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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 11, Summer 1946

Page 276

276     FANTASY COMMENTATOR

Forgotten Creators of Ghosts

by
A. Langley Searles

VI - William Fryer Harvey

I

     The repeated anthologizing of his "August Heat" and "The Beast with Five Fingers" has made even the casual follower of supernatural fiction aware of Dr. Harvey as a skillful explorer of outre themes. Connoisseurs of the genre realize, however, that the author's popularity need not rest on but two stories alone, since before his death in 1937 he had written nearly two dozen in this vein. These are scattered through three collections: Midnight House and Other Tales (1910), The Beast with Five Fingers and Other Tales (1928) and Moods and Tenses (1932). (The best are to be found in the second title, which is happily the least rare of the trio.) Hence, though his name is familiar to many readers, William Fryer Harvey yet gains mention in this series as a forgotten creator of ghosts because the bulk of his writings remains relatively unknown.
     Probably the most striking characteristic of his supernatural fiction is its widely diversified nature. As a rule, when dealing with a specialized field, an author expresses himself in a single and individual thematic fashion which varies---if at all---but  mildly, and then usually in chronological sequence. Thus we have come to associate with Blackwood a psychic tale having a subjective turning-point; with Hodgson and E. F. Benson, one firmly rooted in our everyday physical world and hinging most often on the objective; with Lovecraft, a wedding of modern space - time concepts to traditional legendary beliefs. And Benson's preoccupation with spiritualism, as well as Lovecraft's early experimentation with Poesque and Dunsanian forms, are variations conforming to recognizable chronological patterns. Harvey, on the other hand, runs the gamut of ghostly extremes. He seems equally at home at all times in a story of frightening coincidence, one featuring an authentic spectre, or in a fragment of pure fantasy. On the surface this would appear to smack of a dilettante's dabbling, but perusal of his work shows it to be of expert construction and of unquestioned merit.
     Such literary dexterity complicates a critic's task. As a result, the most that can be said about Harvey's themes is that they as a rule show derivation from forms of tradition, and that their force of presentation can be traced to under- rather than overstatement. Reasons exists also to suspect that the author was somewhat fond of the "surprise ending". It would be risky to venture more generalities than these.
Since a writer's style is so often intimately associated with its exploitation of an individual theme, it is naturally rather difficult to typify this one precisely. In general, however, one notes freedom from flamboyance and artificiality,and a quiet naturalness that reflects the mind of a mature story-teller who is keenly aware of his reader's reactions; the narration is circumstantial and matter-of-fact, seasoned with objective figures of speech. Harvey employs adjectives frugally, achieving lightness and modernity of texture without sacrificing a solid literary scaffolding in his prose. If pressed for comparison with other workers in the field, I would nominate the fellow Englishman A. M. Burrage as showing closest similarity, though one can detect also stylistic echoes of E. F. Benson and Walter de la Mare.
     Because of the few recognizable chronological trends apparent in Harvey's weird fiction his stories are most easily classified according to their subject-matter. When this has been done, they are found to fall into five groups, which, while more or less distinct, nevertheless cannot be termed wholly dis-

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276 FANTASY COMMENTATOR Forgotten Creators of Ghosts by A. Langley Searles VI - William Fryer Harvey I The repeated anthologizing of his "August Heat" and "The Beast with Five Fingers" has made even the casual follower of supernatural fiction aware of Dr. Harvey as a skillful explorer of outre themes. Connoisseurs of the genre realize, however, that the author's popularity need not rest on but two stories alone, since before his death in 1937 he had written nearly two dozen in this vein. These are scattered through three collections: Midnight House and Other Tales (1910), The Beast with Five Fingers and Other Tales (1928) and Moods and Tenses (1932). (The best are to be found in the second title, which is happily the least rare of the trio.) Hence, though his name is familiar to many readers, William Fryer Harvey yet gains mention in this series as a forgotten creator of ghosts because the bulk of his writings remains relatively unknown. Probably the most striking characteristic of his supernatural fiction is its widely diversified nature. As a rule, when dealing with a specialized field, an author expresses himself in a single and individual thematic fashion which varies---if at all---but mildly, and then usually in chronological sequence. Thus we have come to associate with Blackwood a psychic tale having a subjective turning-point; with Hodgson and E. F. Benson, one firmly rooted in our everyday physical world and hinging most often on the objective; with Lovecraft, a wedding of modern space - time concepts to traditional legendary beliefs. And Benson's preoccupation with spiritualism, as well as Lovecraft's early experimentation with Poesque and Dunsanian forms, are variations conforming to recognizable chronological patterns. Harvey, on the other hand, runs the gamut of ghostly extremes. He seems equally at home at all times in a story of frightening coincidence, one featuring an authentic spectre, or in a fragment of pure fantasy. On the surface this would appear to smack of a dilettante's dabbling, but perusal of his work shows it to be of expert construction and of unquestioned merit. Such literary dexterity complicates a critic's task. As a result, the most that can be said about Harvey's themes is that they as a rule show derivation from forms of tradition, and that their force of presentation can be traced to under- rather than overstatement. Reasons exists also to suspect that the author was somewhat fond of the "surprise ending". It would be risky to venture more generalities than these. Since a writer's style is so often intimately associated with its exploitation of an individual theme, it is naturally rather difficult to typify this one precisely. In general, however, one notes freedom from flamboyance and artificiality,and a quiet naturalness that reflects the mind of a mature story-teller who is keenly aware of his reader's reactions; the narration is circumstantial and matter-of-fact, seasoned with objective figures of speech. Harvey employs adjectives frugally, achieving lightness and modernity of texture without sacrificing a solid literary scaffolding in his prose. If pressed for comparison with other workers in the field, I would nominate the fellow Englishman A. M. Burrage as showing closest similarity, though one can detect also stylistic echoes of E. F. Benson and Walter de la Mare. Because of the few recognizable chronological trends apparent in Harvey's weird fiction his stories are most easily classified according to their subject-matter. When this has been done, they are found to fall into five groups, which, while more or less distinct, nevertheless cannot be termed wholly dis-