby House on the [[Barbican Estate]]. In 1977 he moved to a flat in Gledhow Gardens, [[Earl's Court]], where he lived until his death.<ref>Richardson, Jean, "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, ''Cold Hand in Mine'', London: Faber, 2014, pp. 346–47.</ref> |
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Aickman was diagnosed with cancer in the winter of 1979. He refused to have conventional treatment and consulted a homoeopath. He had planned to go to the US in the autumn of 1980, to receive a fantasy award, but he was too ill to travel, despite rallying in the summer. He died in the [[Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine|Royal London Homeopathic Hospital]] on 26 February 1981. His obituary appeared in ''[[The Times]]'' on 28 February. Later, there was a memorial concert at the [[Royal Society of Arts]], at which various well-known people, including the naturalist [[Sir Peter Scott]], paid tribute to him.<ref>"Jean Richardson. "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, ''Cold Hand in Mine'', London: Faber, 2014.</ref> |
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In 2015 [[R. B. Russell]] and [[Rosalie Parker]] of Tartarus Press released a feature-length documentary on the life and work of Robert Aickman, which was premiered at the World Fantasy Convention. It includes interviews with friends of Robert Aickman, and the authors [[Reggie Oliver (writer)|Reggie Oliver]] and [[Jeremy Dyson]]. It can now be seen on YouTube. |
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==Conservation== |
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[[File:Robert Aickman 1914-1981 author and co-founder of The Inland Waterways Association lived and worked here.jpg|thumb|Plaque at 11 [[Gower Street, London]]]] |
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Aickman is probably best remembered for his co-founding of the [[Inland Waterways Association]], a group devoted to restoring and preserving England's then-neglected and largely derelict [[Canals of Great Britain|inland canal system]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Canals Campaigner Honoured in Central London|url=https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/press_releases/canals_campaigner_honoured_central_london|access-date=19 October 2016|archive-date=20 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020043619/https://www.waterways.org.uk/news_campaigns/press_releases/canals_campaigner_honoured_central_london|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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The association was sparked off by a letter sent by Aickman to [[L. T. C. Rolt]] following the publication in 1944 of Rolt's highly successful book ''[[Narrow Boat (book)|Narrow Boat]]'', describing the declining and largely unknown world of the British canals. The inaugural meeting took place on 15 February 1946 in London, with Aickman as chairman and Rolt as honorary secretary. |
The association was sparked off by a letter sent by Aickman to [[L. T. C. Rolt]] following the publication in 1944 of Rolt's highly successful book ''[[Narrow Boat (book)|Narrow Boat]]'', describing the declining and largely unknown world of the British canals. The inaugural meeting took place on 15 February 1946 in London, with Aickman as chairman and Rolt as honorary secretary. |
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The IWA |
The IWA organised successful campaigns and attracted notable supporters, including as president the writer and parliamentarian Sir [[A. P. Herbert]] and as vice-president the naturalist [[Peter Scott]]. Scott's wife, [[Elizabeth Jane Howard]], was part-time secretary, working in Aickman's flat in [[Gower Street (London)|Gower Street]]; she had an affair with Aickman, which she describes in her autobiography ''Slipstream'' (Macmillan, 2002). |
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Aickman began to have policy disagreements with Rolt. Aickman wanted to campaign to keep all of the waterways open,<ref> |
Aickman began to have policy disagreements with Rolt. Aickman wanted to campaign to keep all of the waterways open,<ref> |
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A motion passed by the council in November 1950 reads "this council confirms that the policy of the Association is to advocate the restoration to good order and maintenance in good order of every navigable waterway by both commercial and pleasure traffic." |
A motion passed by the council in November 1950 reads "this council confirms that the policy of the Association is to advocate the restoration to good order and maintenance in good order of every navigable waterway by both commercial and pleasure traffic." |
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{{cite book|author=Ian Mackersey|title=Tom Rolt and the Cressy Years|page=87|publisher=London: M&M Baldwin|year=1984}} |
{{cite book|author=Ian Mackersey|title=Tom Rolt and the Cressy Years|page=87|publisher=London: M&M Baldwin|year=1984}} |
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</ref> whereas Rolt had sympathies with the traditional canal workers and believed it necessary to |
</ref> whereas Rolt had sympathies with the traditional canal workers and believed it necessary to prioritise which canals could be kept open. The disagreement became public: Aickman had organised the IWA's first boat rally and festival in August 1950 and attempted to prevent Rolt from attending and promoting his book ''The Inland Waterways of England''; nevertheless, Rolt attended, as did his publisher, [[Allen & Unwin|Philip Unwin]]. Aickman engineered a change to the rules to require all members to conform to agreed IWA principles, and in early 1951 Rolt and others were excluded from membership.<ref name=bolton>{{cite book|author=David Bolton|title=Race against Time|publisher=Methuen|year=1990|pages=89–91}}</ref> Aickman published two nonfiction books on the waterways in 1955. |
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Nevertheless, the IWA has been one of the most successful conservation |
Nevertheless, the IWA has been one of the most successful conservation organisations in British history, succeeding in restoring and reopening much of the original canal network. |
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==Literary work== |
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===Fiction=== |
===Fiction=== |
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As a writer, Aickman is best known for the 48 "strange stories" |
As a writer, Aickman is best known for the 48 "strange stories" that were published in eight volumes, one of them posthumous. The American collection ''Painted Devils'' consists of revised versions of stories which had previously appeared in other books. |
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After three of his stories appeared in ''We Are for the Dark'' (1954), occasional short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies during the rest of the 1950s, but Aickman's involvement with his many societies kept him from any writing at length. The year 1964 thus came as a watershed, with a slightly mystical novel, ''The Late Breakfasters'', a story collection (''Dark Entries'') and the first ''Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories'', which he edited for eight volumes. "Those, if any, who wish to know more about me", Aickman wrote in 1965, "should plunge beneath the frivolous surface of ''The Late Breakfasters''." Opening as a comedy of manners, its playful seriousness slowly fades into an elegiac variation on the great Greek myth of thwarted love. |
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''Cold Hand in Mine'' and ''Painted Devils'' featured [[dust jacket]] drawings by acclaimed gothic illustrator [[Edward Gorey]]. [[August Derleth]] proposed that [[Arkham House]] should publish a book of Aickman's best stories, but was unable to meet the author's demands and withdrew the proposal. The original collections of short stories are quite scarce, though copies of the U.S. edition of ''Cold Hand in Mine'' are very plentiful. |
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His own subsequent collections were ''Powers of Darkness'' (1966), ''Sub Rosa'' (1968), ''Cold Hand in Mine'' (1976), ''Tales of Love and Death'' (1977) and ''Intrusions'' (1980). |
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Aickman's published novels were ''[[The Late Breakfasters]]'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1964) and ''[[The Model: A Novel of the Fantastic]]'' (New York: Arbor House, 1987). The latter was a [[novella]] which had remained unpublished in his lifetime. Aickman had hoped to have had the latter work illustrated by Edward Gorey. Another novel, entitled ''Go Back at Once'', remains unpublished. [[S. T. Joshi]] is at work on this and it may be published. |
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In the essay that Aickman wrote in response to receiving a World Fantasy Award, he wrote: |
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A previously unpublished short story, "The Fully Conducted Tour", appeared in the Tartarus Press periodical ''[[Wormwood (magazine)|Wormwood]]'' in 2005. |
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{{blockquote|I believe in what the Germans term ''Ehrfurcht'': reverence for things one cannot understand. Faust's error was an aspiration to understand, and therefore master, things which, by God or by nature, are set beyond the human compass. He could only achieve this at the cost of making the achievement pointless. Once again, it is exactly what modern man has done. ...<p> |
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I believe in life after death, and I decline to particularize upon the meaning of the words, because of all futile and reductionist attempts at definition, this is the most idle. ... Most of my stories aim at universal themes, however difficult it may be to attain to them.<ref>Aickman, Robert (1976). "An Essay". Rpt. in ''The Collected Strange Stories'', Volume 1. Horam, East Sussex: Tartarus Press / Durtro Press, 1999. Pages vii–viii. {{ISBN|1-87262147-3}}</ref>}} |
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====Awards==== |
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In 1975, Aickman received the [[World Fantasy Award]] for short fiction for his story "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal". This story had originally appeared in February 1973 in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]''; it was reprinted in ''Cold Hand in Mine''. |
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''Cold Hand in Mine'' and ''Painted Devils'' featured [[dust jacket]] drawings by acclaimed gothic illustrator [[Edward Gorey]]. [[August Derleth]] proposed that [[Arkham House]] should publish a book of Aickman's best stories, but was unable to meet the author's demands and withdrew the proposal. The original collections of short stories are quite scarce, though copies of the U.S. edition of ''Cold Hand in Mine'' are very plentiful. |
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In 1981, the year of his death, Aickman was awarded the [[British Fantasy Award]] for his story "The Stains", which had first appeared in the anthology ''[[New Terrors]]'' (London: Pan, 1980), edited by [[Ramsey Campbell]]. It subsequently appeared posthumously in ''Night Voices''. |
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''[[The Model: A Novel of the Fantastic]]'' (New York: Arbor House, 1987) was a novella which remained unpublished in his lifetime. Aickman had hoped to have the work illustrated by Edward Gorey. According to Mike Ashley, "Aickman bemoaned the lack of publisher interest in this work of about 35,000 words."<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13" /> |
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===Nonfiction=== |
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Aickman's autobiographical writing consists of the two [[memoir]]s ''The Attempted Rescue'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1966) and ''The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure'' (Burton-on-Trent: Pearson, 1986). In 2001, [[Tartarus Press]] reissued the former volume in a new edition with a foreword by the writer and Aickman enthusiast [[Jeremy Dyson]] of the British comedy quartet [[The League of Gentlemen (comedy)|The League of Gentlemen]]. |
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Tartarus Press published a new collection of unpublished and uncollected fiction and non-fiction in 2015 as ''The Strangers and Other Writings''. In 2018, [[NYRB Classics]] released ''Compulsory Games: And Other Stories'' (edited and with an introduction by Victoria Nelson), a collection of previously published short stories culled primarily from 1977's ''Tales of Love and Death.'' |
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For a time, Aickman served as [[theatre critic]] for ''The Nineteenth Century and After''. His reviews remain, to date, uncollected in book form. He also wrote two books relating to his conservation activities, ''Know Your Waterways'' and ''The Story of Our Inland Waterways'' (both 1955). |
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=== |
====Awards==== |
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In 1975, Aickman received the [[World Fantasy Award]] for short fiction for his story "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal". This story had originally appeared in February 1973 in ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]''; it was reprinted in ''Cold Hand in Mine''. The winning of this award pleased Aickman immensely, as at that time he considered it his best story.<ref name="Mike Ashley 1981 p. 13" /> |
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Other than ''Go Back at Once'', mentioned above, Aickman produced a number of other works that remain unpublished. These include the plays ''Allowance for Error'', ''Duty'' and ''The Golden Round''. Another book, a vast philosophical work entitled ''Panacea: The Synthesis of an Attitude'' runs to over 1,000 pages in manuscript form. Copies of these items are preserved, along with all of Aickman's other remaining papers, in the Robert Aickman Collection at [[Bowling Green State University]], [[Ohio]].<ref>Crawford, Gary William. ''Robert Aickman: An Introduction''. Gothic Press, 2003, p.71.</ref> |
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In 1981, the year of his death, Aickman was awarded the [[British Fantasy Award]] for his story "The Stains", which had first appeared in the anthology ''[[New Terrors]]'' (London: Pan, 1980), edited by [[Ramsey Campbell]]. It subsequently appeared posthumously in ''Night Voices''. |
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==Career as editor== |
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In addition to writing his own stories, Aickman edited the first eight volumes of the ''[[Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories]]'' between 1964 and 1972. He selected six of his own stories for inclusion over the course of the series. The fourth and sixth volumes lack one of his tales. He also supplied an introduction for every volume except the sixth. |
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==Adaptations== |
====Adaptations==== |
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In 1968, a television adaptation of "Ringing the Changes", retitled "The Bells of Hell", appeared on the [[BBC Two|BBC 2]] programme ''Late Night Horror''. A [[radio play]] version based on "Ringing the Changes" was broadcast on the [[CBC Radio]] [[radio drama|drama]] series ''[[Nightfall (CBC)|Nightfall]]'' on 31 October 1980. |
In 1968, a television adaptation of "Ringing the Changes", retitled "The Bells of Hell", appeared on the [[BBC Two|BBC 2]] programme ''[[Late Night Horror]]''. A [[radio play]] version based on "Ringing the Changes" was broadcast on the [[CBC Radio]] [[radio drama|drama]] series ''[[Nightfall (CBC)|Nightfall]]'' on 31 October 1980. |
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In 1987, HTV West produced a six-episode anthology series for television called ''Night Voices'', of which four were based upon stories by Aickman: "The Hospice", "The Inner Room", "Hand In Glove" and "The Trains".<ref>[ |
In 1987, HTV West produced a six-episode anthology series for television called ''Night Voices'', of which four were based upon stories by Aickman: "The Hospice", "The Inner Room", "Hand In Glove" and "The Trains".<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353539/ IMDb entry for "The Hospice"]</ref><ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353524/ IMDb entry for "Hand in Glove"]</ref> |
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A 1997 adaptation of "The Swords" |
A 1997 adaptation of "The Swords" by [[Howard A. Rodman]] was directed by [[Tony Scott]]. It appeared as the first episode of the cable original horror anthology series ''[[The Hunger (serial)|The Hunger]]''. |
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Jeremy Dyson has adapted Aickman's work into drama in a number of forms. A musical staging of his short story "The Same Dog", for which Dyson co-wrote the [[libretto]] with [[Joby Talbot]], premiered in 2000 at the [[Barbican Concert Hall]]. In 2000, with his League collaborator [[Mark Gatiss]], Dyson adapted Aickman's short story "Ringing the Changes" into a BBC [[Radio Four]] radio play. This aired exactly twenty years after the CBC adaptation, on [[Halloween]] |
[[Jeremy Dyson]] has adapted Aickman's work into drama in a number of forms. A musical staging of his short story "The Same Dog", for which Dyson co-wrote the [[libretto]] with [[Joby Talbot]], premiered in 2000 at the [[Barbican Concert Hall]]. In 2000, with his [[The League of Gentlemen (comedy)|League of Gentlemen]] collaborator [[Mark Gatiss]], Dyson adapted Aickman's short story "Ringing the Changes" into a BBC [[Radio Four]] radio play. This aired exactly twenty years after the CBC adaptation, on [[Halloween]] 2000. Dyson also directed a 2002 short film based on Aickman's story "The Cicerones" with Gatiss as the principal actor. |
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In August 2019 [[BBC Radio 4 Extra]] broadcast five of Aickman's short stories as part of its ''Short Works'' series. "Just a Song at Twilight", "Le Miroir", "Raising the Wind", "The Coffin House" and "The Fully-Conducted Tour" were read by [[Tim McInnerny]]. |
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==Quotations== |
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{{Quote|text=I think that Aickman is one of those authors that you respond to on a very primal level. If you're a writer, it's a bit like being a [[stage magician]]. A stage magician produces coin, takes coin, demonstrates coin vanished... That tends to be what you do as a fiction writer, reading fiction. You'll go, "Oh look. He's setting that up."...Reading Robert Aickman is like watching a magician work, and very often I'm not even sure what the trick was. All I know is that he did it beautifully. Yes, the key vanished, but I don't know if he was holding a key in the hand to begin with. I find myself admiring everything he does from an auctorial standpoint. And I love it as a reader. He will bring on atmosphere. He will construct these perfect, dark, doomed little stories, what he called "strange stories".|sign=[[Neil Gaiman]]<ref>Quoted in Darrell Schweitzer, ed., ''[[The Neil Gaiman Reader]]'' (Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2007).{{page needed|date=December 2011}}</ref>}} |
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===As editor=== |
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{{Quote|text=His literary gifts were of an extremely high order. His prose style – supple, urbane, sophisticated, restrained, yet capable of surprisingly powerful emotive effects – never falters from the beginning to the end of his work. There are few writers who are as purely pleasurable to read, regardless of their subject matter or the success or failure of their actual work, as Robert Aickman. His major literary influences (it might be better to say analogues) appear to be [[M. R. James]] and [[Walter de la Mare]], yet he excels the former in richness and variety of texture and the latter in the sustained intensity of all his literary work.|sign=[[S. T. Joshi]]<ref>S. T. Joshi, ''The Modern Weird Tale'' (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001), p. 218.</ref>}} |
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In addition to writing his own stories, Aickman edited the first eight volumes of the ''[[Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories]]'' between 1964 and 1972. He was assisted in this by Christine Bernard, an editor at Collins.<ref>Richardson, Jean, "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, ''Cold Hand in Mine'', London: Faber, 2014, p. 346.</ref> He selected six of his own stories for inclusion over the course of the series. The fourth and sixth volumes lack one of his tales. He also supplied an introduction for every volume except the sixth. |
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===Nonfiction=== |
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{{Quote|text=From the first I understood that he was a deeply original artist. This in no way implies that I understood Aickman immediately because I didn't. Sometimes I would look up at the end of a story, feeling that the whole thing had just twisted itself inside out and turned into smoke - I had blinked, and missed it all. It took me a little while to learn to accept this experience as valuable in itself and to begin to see how the real oddness of most of Aickman's work is directly related to its psychological, even psychoanalytic, acuity. Unconscious forces move the stories itself, as well as the characters, and what initially looks like a distressing randomness of detail and event is its opposite - everything is necessary, everything is logical, but not at all in a linear way. To pull off this kind of dream-like associativeness, to pack it with the menace that results from a narrative deconstruction of the notion of "ordinary reality", to demonstrate again and again in excellent prose (no dumb experimentation or affectation here) that our lives are literally shaped by what we do not understand about ourselves, requires a talent that yokes together an uncommon literary sensitivity with a lush, almost tropical inventiveness.|sign=[[Peter Straub]]<ref>Quoted in [[Stephen Jones (author)|Stephen Jones]] & Clarence Paget, eds., ''Dark Voices: The Best from the Pan Book of Horror Stories'' (London: Pan Books, 1990), p. 191</ref>}} |
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Aickman's autobiographical writing consists of the two memoirs ''The Attempted Rescue'' (London: Victor Gollancz, 1966) and ''The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure'' (Burton-on-Trent: Pearson, 1986). In 2001, [[Tartarus Press]] reissued the former volume in a new edition with a foreword by the writer and Aickman enthusiast Jeremy Dyson. Tartarus also reprinted the latter, with extra text which had been edited out of the first edition. |
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For a time, Aickman served as [[theatre critic]] for ''The Nineteenth Century and After''. His reviews remain, to date, uncollected in book form. He also wrote two books relating to his conservation activities, ''Know Your Waterways'' and ''The Story of Our Inland Waterways'' (both 1955). |
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{{Quote|text=Robert Aickman has a gift for depicting the eerie areas of inner space, the churning storms and silent overcasts that engulf the minds of lonely and alienated people. He is a weatherman of the subconscious.|sign=[[Fritz Leiber]]<ref>Quoted in Jim Rockhill, [http://www.aickmandata.com/challinorreview.html rev. of ''Akin to Poetry: Observations on Some Strange Tales of Robert Aickman''] by Philip Challinor (Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2010).</ref>}} |
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===Unpublished works=== |
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Aickman produced a number of works that remain unpublished. These include the plays ''Allowance for Error'', ''Duty'' and ''The Golden Round''. A philosophical work entitled ''Panacea: The Synthesis of an Attitude'' runs to over 1,000 pages in manuscript form. Copies of these items are preserved, along with Aickman's manuscripts and other papers, in the Robert Aickman Collection at the [[British Library]], with some papers deposited at [[Bowling Green State University]], [[Ohio]].<ref>Crawford, Gary William. ''Robert Aickman: An Introduction''. Gothic Press, 2003, p. 71.</ref> |
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==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
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====Novels==== |
====Novels==== |
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*''[[The Late Breakfasters]]''. London: Victor Gollancz, 1964. Reprint: London: Faber Finds, 2014. |
*''[[The Late Breakfasters]]''. London: Victor Gollancz, 1964. Library reprint: Bath: Cedric Chivers, 1978. Reprint: London: Faber Finds, 2014; Richmond, VA: [[Valancourt Books]], 2016. |
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*''The Model''. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Reprint: London: Faber Finds, 2014. |
*''The Model''. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Reprint: London: Faber Finds, 2014. |
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*''Go Back at Once''. Tartarus Press, 2020 (a novel written in the 1970s, which remained unpublished until this limited edition of 500 copies). Reprint: Sheffield: And Other Stories, 2022. |
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====Short story collections==== |
====Short story collections==== |
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=====Original collections===== |
=====Original collections===== |
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* ''[[We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories]]''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1951. (Collection containing three stories by [[Elizabeth Jane Howard]] and the following three by Aickman): |
* ''[[We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories]]''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1951. (Collection containing three stories by [[Elizabeth Jane Howard]] and the following three by Aickman): |
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**"The Trains" (first published in ''The Tatler'', Christmas 1951, as by Elizabeth Jane Howard and Robert Aickman) |
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**"The Trains" |
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**"The Insufficient Answer" |
**"The Insufficient Answer" |
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**"The View" |
**"The View" |
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:Note: Howard's stories here are collected, with an additional story, "Mr Wrong" in her ''Three Miles Up and Other Strange Stories'' (Tartarus Press, {{ISBN|1-872621-75-9}}). |
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* ''[[Dark Entries: Curious and Macabre Ghost Stories]]''. London: Collins, 1964. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014. |
* ''[[Dark Entries: Curious and Macabre Ghost Stories]]''. London: Collins, 1964. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014. |
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**"The School Friend" |
**"The School Friend" |
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**"Ringing the Changes" |
**"Ringing the Changes" |
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**"Choice of Weapons" |
**"Choice of Weapons" |
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**"The Waiting Room" |
**"The Waiting Room" (first published in ''The Sketch'', Christmas 1956) |
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**"The View" |
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**"Bind Your Hair" |
**"Bind Your Hair" |
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* ''[[Powers of Darkness: Macabre Stories]]''. London: Collins, 1966. |
* ''[[Powers of Darkness: Macabre Stories]]''. London: Collins, 1966. |
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**"Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen" |
**"Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen" (first published in ''The Tatler'', Christmas 1953) |
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**"My Poor Friend" |
**"My Poor Friend" |
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**"The Visiting Star" |
**"The Visiting Star" (first published in ''The Tatler'', 13 November 1952) |
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**"Larger than Oneself" |
**"Larger than Oneself" |
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**"A Roman Question" |
**"A Roman Question" |
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**"The Cicerones" |
**"The Cicerones" |
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**"Into the Wood" |
**"Into the Wood" |
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* ''[[Cold Hand in Mine: Eight Strange Stories]]''. London: Victor Gollancz, 1975. Reprint: Faber, 2014 |
* ''[[Cold Hand in Mine: Eight Strange Stories]]''. London: Victor Gollancz, 1975. Reprint: Faber, 2014, with a new introduction, "Uneasy Does It: An Introduction to Robert Aickman" by Reece Shearsmith and a new afterword, "Memories of a Friend", by Jean Richardson. |
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**"The Swords" |
**"The Swords" |
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**"The Real Road to the Church" |
**"The Real Road to the Church" |
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**"Rosamund's Bower" |
**"Rosamund's Bower" |
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**"Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale" |
**"Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale" |
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* ''[[The Strangers and Other Writings]]''. Tartarus Press, 2015. (Collects unpublished and uncollected fiction and non-fiction. Fiction only listed here): |
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**"The Case of Wallingford's Tiger" |
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**"The Whistler" |
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**"A Disciple of Plato" |
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**"The Coffin House" |
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**"The Flying Anglo-Dutchman" |
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**"The Strangers" |
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**"The Fully-Conducted Tour" |
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=====Reprint collections===== |
=====Reprint collections===== |
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**"My Poor Friend" |
**"My Poor Friend" |
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* ''The Wine-Dark Sea''. New York: Arbor House/William Morrow, 1988. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014. |
* ''The Wine-Dark Sea''. New York: Arbor House/William Morrow, 1988. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014. |
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**"The Wine-Dark Sea" |
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**"The Trains" |
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**"Your Tiny Hand is Frozen" |
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**"Growing Boys" |
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**"The Fetch" |
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**"The Inner Room" |
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**"Never Visit Venice" |
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**"The Next Glade" (Removed from Faber edition) |
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**"Into the Wood" |
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**"Bind Your Hair" (Removed from Faber edition) |
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**"The Stains" (Removed from Faber edition) |
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* ''The Unsettled Dust''. London: Mandarin, 1990. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014. |
* ''The Unsettled Dust''. London: Mandarin, 1990. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014. |
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**"The Unsettled Dust" |
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* ''The Collected Strange Stories''. Carlton-in-Coverdale: Tartarus/Durtro, 1999. (Two volumes.) |
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**"The Houses of the Russians" |
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**"No Stronger than a Flower" |
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**"The Cicerones" |
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**"The Next Glade" |
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**"Ravissante" |
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**"Bind Your Hair" |
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**"The Stains" |
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* ''The Collected Strange Stories''. Horam, East Sussex: Tartarus/Durtro, 1999. (Two volumes) |
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* ''The Late Breakfasters and Other Strange Stories''. Richmond, VA: Valancourt, 2016. (Reprints the 1964 novel and the following short stories) |
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**"My Poor Friend" |
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**"The Visiting Star" |
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**"Larger Than Oneself" |
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**"A Roman Question" |
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**"Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale" |
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**"Rosamund's Bower" |
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* ''Compulsory Games''. New York, NY: NYRB Classics, 2018. |
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** "Compulsory Games" |
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** "Hand in Glove" |
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** "Marriage" |
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** "Le Miroir" |
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** "No Time Is Passing" |
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** "Raising the Wind" |
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** "Residents Only" |
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** "Wood" |
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** "The Strangers" |
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** "The Coffin House" |
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** "Letters to the Postman" |
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** "Laura" |
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** "The Fully-Conducted Tour" |
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** "A Disciple of Plato" |
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** "Just a Song at Twilight" |
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===Nonfiction=== |
===Nonfiction=== |
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*''Know Your Waterways''. London: Coram |
*''Know Your Waterways''. London: Coram, 1955. |
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*''The Story of Our Inland Waterways''. London: Pitman, 1955. |
*''The Story of Our Inland Waterways''. London: Pitman, 1955. |
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===Autobiography=== |
===Autobiography=== |
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*''The Attempted Rescue''. London: Victor Gollancz 1966. |
*''The Attempted Rescue''. London: Victor Gollancz, 1966. |
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*''The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure''. Burton on Trent: Pearson, 1986. |
*''The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure''. Burton on Trent: Pearson, 1986. |
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{{Portal|UK Waterways}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
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*{{Cite encyclopedia| author = R. Reginald| encyclopedia = Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, v. 2: Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II| title = Robert Aickman| year = 1979| publisher = Gale Research Company| volume = 2| pages = 791| isbn = 0-8103-1051-1}} |
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==Sources== |
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*{{Cite encyclopedia| author = R. Reginald| encyclopedia = Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, v. 2: Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II| title = Robert Aickman| year = 1979| publisher = Gale Research Company| volume = 2| pages = 791| isbn = 978-0-8103-1051-3}} |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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* [[Mike Ashley (writer)|Ashley, Mike]]. "In Memoriam: Robert Fordyce Aickman". ''Fantasy Newsletter'' (June 1981), p. 13. |
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* Bolton, David. ''Race Against Time: How Britain's Waterways Were Saved''. London: Methuen, 1990. (Contains a great deal of material about Aickman, including several photographs, and the final chapter is devoted to him.) |
* Bolton, David. ''Race Against Time: How Britain's Waterways Were Saved''. London: Methuen, 1990. (Contains a great deal of material about Aickman, including several photographs, and the final chapter is devoted to him.) |
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* Briggs, Scott D. "Robert Aickman: Sojourns into the Unknown". ''Studies in Weird Fiction'' 12 (Spring 1993), pp. 7–12. |
* Briggs, Scott D. "Robert Aickman: Sojourns into the Unknown". ''Studies in Weird Fiction'' 12 (Spring 1993), pp. 7–12. |
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* ———. ''Robert Aickman: An Introduction''. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2003. (The most detailed biographical and critical study produced to date.) |
* ———. ''Robert Aickman: An Introduction''. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2003. (The most detailed biographical and critical study produced to date.) |
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* ———, ed. ''Insufficient Answers''. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2012. (Three critical essays by different hands.) |
* ———, ed. ''Insufficient Answers''. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2012. (Three critical essays by different hands.) |
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* [[Elizabeth Jane Howard|Howard, Elizabeth Jane]]. ''Slipstream''. |
* [[Elizabeth Jane Howard|Howard, Elizabeth Jane]]. ''Slipstream''. London: Macmillan, 2002. (Autobiography including an account of her relationship with Aickman.) |
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* [[S. T. Joshi|Joshi, S. T.]] "So Little Is Definite". ''The Modern Weird Tale''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. |
* [[S. T. Joshi|Joshi, S. T.]] "So Little Is Definite". ''The Modern Weird Tale''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001. |
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* Morris, Christine Pasanen. "The Female 'Outsider' in the Short Fiction of Robert Aickman". ''Nyctalops'' 18 (1983), pp. 55–58. |
* Morris, Christine Pasanen. "The Female 'Outsider' in the Short Fiction of Robert Aickman". ''Nyctalops'' 18 (1983), pp. 55–58. |
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* Ricketts, Martin. "Enigma Macabre: An Evaluation of the Short Stories of Robert Aickman". ''Shadow'' 3:1 (Nov. 1972), pp. 4–9. |
* Ricketts, Martin. "Enigma Macabre: An Evaluation of the Short Stories of Robert Aickman". ''Shadow'' 3:1 (Nov. 1972), pp. 4–9. |
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* [[R. B. Russell|Russell, R. B.]] ''Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography''. North Yorkshire: Tartarus Press, 2022. (First full-length biography.) |
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Articles, essays and papers by other authors have appeared on the website Robert Aickman: An Appreciation, and in the journals ''Studies in Weird Fiction'' (published by [[Necronomicon Press]]), ''All Hallows'' (published by the [[Ghost Story Society]]), ''Studies in the Fantastic'', ''Supernatural Tales'' and ''[[Wormwood (magazine)|Wormwood]]''. |
Articles, essays and papers by other authors have appeared on the website Robert Aickman: An Appreciation, and in the journals ''Studies in Weird Fiction'' (published by [[Necronomicon Press]]), ''All Hallows'' (published by the [[Ghost Story Society]]), ''Studies in the Fantastic'', ''Supernatural Tales'' and ''[[Wormwood (magazine)|Wormwood]]''. |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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{{wikiquote}} |
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*{{Wayback |date=20090327020217 |url=http://www.aickman.com/story.htm |title=Robert Aickman general information and visual bibliography }} |
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*{{Wayback |date=20080108060842 |url=www.prairienet.org/~almahu/aickman.htm |title=Robert Aickman: An Appreciation }} |
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*[http://www.robertaickman.com Website devoted to life and works of Robert Aickman] |
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*{{Cite web |url=http://www.aickman.com/story.htm |title=Robert Aickman general information and visual bibliography |access-date=3 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327020217/http://www.aickman.com/story.htm |archive-date=27 March 2009 |url-status=bot: unknown }} |
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*{{Cite web |url=http://www.prairienet.org/~almahu/aickman.htm |title=Robert Aickman: An Appreciation |access-date=17 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108060842/http://www.prairienet.org/~almahu/aickman.htm |archive-date=8 January 2008 |url-status=dead }} |
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*[http://home.epix.net/~wallison/ra.html The Works of Robert Aickman] |
*[http://home.epix.net/~wallison/ra.html The Works of Robert Aickman] |
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*[http://sf-encyclopedia.co.uk/fe.php?nm=aickman_robert "Aickman, Robert"] in ''[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]'' |
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*[http://www.aickmandata.com/aickmanstudies.html Aickman Studies], an online journal |
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*{{ISFDB name}} |
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*[http://www.aickmandata.com/contents.html Bibliography of works about Aickman] |
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*"[http://sf-encyclopedia.co.uk/fe.php?nm=aickman_robert Aickman, Robert]" in ''[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]'' |
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*{{isfdb name}} |
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*{{iblist name|id=5988|name=Robert Aickman}} |
*{{iblist name|id=5988|name=Robert Aickman}} |
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*{{IMDb name|id=1545956|name=Robert Aickman}} |
*{{IMDb name|id=1545956|name=Robert Aickman}} |
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*[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-003346004 Robert Aickman] at the British Library |
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{{portal bar|United Kingdom|literature|transport}} |
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{{World Fantasy Award Best Short Fiction}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date= |
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} |
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{{Persondata |
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|NAME=Aickman, Robert Fordyce |
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION=British fantasy and horror writer |
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|DATE OF BIRTH=27 June 1914 |
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|PLACE OF BIRTH=London, England, United Kingdom |
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|DATE OF DEATH=26 February 1981 |
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|PLACE OF DEATH= [[London]], England |
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}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aickman, Robert}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aickman, Robert}} |
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[[Category:1914 births]] |
[[Category:1914 births]] |
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[[Category:1981 deaths]] |
[[Category:1981 deaths]] |
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[[Category:20th-century English short story writers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century English memoirists]] |
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[[Category:20th-century English novelists]] |
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[[Category:British parapsychologists]] |
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[[Category:British waterways activists]] |
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[[Category:English conservationists]] |
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[[Category:English fantasy writers]] |
[[Category:English fantasy writers]] |
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[[Category:English horror writers]] |
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[[Category:English short story writers]] |
[[Category:English short story writers]] |
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[[Category:British ghost story writers]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:People educated at Highgate School]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:British weird fiction writers]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:World Fantasy Award-winning writers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century English novelists]] |
Revision as of 02:24, 19 April 2024
Robert Aickman | |
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![]() | |
Born | Robert Fordyce Aickman 27 June 1914 London, England |
Died | 26 February 1981 London, England | (aged 66)
Occupation | Writer, conservationist |
Alma mater | Highgate School |
Genre | Horror, Supernatural |
Notable works | Cold Hand in Mine Sub Rosa "Ringing the Changes" The Late Breakfasters |
Notable awards | World Fantasy Award |
Spouse | Edith Ray Gregorson |
Relatives | Richard Marsh (grandfather) |
Robert Fordyce Aickman (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and conservationist. As a conservationist, he co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's inland canal system. As a writer, he is best known for his supernatural fiction, which he described as "strange stories".
The writer of his obituary in The Times, as quoted by Mike Ashley, said: "... his most outstanding and lasting achievement was as a writer of what he himself like to call 'strange tales.' He brought to these his immense knowledge of the occult, psychological insights and a richness of background and characterisation which rank his stories with those of M. R. James and Walter de la Mare."[1] Ashley himself wrote: "Aickman's writings are an acquired taste like fine wines. I have no doubt that his work will always remain unknown to the majority of readers, and perhaps he would have wanted it that way. He wrote what and how he wanted, for expression, not for popularity. In another of his letters to me he said 'I have received a good deal of esteem, but never a big commercial success, and am usually wondering whether anything by me will ever be published again.' ... It is astonishing that someone of Aickman's stature should have difficulty in selling his work. Perhaps now, too late for Aickman's benefit, someone will have the sense to publish it."[1] This situation has since been remedied by an extensive programme of reprints of Aickman's work by Tartarus Press, Faber, and New York Review Books Classics.
Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography (2022), by R. B. Russell, is the first full-length biography of Aickman.
Life
Aickman was born in London, England, the son of architect[2] William Arthur Aickman and Mabel Violet Marsh. He attended Highgate School from January 1928 until July 1931.[3] Mike Ashley reported that at the time he compiled his Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction, Aickman objected to the inclusion of his date of birth. Instead he said that the entry should read "Aickman, Robert. Man of Mystery". "That", he said, "would be helpful. I should approve entirely."[1] On his mother's side, Aickman was the grandson of the prolific Victorian novelist Richard Marsh (1857–1915), known for his occult thriller The Beetle (1897), a book as popular in its time as Bram Stoker's Dracula.[4]
He was involved in an investigation into the well-known haunting of Borley Rectory. Another indication of his lifelong interest in the supernatural is his longstanding membership of The Ghost Club. He remarked in a letter to Mike Ashley, "What impact such things have had on me, and the sources of my inspiration, are simply too much for a letter. If you wish to pursue such topics, I shall be pleased to have a talk." Unfortunately that talk never took place, but Ashley points out that Aickman's early life, including some supernatural episodes, will be found detailed in his autobiography, The Attempted Rescue (Gollancz, 1966).[1]
He originally helped with some clerical work in his father's architectural office.[5] In the opening lines of The Attempted Rescue, Aickman described his father as "the oddest man I have ever known".[6]
Of Aickman's character, Elizabeth Jane Howard said in a 2011 interview at the Tartarus Press blog, that he "hated children" and of his childhood that "He told me about his childhood but I think he exaggerated that. I went to the house in Stanmore where he was brought up, and his mother did go and leave him, and that probably had a much worse effect than he realised on him. He was reading by the time he was four and he went to very good schools. Highgate was a very good school. I think it probably was a fairly lonely childhood. … He could be very prickly and difficult, or he could be very charming. He certainly had the gift of the gab."
Aickman was married to literary agent and children's book author Edith Ray Gregorson (1914–1983) (known as 'Ray') from 1941 to 1957. She authored Lemuel (illustrated by Peter Scott, husband of Elizabeth Jane Howard, with whom Aickman had an affair) and Timothy Tramcar.
He had been responsible for the general direction of the very successful Market Harborough Festival of Boats and Yachts, attended by more than 50,000 visitors. This was topped in 1962 when he directed the Waterborne concert with fireworks at the City of London Festival, with an audience of 100,000.[1]
With a keen interest in the theatre, ballet, and music, Aickman also served as a chairman of the London Opera Society (1954–69) and was active in the London Opera Club, the Ballet Minerva, and the Mikron Theatre Company (a company which performs via touring the canal waterways of Britain).
In the mid-1970s, Aickman lived in a flat in Willoughby House on the Barbican Estate. In 1977 he moved to a flat in Gledhow Gardens, Earl's Court, where he lived until his death.[7]
Aickman was diagnosed with cancer in the winter of 1979. He refused to have conventional treatment and consulted a homoeopath. He had planned to go to the US in the autumn of 1980, to receive a fantasy award, but he was too ill to travel, despite rallying in the summer. He died in the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital on 26 February 1981. His obituary appeared in The Times on 28 February. Later, there was a memorial concert at the Royal Society of Arts, at which various well-known people, including the naturalist Sir Peter Scott, paid tribute to him.[8]
In 2015 R. B. Russell and Rosalie Parker of Tartarus Press released a feature-length documentary on the life and work of Robert Aickman, which was premiered at the World Fantasy Convention. It includes interviews with friends of Robert Aickman, and the authors Reggie Oliver and Jeremy Dyson. It can now be seen on YouTube.
Conservation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Robert_Aickman_1914-1981_author_and_co-founder_of_The_Inland_Waterways_Association_lived_and_worked_here.jpg/220px-Robert_Aickman_1914-1981_author_and_co-founder_of_The_Inland_Waterways_Association_lived_and_worked_here.jpg)
Aickman is probably best remembered for his co-founding of the Inland Waterways Association, a group devoted to restoring and preserving England's then-neglected and largely derelict inland canal system.[9]
The association was sparked off by a letter sent by Aickman to L. T. C. Rolt following the publication in 1944 of Rolt's highly successful book Narrow Boat, describing the declining and largely unknown world of the British canals. The inaugural meeting took place on 15 February 1946 in London, with Aickman as chairman and Rolt as honorary secretary.
The IWA organised successful campaigns and attracted notable supporters, including as president the writer and parliamentarian Sir A. P. Herbert and as vice-president the naturalist Peter Scott. Scott's wife, Elizabeth Jane Howard, was part-time secretary, working in Aickman's flat in Gower Street; she had an affair with Aickman, which she describes in her autobiography Slipstream (Macmillan, 2002).
Aickman began to have policy disagreements with Rolt. Aickman wanted to campaign to keep all of the waterways open,[10] whereas Rolt had sympathies with the traditional canal workers and believed it necessary to prioritise which canals could be kept open. The disagreement became public: Aickman had organised the IWA's first boat rally and festival in August 1950 and attempted to prevent Rolt from attending and promoting his book The Inland Waterways of England; nevertheless, Rolt attended, as did his publisher, Philip Unwin. Aickman engineered a change to the rules to require all members to conform to agreed IWA principles, and in early 1951 Rolt and others were excluded from membership.[11] Aickman published two nonfiction books on the waterways in 1955.
Nevertheless, the IWA has been one of the most successful conservation organisations in British history, succeeding in restoring and reopening much of the original canal network.
Literary work
Fiction
As a writer, Aickman is best known for the 48 "strange stories" that were published in eight volumes, one of them posthumous. The American collection Painted Devils consists of revised versions of stories which had previously appeared in other books.
After three of his stories appeared in We Are for the Dark (1954), occasional short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies during the rest of the 1950s, but Aickman's involvement with his many societies kept him from any writing at length. The year 1964 thus came as a watershed, with a slightly mystical novel, The Late Breakfasters, a story collection (Dark Entries) and the first Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, which he edited for eight volumes. "Those, if any, who wish to know more about me", Aickman wrote in 1965, "should plunge beneath the frivolous surface of The Late Breakfasters." Opening as a comedy of manners, its playful seriousness slowly fades into an elegiac variation on the great Greek myth of thwarted love.
His own subsequent collections were Powers of Darkness (1966), Sub Rosa (1968), Cold Hand in Mine (1976), Tales of Love and Death (1977) and Intrusions (1980).
In the essay that Aickman wrote in response to receiving a World Fantasy Award, he wrote:
I believe in what the Germans term Ehrfurcht: reverence for things one cannot understand. Faust's error was an aspiration to understand, and therefore master, things which, by God or by nature, are set beyond the human compass. He could only achieve this at the cost of making the achievement pointless. Once again, it is exactly what modern man has done. ...
I believe in life after death, and I decline to particularize upon the meaning of the words, because of all futile and reductionist attempts at definition, this is the most idle. ... Most of my stories aim at universal themes, however difficult it may be to attain to them.[12]
Cold Hand in Mine and Painted Devils featured dust jacket drawings by acclaimed gothic illustrator Edward Gorey. August Derleth proposed that Arkham House should publish a book of Aickman's best stories, but was unable to meet the author's demands and withdrew the proposal. The original collections of short stories are quite scarce, though copies of the U.S. edition of Cold Hand in Mine are very plentiful.
The Model: A Novel of the Fantastic (New York: Arbor House, 1987) was a novella which remained unpublished in his lifetime. Aickman had hoped to have the work illustrated by Edward Gorey. According to Mike Ashley, "Aickman bemoaned the lack of publisher interest in this work of about 35,000 words."[1]
Tartarus Press published a new collection of unpublished and uncollected fiction and non-fiction in 2015 as The Strangers and Other Writings. In 2018, NYRB Classics released Compulsory Games: And Other Stories (edited and with an introduction by Victoria Nelson), a collection of previously published short stories culled primarily from 1977's Tales of Love and Death.
Awards
In 1975, Aickman received the World Fantasy Award for short fiction for his story "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal". This story had originally appeared in February 1973 in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; it was reprinted in Cold Hand in Mine. The winning of this award pleased Aickman immensely, as at that time he considered it his best story.[1]
In 1981, the year of his death, Aickman was awarded the British Fantasy Award for his story "The Stains", which had first appeared in the anthology New Terrors (London: Pan, 1980), edited by Ramsey Campbell. It subsequently appeared posthumously in Night Voices.
Adaptations
In 1968, a television adaptation of "Ringing the Changes", retitled "The Bells of Hell", appeared on the BBC 2 programme Late Night Horror. A radio play version based on "Ringing the Changes" was broadcast on the CBC Radio drama series Nightfall on 31 October 1980.
In 1987, HTV West produced a six-episode anthology series for television called Night Voices, of which four were based upon stories by Aickman: "The Hospice", "The Inner Room", "Hand In Glove" and "The Trains".[13][14]
A 1997 adaptation of "The Swords" by Howard A. Rodman was directed by Tony Scott. It appeared as the first episode of the cable original horror anthology series The Hunger.
Jeremy Dyson has adapted Aickman's work into drama in a number of forms. A musical staging of his short story "The Same Dog", for which Dyson co-wrote the libretto with Joby Talbot, premiered in 2000 at the Barbican Concert Hall. In 2000, with his League of Gentlemen collaborator Mark Gatiss, Dyson adapted Aickman's short story "Ringing the Changes" into a BBC Radio Four radio play. This aired exactly twenty years after the CBC adaptation, on Halloween 2000. Dyson also directed a 2002 short film based on Aickman's story "The Cicerones" with Gatiss as the principal actor.
In August 2019 BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast five of Aickman's short stories as part of its Short Works series. "Just a Song at Twilight", "Le Miroir", "Raising the Wind", "The Coffin House" and "The Fully-Conducted Tour" were read by Tim McInnerny.
As editor
In addition to writing his own stories, Aickman edited the first eight volumes of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories between 1964 and 1972. He was assisted in this by Christine Bernard, an editor at Collins.[15] He selected six of his own stories for inclusion over the course of the series. The fourth and sixth volumes lack one of his tales. He also supplied an introduction for every volume except the sixth.
Nonfiction
Aickman's autobiographical writing consists of the two memoirs The Attempted Rescue (London: Victor Gollancz, 1966) and The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure (Burton-on-Trent: Pearson, 1986). In 2001, Tartarus Press reissued the former volume in a new edition with a foreword by the writer and Aickman enthusiast Jeremy Dyson. Tartarus also reprinted the latter, with extra text which had been edited out of the first edition.
For a time, Aickman served as theatre critic for The Nineteenth Century and After. His reviews remain, to date, uncollected in book form. He also wrote two books relating to his conservation activities, Know Your Waterways and The Story of Our Inland Waterways (both 1955).
Unpublished works
Aickman produced a number of works that remain unpublished. These include the plays Allowance for Error, Duty and The Golden Round. A philosophical work entitled Panacea: The Synthesis of an Attitude runs to over 1,000 pages in manuscript form. Copies of these items are preserved, along with Aickman's manuscripts and other papers, in the Robert Aickman Collection at the British Library, with some papers deposited at Bowling Green State University, Ohio.[16]
Bibliography
Fiction
Novels
- The Late Breakfasters. London: Victor Gollancz, 1964. Library reprint: Bath: Cedric Chivers, 1978. Reprint: London: Faber Finds, 2014; Richmond, VA: Valancourt Books, 2016.
- The Model. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Reprint: London: Faber Finds, 2014.
- Go Back at Once. Tartarus Press, 2020 (a novel written in the 1970s, which remained unpublished until this limited edition of 500 copies). Reprint: Sheffield: And Other Stories, 2022.
Short story collections
Original collections
- We Are for the Dark: Six Ghost Stories. London: Jonathan Cape, 1951. (Collection containing three stories by Elizabeth Jane Howard and the following three by Aickman):
- "The Trains" (first published in The Tatler, Christmas 1951, as by Elizabeth Jane Howard and Robert Aickman)
- "The Insufficient Answer"
- "The View"
- Note: Howard's stories here are collected, with an additional story, "Mr Wrong" in her Three Miles Up and Other Strange Stories (Tartarus Press, ISBN 1-872621-75-9).
- Dark Entries: Curious and Macabre Ghost Stories. London: Collins, 1964. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014.
- "The School Friend"
- "Ringing the Changes"
- "Choice of Weapons"
- "The Waiting Room" (first published in The Sketch, Christmas 1956)
- "The View"
- "Bind Your Hair"
- Powers of Darkness: Macabre Stories. London: Collins, 1966.
- "Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen" (first published in The Tatler, Christmas 1953)
- "My Poor Friend"
- "The Visiting Star" (first published in The Tatler, 13 November 1952)
- "Larger than Oneself"
- "A Roman Question"
- "The Wine-Dark Sea"
- Sub Rosa: Strange Tales. London: Victor Gollancz, 1968.
- "Ravissante"
- "The Inner Room"
- "Never Visit Venice"
- "The Unsettled Dust"
- "The Houses of the Russians"
- "No Stronger than a Flower"
- "The Cicerones"
- "Into the Wood"
- Cold Hand in Mine: Eight Strange Stories. London: Victor Gollancz, 1975. Reprint: Faber, 2014, with a new introduction, "Uneasy Does It: An Introduction to Robert Aickman" by Reece Shearsmith and a new afterword, "Memories of a Friend", by Jean Richardson.
- "The Swords"
- "The Real Road to the Church"
- "Niemandswasser"
- "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal"
- "The Hospice"
- "The Same Dog"
- "Meeting Mr Millar"
- "The Clock Watcher"
- Tales of Love and Death. London: Victor Gollancz, 1977.
- "Growing Boys"
- "Marriage"
- "Le Miroir"
- "Compulsory Games"
- "Raising the Wind"
- "Residents Only"
- "Wood"
- Intrusions: Strange Tales. London: Victor Gollancz, 1980.
- "Hand in Glove"
- "No Time Is Passing"
- "The Fetch"
- "The Breakthrough"
- "The Next Glade"
- "Letters to the Postman"
- Night Voices: Strange Stories. London: Victor Gollancz, 1985. (Reprints "The Trains" and also includes the following):
- "The Stains"
- "Just a Song at Twilight"
- "Laura"
- "Rosamund's Bower"
- "Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale"
- The Strangers and Other Writings. Tartarus Press, 2015. (Collects unpublished and uncollected fiction and non-fiction. Fiction only listed here):
- "The Case of Wallingford's Tiger"
- "The Whistler"
- "A Disciple of Plato"
- "The Coffin House"
- "The Flying Anglo-Dutchman"
- "The Strangers"
- "The Fully-Conducted Tour"
Reprint collections
- Painted Devils: Strange Stories. New York: Scribner's, 1979. (Revised stories):
- "Ravissante"
- "The Houses of the Russians"
- "The View"
- "Ringing the Changes"
- "The School Friend"
- "The Waiting Room"
- "Marriage"
- "Larger than Oneself"
- "My Poor Friend"
- The Wine-Dark Sea. New York: Arbor House/William Morrow, 1988. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014.
- "The Wine-Dark Sea"
- "The Trains"
- "Your Tiny Hand is Frozen"
- "Growing Boys"
- "The Fetch"
- "The Inner Room"
- "Never Visit Venice"
- "The Next Glade" (Removed from Faber edition)
- "Into the Wood"
- "Bind Your Hair" (Removed from Faber edition)
- "The Stains" (Removed from Faber edition)
- The Unsettled Dust. London: Mandarin, 1990. Reprint: London: Faber, 2014.
- "The Unsettled Dust"
- "The Houses of the Russians"
- "No Stronger than a Flower"
- "The Cicerones"
- "The Next Glade"
- "Ravissante"
- "Bind Your Hair"
- "The Stains"
- The Collected Strange Stories. Horam, East Sussex: Tartarus/Durtro, 1999. (Two volumes)
- The Late Breakfasters and Other Strange Stories. Richmond, VA: Valancourt, 2016. (Reprints the 1964 novel and the following short stories)
- "My Poor Friend"
- "The Visiting Star"
- "Larger Than Oneself"
- "A Roman Question"
- "Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale"
- "Rosamund's Bower"
- Compulsory Games. New York, NY: NYRB Classics, 2018.
- "Compulsory Games"
- "Hand in Glove"
- "Marriage"
- "Le Miroir"
- "No Time Is Passing"
- "Raising the Wind"
- "Residents Only"
- "Wood"
- "The Strangers"
- "The Coffin House"
- "Letters to the Postman"
- "Laura"
- "The Fully-Conducted Tour"
- "A Disciple of Plato"
- "Just a Song at Twilight"
Nonfiction
- Know Your Waterways. London: Coram, 1955.
- The Story of Our Inland Waterways. London: Pitman, 1955.
Autobiography
- The Attempted Rescue. London: Victor Gollancz, 1966.
- The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure. Burton on Trent: Pearson, 1986.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Ashley, Mike. "In Memoriam: Robert Fordyce Aickman", Fantasy Newsletter (June 1981), p. 13.
- ^ Reginald, Robert, Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, vol. 2, Detroit: Gale, 1979, p. 791.
- ^ Hughes, Patrick; Davies, Ian F. (eds.). Highgate School Register 1833–1964 (6th ed.). p. 265.
- ^ Crawford, Gary William. Robert Aickman: An Introduction, Gothic Press, 2003, p. 3.
- ^ R. B. Russell. Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography. Tartarus Press 2022, pp. 31–32
- ^ Aickman, Robert. The Attempted Rescue, Tartarus Press 2001, p.3
- ^ Richardson, Jean, "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, Cold Hand in Mine, London: Faber, 2014, pp. 346–47.
- ^ "Jean Richardson. "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, Cold Hand in Mine, London: Faber, 2014.
- ^ "Canals Campaigner Honoured in Central London". Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ A motion passed by the council in November 1950 reads "this council confirms that the policy of the Association is to advocate the restoration to good order and maintenance in good order of every navigable waterway by both commercial and pleasure traffic." Ian Mackersey (1984). Tom Rolt and the Cressy Years. London: M&M Baldwin. p. 87.
- ^ David Bolton (1990). Race against Time. Methuen. pp. 89–91.
- ^ Aickman, Robert (1976). "An Essay". Rpt. in The Collected Strange Stories, Volume 1. Horam, East Sussex: Tartarus Press / Durtro Press, 1999. Pages vii–viii. ISBN 1-87262147-3
- ^ IMDb entry for "The Hospice"
- ^ IMDb entry for "Hand in Glove"
- ^ Richardson, Jean, "Memories of a Friend", Afterword to Robert Aickman, Cold Hand in Mine, London: Faber, 2014, p. 346.
- ^ Crawford, Gary William. Robert Aickman: An Introduction. Gothic Press, 2003, p. 71.
Sources
- R. Reginald (1979). "Robert Aickman". Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, v. 2: Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II. Vol. 2. Gale Research Company. p. 791. ISBN 978-0-8103-1051-3.
Further reading
- Bolton, David. Race Against Time: How Britain's Waterways Were Saved. London: Methuen, 1990. (Contains a great deal of material about Aickman, including several photographs, and the final chapter is devoted to him.)
- Briggs, Scott D. "Robert Aickman: Sojourns into the Unknown". Studies in Weird Fiction 12 (Spring 1993), pp. 7–12.
- Challinor, Philip. Akin to Poetry: Observations on Some Strange Tales of Robert Aickman. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2010. (Eight critical essays.)
- Clute, John. "Robert Aickman, 1914–1981". Strokes: Essays and Reviews, 1966–1986. Seattle: Serconia Press, 1988. (Revised version of Clute's essay in Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror, ed. E. F. Bleiler [New York: Scribners, 1985].)
- Crawford, Gary William. "Love and Death in the Tales of Robert Aickman". Nyctalops 18 (1983), pp. 51–55. (Includes the bibliography "Robert Aickman: A Preliminary Checklist".)
- ———. "The Poetics of the Unconscious: The 'Strange' Stories of Robert Aickman". Discovering Modern Horror Fiction II, ed. Darrell Schweitzer. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1988.
- ———. Robert Aickman: An Introduction. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2003. (The most detailed biographical and critical study produced to date.)
- ———, ed. Insufficient Answers. Baton Rouge: Gothic Press, 2012. (Three critical essays by different hands.)
- Howard, Elizabeth Jane. Slipstream. London: Macmillan, 2002. (Autobiography including an account of her relationship with Aickman.)
- Joshi, S. T. "So Little Is Definite". The Modern Weird Tale. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001.
- Morris, Christine Pasanen. "The Female 'Outsider' in the Short Fiction of Robert Aickman". Nyctalops 18 (1983), pp. 55–58.
- Ricketts, Martin. "Enigma Macabre: An Evaluation of the Short Stories of Robert Aickman". Shadow 3:1 (Nov. 1972), pp. 4–9.
- Russell, R. B. Robert Aickman: An Attempted Biography. North Yorkshire: Tartarus Press, 2022. (First full-length biography.)
Articles, essays and papers by other authors have appeared on the website Robert Aickman: An Appreciation, and in the journals Studies in Weird Fiction (published by Necronomicon Press), All Hallows (published by the Ghost Story Society), Studies in the Fantastic, Supernatural Tales and Wormwood.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Website devoted to life and works of Robert Aickman
- "Robert Aickman general information and visual bibliography". Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Robert Aickman: An Appreciation". Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- The Works of Robert Aickman
- "Aickman, Robert" in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
- Robert Aickman at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Robert Aickman at the Internet Book List
- Robert Aickman at IMDb
- Robert Aickman at the British Library
- 1914 births
- 1981 deaths
- 20th-century English short story writers
- 20th-century English memoirists
- 20th-century English novelists
- British parapsychologists
- British waterways activists
- English conservationists
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- English horror writers
- English short story writers
- British ghost story writers
- People educated at Highgate School
- British weird fiction writers
- World Fantasy Award-winning writers