Academiejaar 2006-2007
The 'Presence' of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) in three
Belgian prose writers: J. Ray (1887-1964), R. d'Exsteyl (19261979) and E.C. Bertin (°1944)
Door
Charlotte Van Iseghem
Promotor
Prof. Dr. J. Vander Motten
Verhandeling voorgelegd aan de
Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte voor het verkrijgen
van de graad van Licentiaat in de Taal- en Letterkunde: Germaanse Talen
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WORD OF THANKS
5
I.
INTRODUCTION
6
1.1 E.A. Poe
7
1.2 Jean Ray
9
1.3 Roger d'Exsteyl
12
1.4 E.C. Bertin
16
1.5 Poe's literal presence in the stories by Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin
17
1.6 Magic Realism
19
II.
FEAR
20
III.
DEATH
40
IV.
WOMEN
51
V.
VIOLENCE AND MURDER
61
VI.
DOPPELGÄNGER
69
VII. SPACE AND THE CITY
81
VIII. CONCLUSION
86
2
BIBLIOGRAPHY
89
APPENDICES
94
3
WORD OF THANKS
This dissertation was made possible through the help and assistance of many, therefore
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who have contributed to the realization
of it.
First of all I would like to thank my promotor, Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Vander Motten.
He not only helped me find the topic for my dissertation but provided me with valuable
information and made sufficient time to discuss the progress of this study with me.
A next word of thanks goes out to Dr. Derek Littlewood and Dr. Stuart Robertson
from the University of Central England in Birmingham. During my Erasmus-stay in
Birmingham last year, I had the opportunity to follow their interesting course 'Crime, Mystery
and Sensation'. They discussed a wide variety of nineteenth century literature by authors as
Poe, Dickens, Braddon, Collins, Stevenson, Stoker, Wilde and Doyle. Through this module I
developped my knowledge and understanding of the narrative sophistication of detective,
mystery and sensation writers and the fin de siècle. Thanks to this course I was able to collect
a lot of background information for my thesis.
I express my thanks to Annelies Vermandel as well, for the critical reading of this
work.
Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, Marie-Rose Desmet
and Bernard Van Iseghem, for their unconditional love and support. I thank my sister,
Delphine, for her support and advice, she encouraged me continually during the writing
process of my dissertation. I show my appreciation for my sister's boyfriend, Simon Bolleire,
who has helped me with the layout and appendices of this work. The next person who
deserves a word of thanks is my boyfriend Dries. I thank him for his support and for offering
me relaxing moments during this difficult period. Finally, I would like to thank my friends for
all the beautiful and great moments we have experienced together during the past years.
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I. INTRODUCTION
My interest in Poe was first stirred during secondary school when we discussed some
of his tales such as 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Black Cat' in English class. The reading of
a part of his work instigated a desire to read more. Especially his style of writing, which
enhances a threatening and often terrifying atmosphere, appealed to me. During my
Erasmus-stay at UCE in Birmingham last year I took a course named 'Crime, Mystery and
Sensation'. Because my fascination for Poe was already aroused earlier the choice for this
module was easily made. In this course we discussed among others the work of Stevenson,
Stoker, Dickens and Poe. The emphasis here was on Poe's detective stories featuring Dupin
as main character. The socio-historical background of fin de siècle-writings was also treated.
Prof. Vander Motten suggested this topic for my dissertation because little research
has been done on the influence of Poe on Belgian writers. The horror genre has most often
been underestimated as a literary genre and this needs to be refuted. It was often stated that
these fearful writings were for children.
The word 'presence' in the title reflects the similar atmosphere found in the writings
of Poe, Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin. This research aims at investigating the AngloSaxon/Gothic influence of Poe in the works of these three authors. He is often thought of as
one of the most important influences for all horror stories. This dissertation does not want to
find the 'direct' presence of Poe in the oeuvre of these three prose-writers but rather an
overall resemblance in atmosphere that speaks from these writings and the thematic parallels
between them. Oftenly, Poe has literally entered the writings of Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin
when he is either mentioned as being an example of Gothic fiction or when he is being read
by one of the characters in their tales.
The three authors I am going to discuss in relation to Poe are all three writers from
Ghent but Ray wrote both in Dutch and in French and Bertin writes in English as well as in
Dutch. This is why I found 'Belgian' the most appropriate adjective here, better than 'Dutch'
or 'Ghent'.
This study focusses on the short stories of Poe and not on his poetry. Therefore the
emphasis is on the prose written by Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin. These particular Belgian
authors were chosen because they represent different generations. Their literary career is
more or less chronological. Ray began his writing career in 1925, d'Exsteyl wrote his first
novel in 1953 and Bertin is a contemporary author. I want to investigate if the atmosphere of
fear used by a nineteenth century American writer of terror stories could be found in the
5
oeuvre of three Belgian prose-writers from the twentieth century.
The works I will be discussing are the following: Poe's Tales of Mystery and
Imagination; Jean Ray's Malpertuis, Les Contes du Whisky and Les 25 meilleures Histoires
noires et fantastiques; d'Exsteyl's Steekspel met Schimmen, Souper met Vleermuizen and De
Dames Verbrugge; Bertin's Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen and Iets
kleins, Iets hongerigs.
In comparing these stories, the emphasis will be on the thematic resemblance
between them, more specifically in relation to the following themes: Fear, Death, Women,
Violence and Murder, “Doppelgänger” and Space and the City.
1.1 E.A. Poe
The nineteenth century American writer, E.A. Poe is often considered as one of
the most influential masters of the short story. He has frequently been called the
founding father of “the American Gothic” more specifically, the thriller and the detective
story.
Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 19 January 1809. His parents were
both actors but when he was orphaned in early childhood Poe was adopted by John
Allan, a wealthy exporter from Richmond, Virginia. Allan sent the young Poe to school
in England and later to the University of Virginia for a year. He entered the army but
after his efforts to enter the Polish army failed, he went to live with his aunt, Mrs Clemm
and his young cousin, Virginia. Edgar and Virginia would marry in 1836, when Virginia
was only 14 years old. In the months following this marriage he was often away from
home and experienced a period of depressive alcoholism. His first editorial job was for
the Southern Literary Messenger, in 1835, but he was dismissed in 1837. After this, Poe
and the Clemms moved to New York where they led a rough life for over a year. In 1839
they moved to Philadelphia where Poe worked for Gentleman's Magazine. It was in
1840 that his first collection, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, was published.
After a period of unemployment, he became an editor of the new Graham's Magazine in
1841. Poe soon became the editor of Broadway Journal in New York and some period
afterwards he owned it as well. After Virginia's death in 1847, he was so broken down
that he engaged in drinking again. E.A. Poe died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849.
Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination1 contains seventy short stories with
1 Tales of Mystery and Imagination comprises 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'William Wilson', 'The Fall of the House of
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different topics, ranging from detective stories, to adventure stories ('The Gold-Bug'), to
mythical, fairytale stories ('Eleonora', 'The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade')
and futuristic tales ('Mesmeric Revelations', 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar').
The figure of Auguste Dupin, the detective in the stories 'The Murders in the Rue
Morgue', 'The Mystery of Marie Roget' and 'The Purloined Letter' is believed to be the
precursor of other literary investigators like Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha
Christie's Hercule Poirot. Dupin has remarkable powers of deduction and is able to
identify with the criminal mind. With Dupin's ratiocination Poe introduced an analytical
method for criminal investigation.
The belief in fear as the most primal human feeling is the foundation for Poe's
tales of terror. Some of his characters are driven by perverseness to destroy the people or
animals they love the most, as is the case in 'The Black Cat', 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and
'Berenice'. The characters in 'A Descent into the Maelström' and 'The Pit and the
Pendulum' are trapped in a hopeless situation, where escape is impossible.
An often recurring motive in Poe's tales is “burial alive”. It is present in the
following stories: 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Premature Burial' and
'Berenice'. Death, imprisonment, resurrection, hidden secrets and alive burial are just
some of his ghastly themes.
Most of Poe's characters are psychic types suffering from some sort of nervous
disorder and hypersensitivity, which establishes a contact with a mysterious world.
Roderick Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher' for instance suffers from a nervous
agitation. Other narrators are mad yet want to convince the reader of the opposite as is
the case in 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.
Paradoxically, Poe already epitomized the fin de siècle-ideas at the beginning of
the nineteenth century, according to Versluys and Bachrach. The “most poetic subject in
Usher', 'A Tale of the Ragged Mountains', 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The Domain of Arnheim', 'The Cask
of Amontillado', 'Landor's Cottage', 'The Gold Bug', 'The Island of the Fay', 'Ligeia', 'Eleonora', 'Berenice', 'Morella',
'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar', 'The Man of the Crowd', 'MS. Found in a Bottle', 'Shadow – A Parable',
'Silence – A Fable', 'The Black Cat', 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Colloquy of Monos and Una', 'The Conversation of
Eiros and Charmion', 'The Oblong Box', 'The Assignation', 'King Pest', 'The Oval Portrait', 'A Descent into the
Maelström', 'The Purloined Letter', 'Metzengerstein', 'Hop-Frog', 'The Duc De L'Omelette', 'The Premature Burial',
'The Adventure of One Hans Pfaall', 'Mellonta Tauta', 'The Balloon-Hoax', 'The Thousand-and-Second Tale', 'The
Imp of the Perverse', 'The Spectacles', 'The Man That was Used up', 'X-ing a Paragrab', 'A Predicament', 'The
Mystery of Marie Roget', 'Some Words with a Mummy', 'Thou art the man', 'Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether',
'Loss of Breath', 'Mystification', 'The Devil in the Belfry', 'Mesmeric Revelation', 'Lionizing', 'Three Sundays in a
Week', 'The Angel of the Odd', 'A Tale of Jerusalem', 'Diddling', 'The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq.', 'Von
Kempelen and His Discovery', 'How to Write a Blackwood article', 'The Business Man', 'Astoria', 'Maelzel's ChessPlayer', 'The Power of Words', 'Magazine-Writing – Peter Snook', 'Philosophy of Furniture', 'The Sphinx', 'Never
Bet the Devil your Head', 'Bon-Bon', 'Four Beasts in One', 'The Little Frenchman' and 'The Masque of the Red
Death'.
7
the world” according to him was a neurotic intellectual, confronted with the death of a
beautiful woman. Poe has had an enormous influence on literature, first of all in Europe.
His adventure stories have influenced Jules Verne and R.L. Stevenson. His futuristic
tales have left their mark on H.G. Wells and science fiction writing in general. (Versluys
and Bachrach 1983)
1.2 Jean Ray
Jean Ray was born in Ghent on 8 July 1887 as Raymond Jean Marie De Kremer.
He is the product of the dual culture in Ghent at the end of the nineteenth century. In
Ray's time the Flemish bourgeoisie expressed their social superiority by speaking
French. French was heard everywhere in public places but in their private homes people
changed to a Ghent dialect. As is the case with Ray, most of the writers of this time were
compelled to write in the language they had learned best at school: French. However,
Ray wrote both in Dutch, under the name of John Flanders and in French, as Jean Ray.
As John Flanders he especially wrote for children in the Vlaamse Filmkens. These
booklets were most often tales of terror, horror and science fiction and have appeared
since 1930. He contributed to the Vlaamse Filmkens until 1962.
The early years of his life were set in Ghent, where he lived in the Ham, a street
close to the port of Ghent. Some autobiographical elements could be traced in his stories,
as he opens 'La main de Gœtz von Berlichingen':
Nous habitions à Gand, dans le Ham, une grande et vieille maison, si grande que
j'étais convaincu de pouvoir m'y égarer au cours de mes désobéissantes
incursions aux étages interdits. Elle existe encore aujourd'hui, mais sur elle
pèsent le silence et la poussière de l'oubli, car il n'y a plus personne pour l'habiter
avec amour. Deux générations de marins et de voyageurs y vécurent et, comme le
port est proche, l'appel des sirènes s'y marie avec les immenses résonances des
sous-sol et les échos appauvris de la rue sans joie qu'est le Ham. (Ray 1961 : 58)
He describes this street as “ce Ham long et maussade sempiternellement crépusculaire”.
(Ray 1961 : 60) Ray's servant Elodie who educates him is also present in this story, as in
Malpertuis. Elodie and Wantje Dimez are two important influences for Ray's fascination
with fantastic literature. They both read horror stories and legends to him as a child.
The biographical facts of Ray's life are difficult to reconstruct because of the
existence of a Jean Ray-myth, which he did not disaffirm. It is said that he had travelled
at sea at a young age and had smuggled alcohol through the “rumrow” from the Antilles
8
to the United States. After this period Ray was known under the nickname Tiger Jack
and when he set foot on land again he worked as a lion-tamer in a circus. Even his
grandmother is said to have been an Indian princess. It is unclear in how far these stories
are true and it is probable that they were called into being by Ray himself. It appears that
Ray preferred to live in a fantasy world rather than in bitter reality. In 1927 he was
sentenced to six years and six months of prison for fraud. He was released from prison in
1929 because of exemplary behaviour. His imprisonment was suppressed for many
years.
Ray was only known by some admirers in Belgium and France. This changed
when his prose was discovered by the French magazine Fiction in 1951. It contributed to
the publication of a second edition of his Malpertuis (1943) by the Parisian editor
Denoël in 1955. The publication made him famous overnight in France. Shortly
thereafter, his success would grow because of the pocket book which had broken
through. (Lampo : 1970)
In 1925, his first book Les Contes du Whisky was published for which he was
internationally praised. This volume is divided in two parts: 'Les Contes du Whisky'2 and
'Et quelques Histoires dans le Brouillard'3. The characters in Les Contes du Whisky are
marginalized figures from the underworld. They are violent drunks living in the
surroundings of the London harbour. Ray's narratives are presented in the form of a
monologue. According to d'Exsteyl the horror elements are more important than the
fantastic aspects in these short stories. The specific Jean Ray-characters – like the lonely
sailor – in Les Contes du Whisky are not yet worked out in detail. The focus is on the
unknown, on fear, on the fog of London and on the harbour. The fantastic element is
predominant in the second part of the collection. 'Le Gardien du Cimetière' is a vampire
story and in 'Les Étranges études du Dr. Paukenschläger' science-fictional elements are
present. Profound human feelings are also important, as is exemplified in 'Le nom du
bateau'. (d'Exsteyl : 1972)
Vander Motten suggests that Ray's Les Contes du Whisky established his
reputation as the “Belgian Edgar Poe” because it takes the reader into the realm of
2 'Les Contes du Whisky' comprises 'Irish Whisky', 'A Minuit', 'Le nom du Bateau', 'Un conte de fées à Whitechapel',
'La fortune d'Herbert', 'Dans les marais de Fenn', 'La Nuit de Camberwell', 'Femme aimée au parfum de Verveine',
'Le saumon de Poppelreiter', 'Entre deux verres', 'Josuah Gullick prêteur sur gages', 'La Vengeance', 'Mon ami le
Mort', 'Le Crocodile', 'Une Main' and 'La dernière Gorgée'.
3 'Et quelques Histoires dans le Brouillard' comprises 'Le singe', 'La Fenêtre aux monstres', 'Minuit-vingt', 'La Bête
blanche', 'Le Gardien du Cimetière', 'La bonne Action', 'Le Tableau', 'L'Observatoire abandonné', 'Les étranges
Études du Dr. Paukenschläger', 'La Dette de Gumpelmeyer' and 'Herr Hubich dans la Nuit'.
9
nightmares and terror. (Vander Motten 1999 : 48) Critics have compared Ray to E.A.
Poe more than once:
Dans le « Figaro », Gérard Harry signale que « la Belgique actuelle a donc son
Edgar Poe, doublé peut-être d'un ironique humoriste qui s'amuse à épouvanter
autant qu'un acrobate jouant à rester en équilibre sur une corde frêle, entre deux
gouffres noirs et sans fond ». Et la comparaison avec l'écrivain américain est
également évoquée dans le « Journal de Liège », dans « L'Éclaireur de l'Est »,
dans « Vouloir », dans « Les Nouvelles »...
Maurice Renard va plus loin encore. Pour lui, Jean Ray « est Edgar Poe réincarné
et adapté à notre siècle ». (as quoted in Baronian and Levie 1981 : 34)
Ray has been called the Belgian Edgar Allan Poe repeatedly.
The fantastic novel Malpertuis: Histoire d'une Maison fantastique was first
published in 1943. It is presented as a frame story by five different narrators. The subject
of this work is the belief in the continued existence of the gods as long as there is still
one person who believes in them. The gods from Greek mythology are revived by uncle
Cassave in his house Malpertuis. Because of Cassave's belief in these pagan gods, their
spirits were able to survive. When uncle Cassave is on his deathbed, he makes his last
arrangements and calls in his family. He declares that they will inherit a fortune after his
death, if they live together in Malpertuis. Little by little the characters begin to reveal
their true identity. Eisengott is the god Zeus, Euryale is the last survivor of the three
Gorgons, Prometheus, the Greek god of light is reincarnated in Lampernisse and Alecto
is the third of the Eumenides, the goddesses of revenge. d'Exsteyl has pointed out that
the characters are realistically depicted. The boundary between the fantastic and the
surreal is exceeded in Ray's novel. (d'Exsteyl : 1972) Harry Kümel adapted the novel
into a film in 1973.
Ray's collection Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques4 was published
in 1961. Two of the stories in this collection are taken from Les Contes du Whisky: 'Le
Gardien du Cimetière' and 'La Nuit de Camberwell'. 'Le Cimetière de Marlyweck' starts
off with a long description of a homely scene. d'Exsteyl has compared this style of
writing with Dickens's. (d'Exsteyl : 1972)
In his fantastic literature, Ray played with the fourth dimension and time but he
4 Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques comprises 'La ruelle ténébreuse', 'La main de Gœtz von
Berlichingen', 'La vérité sur l'oncle Timotheus', 'Dieu, toi et moi...', 'L'histoire du Wûlkh', 'Je cherche Mr. Pilgrim',
'Le psautier de Mayence', 'Le cimetière de Marlyweck', 'Quand le Christ marcha sur la mer', 'L'assiette de Moustiers',
'J'ai tué Alfred Heavenrock', 'Le grand Nocturne', 'L'auberge des spectres', 'La scolopendre', 'Merry-Go-Round', 'Le
miroir noir', 'La princesse Tigre', 'Le gardien du cimetière', 'Dents d'or', 'L'homme qui osa', 'Le dernier voyageur', 'La
nuit de Camberwell', 'Mr. Gless change de direction', 'Le cousin Passeroux' and 'Storchhaus ou La maison des
cigognes'.
10
also employed traditional horror themes such as the vampire, the werewolf and ghosts.
Ray frightens his readers but paradoxically, his characters are seldom afraid of the occult
powers they fight against. Ray presents his stories as testimonies. The atmosphere of the
“belle époque” is represented in his works.
Ray is a representative of the Anglo-Saxon short story. His work is frequently set
in London, his characters have English names etc.
Ray passed away on the 17 September 1964.
Peut-être Jean Ray est-il uniquement l'homme qui osa, cet homme qui a cru “un
peu en Dieu et beaucoup au diable”, qui a su, une fois pour toutes, que “les choses
invraisemblables ne s'expliquent que par des choses encore plus
invraisemblables” et qui, avec son “pauvre cœur misérable mille fois brisé”, a
compris que la plus belle audace de l'existence était de rêver debout et de voir le
monde avec les yeux de l'épouvante. (Baronian and Levie 1981 : 42)
1.3 Roger d'Exsteyl
d'Exsteyl was born in Ghent on 22 December 1926. For three years he went to the
school of journalism in Brussels. He entered the University of Ghent as a free student as
well. d'Exsteyl took several evening courses in Latin, Greek, French, English, German,
drawing, painting etc. Most of his life he worked as a journalist but the last eight years of
his life he was afflicted by a bad mental and physical health. He died on 26 January
1979, during a fire in his house. Roger d'Exsteyl is a pseudonym for Roger Martens. He
had a rather mysterious appearance which was described as follows by a journalist of De
Standaard:
Op het eerste gezicht een ietwat satanische figuur, doch zodra die jongeman met
fijne baard en dandy-allure aan het woord kwam, werd het één bekoring. Wat kan
die man heerlijk vertellen. Op een zo onderhoudende toon, dat een ieder geboeid
werd en zich door zijn meeslepend woord liet betoveren.
This extract is to be found on the blurb of Souper met Vleermuizen.
His first work of prose De Dames Verbrugge: Mysterie-verhaal was published in
1953. De Dames Verbrugge was considered the first “roman noir” in Dutch literature. It
includes several murders and a theft of money, which are traditional elements of the
genre. But he connects this with necrophilia, sadism and a hereditary curse. The family
Verbrugge is conditioned by the demonic character they inherited from their father, Von
Brückstaufen. d'Exsteyl criticizes the bourgeoisie and the differences in social class in
Flanders. The Kruiswegstraat, the street in Ghent where this story is set, forms the
11
connection between the familiar world and another supernatural world where mysterious
events occur. This street reoccurs in two other stories: 'Souper met Vleermuizen' and
'Een Tram na middernacht'. Behind the supposed peaceful and honest nature of the ladies
Verbrugge an atrocious reality is hidden. De Dames Verbrugge has been translated into
French and German and was adapted into a film entitled '6, rue du Calvaire' by Jean
Daskalides in 1973.
One year later Steekspel met Schimmen: 12 fantastische verhalen en documenten5
was published, with an introduction by Rik Lanckrock. In this introduction Lanckrock
states that the author who writes in the tradition of the Magical Realism works in the
following way: through mysterious and magical realizations he wants to abandon reality
and through this escape he exposes the deeper meaning of life. Lanckrock believes that
d'Exsteyl's goal was to create fantasy for the sake of fantasy. His purpose was to offer
the reader an easy reading and to make him familiar with a feeling of mystery and fear.
d'Exsteyl mainly focusses on two aspects: anxiety and the supernatural. Fear is
predominantly present in the human mind. There is a story for every month of the year in
this collection, adapted to the atmosphere of the time. Lanckrock indicates that
d'Exsteyl's sense for the macabre is similar to Poe's ('Souper met vleermuizen') and his
creation of a fearful atmosphere (as in 'Het Kerkhof der Gehangenen') could be
compared to the work of Jean Ray. (Lanckrock 1954)
In 1966 Souper met vleermuizen came out. This collection contains four stories
from Steekspel met Schimmen6, together with eleven new stories7 and a cycle of nine
science fiction radio stories Memoires uit de toekomst8 . Several of these stories belong
to the - at that time recently discovered - science fiction-genre.
The horrors in d'Exsteyl's stories are hidden behind a daily reality and homely
cosiness, which enforces their effect. He sought for the frightening and fantastic aspects
in the homely reality of life. Most of his stories are set in Ghent and its environment. The
biggest fear for rational man is to be confronted with something inexplicable. d'Exsteyl
5 Steekspel met Schimmen comprises 'De Volmaakte Partner' , 'Het zonderling Verhaal van het verlaten Woonschip',
'Souper met Vledermuizen', 'De Emmaüsganger', 'De vreemde Biecht van Ole Jörgensen', 'Het Mannetje met de
Pandjas', 'Old Curiosity Shop', 'Het kerhof der Gehangenen', 'De Man die Zelfmoord pleegde', 'De tweeledige Sekte
der Vuuraanbidders', 'Vier Blikjes Karnemelk halen' and 'De Schim van Lady Maud'.
6 'Souper met vleermuizen', 'De Man die zelfmoord pleegde', 'Het kerkhof der gehangenen' and 'Vier blikjes
qfdKarnemelk halen '.
7 'Een Tram na Middernacht', 'De Mummie van Ramses VI', 'De zwijgende Fietser', 'Geen spelletje voor
kinderen', 'Drie witte konijnen', 'Manhattan Nocturne', 'Morgen aan Zee', 'De Grote Samenzwering',
'Necronomicon', 'Solo voor een bizarre Bazuin' and 'De Komeet'.
8 'Verloren tijd', 'Bouwmeester Solness', 'De vijfde Verdieping', 'Nitsjevo', 'Suspence', 'Spaciorama', 'Flash-back',
mij'Fondu fermé' and 'De Dode-zielenstraat'.
12
created a mystical logic to approach the fantastic and employed his own rationality.
As one of Ray's disciples, d'Exsteyl wrote Jean Ray of de poëzie van de
angst/Jean Ray tel que je l'ai connu in 1972. This is the publication of a speech held by
d'Exsteyl on the occasion of Ray's 75th birthday, on 20 October 1963. The second part is
a series of anecdotes which were told on a remembrance night entitled “Jean Ray à
travers ses amis.” Roger d'Exsteyl was a good friend of Ray's, and Ray considered
d'Exsteyl as his “dauphin”. Ray's influence on d'Exsteyl is perceptible in his narrative
style. Just like Ray he makes use of a narrator who tells his story in the form of a
monologue. d'Exsteyl begins his stories with a daily reality which is twisted into a
mysterious and frightening surreal world filled with demons and ghosts. (Bertin 1979 :
24-25) Bertin points out that Ray's influence on d'Exsteyl is especially noticeable in the
stories included in Souper met vleermuizen. (Bertin 1980 : 8)
d'Exsteyl's novel De Dames Verbrugge is dedicated to Jean Ray, “grand-maître
du mystère et de l'aventure”, and has the following extract from Ray's Les Cercles de
l'Epouvante as device:
J'ai tracé à la craie des cercles sur le mur d'en face. Ils sont vides et noirs, mais ne
le resteront pas.
Ce sont de grands hublots ouverts sur un monde à naître encore. Les mondes qui
naissent, comme ceux qui meurent, sont pleins d'épouvante. (as quoted in
d'Exsteyl : s.d.)
This extract illustrates Ray's and d'Exsteyl's belief in another world hidden behind
reality. d'Exsteyl compares his ladies Verbrugge to the sisters Cormélon in Ray's
Malpertuis.
Jean Ray is often present in d'Exsteyl's narratives, especially in his collection
Steekspel met Schimmen. Ray's works are being read by one of the characters in
d'Exsteyl's stories, as is the case in 'De Volmaakte partner' where the protagonist Detlev
wants to read Ray's 'Le Grand Nocturne'. Or Ray figures as a character in certain tales,
such as 'Old Curiosity Shop', a detective story which also features Sherlock Holmes.
d'Exsteyl calls Ray his good friend and colleague here. 'Het mannetje met de Pandjas'
has as subtitle “Mon Conte du Whisky”. As in Ray's Les Contes du Whisky, the
characters have English names, are addicted to alcohol etc. but d'Exsteyl's story is set in
California instead of in London.
d'Exsteyl has translated the work of both Poe and Ray. In 1965 his translation of
Ray's Gejaagd door de angst was published and in 1966 he translated Poe's The
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It is clear that d'Exsteyl was familiar with
13
both these authors and their writings. Moreover, he made a translation of Wilde's The
Picture of Dorian Gray.
In De Gezellen van de Angst (1968) d'Exsteyl collects 15 writings of Belgian
authors of terror stories. He has brought together writers from an older generation
(Alphonse Denouwe, Hendrik Conscience, Gustave Vigoureux) with modern authors
(Thomas Owen, John Flanders, Johan Daisne, Berten de Keyzer, Bernard Manier, A.
Van Hageland, Walter Beckers, Michel Jansen) and writers of the young generation
(Michael Grayn, Gabriel Deblander, Alain-Valery). This collection was dedicated to
Jean Ray as well.
The following quote by d'Exsteyl, found in his introduction to Bertin's collection
of stories Horror House, brings the three Ghent writers – Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin –
together:
Mag ik even onderstrepen dat Eddy C. Bertin een rasechte Gentenaar is? Want
dat is belangrijk. Het is een aanwijzing dat er in die stad qua griezelverhaal een
traditie bestaat, eens gegrondvest door een Jean Ray en waarvan Uw dienaar de
eer had ze voort te zetten en het genoegen ze in Eddy Bertin te zien bestendigen.”
(as quoted in Bertin 1980 : 9)
These three authors are linked together. Ray considered d'Exsteyl his successor and
d'Exsteyl regards Bertin as the one who continues the Ghent tradition of horror fiction.
(Bertin 1980)
1.4 E.C. Bertin
Eddy Charles Bertin was born in Hamburg-Altona, Germany, on 26 December
1944. He has studied languages and trade. He was active as a bank clerk. He has written
horror stories both for children and adults, in English as well as in Dutch. He has worked
as a Belgian correspondent in the U.S.A. and the U.K. for several minor magazines
dealing with fantastic literature.
His collection of short stories Iets kleins, iets hongerigs9 was published in 1972
and contains 15 horror stories. This volume was originally written in English and
entitled Something Small, Something Hungry, the Dutch translation is by E. Leonard.
In 1979 Bertin collected ten fantasy and horror stories in Mijn mooie
9 Iets kleins, Iets hongerigs comprises 'Psychotherapie', 'Ik zou wel eens willen weten wat hij wou', 'De fluisterende
verschrikking', 'Horror House', 'De première van Gordon Ashley', 'Achter het behang', 'De man die ogen
verzamelde', 'De lege man', 'Gesprek met nergens', 'Hypnos', 'Samengesteld uit spinnewebben', 'Platonische liefde',
'De kevers', 'Dierbaar dagboek' and 'Iets kleins, iets hongerigs'.
14
Duisterlinge10. His characters are often fascinated by the occult, as is exemplified by the
recurrence of a pentagram in such stories as: 'Een pentagram voor Cenaide', 'Terug naar
jou, maar wie ben jij?' and 'Geestesoproeping'. The characters are driven by inexplicable
higher energies as is the case in 'De Kinderkamer' and 'Satans Tuin'. His stories
frequently feature characters who are authors of horror-stories themselves, as in 'Ik zou
wel eens willen weten wat hij wou', 'Satans Tuin' and 'Geestesoproeping'.
The protagonists of his stories are often psychologically deranged, so it is unclear
for the reader whom he has to believe. The protagonist in 'Achter het behang' for
example undergoes psychiatric treatment. The psychiatric patient tells his story to the
reader and this is afterwards refuted by a psychiatrist as in 'Mijn mooie Duisterlinge'. In
Bertin's stories the boundary between reality and the surreal is vague and he constantly
shifts perspectives. The presence of pentagrams, psychiatrists, “psychic vampirism”,
psychotherapy etc. reveals the influence of science fiction-writing.
Roger d'Exsteyl was a friend of Bertin's and he wrote several articles about him.
d'Exsteyl's influence on Bertin is found in 'Een pop voor Caroline'. This story resembles
d'Exsteyl's 'Geen spelletje voor kinderen' and features a doll with voodoo characteristics.
1.5 Poe's literal presence in the stories by Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin
When Poe is read by one of the characters in their stories, or is mentioned as a
model of fantastic literature, he is literally present in the work of these three Ghent
authors. What follows is an enumeration of extracts where Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin
refer to Poe in their works.
Je begrijpt natuurlijk, vervolgde onze Belgische Edgar Poe, dat deze
gebarricadeerde deur uw theorie in het niet doet verzinken. (d'Exsteyl 1954 : 83)
The fragment above is taken from d'Exsteyl's 'Old Curiosity Shop'11 where he calls Jean
Ray “our Belgian Edgar Poe”. The title of this story refers to Dickens' novel The Old
Curiosity Shop. Jean Ray is the main character in d'Exsteyl's story. The narrator here is
d'Exsteyl himself and he meets Ray in an old curiosity shop. d'Exsteyl calls Ray his good
friend and colleague. Ray is presented as a detective here, who helps to resolve a theft of
coins. d'Exsteyl compares Ray to Poe, the name of Poe is merely mentioned but plays no
10 Mijn mooie Duisterlinge comprises 'Mijn mooie duisterlinge', 'Een schreeuw op de veertiende verdieping', 'Een
kwestie van concurrentie', 'De kinderkamer', 'Een pop voor Caroline', 'Een pentagram voor Cenaide', 'Terug naar jou,
maar wie ben jij?', 'Geestesoproeping', 'Elkaar nooit aanraken' and 'Satans tuin'.
11 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Steekspel met Schimmen. Gent: De Vlam, 1954.
15
further role in the story.
In d'Exsteyl's 'Morgen aan Zee'12 Poe's name, together with those of Kafka and
Lovecraft, is used as a name for a minesweeper:
Hier commandant Joigny... Ha, bent u het, luitenant Revis?... Laat dadelijk
drie mijnenvegers zeevaardig maken... Ja, drie: de Lovecraft, de Poe en de
Kafka... Om 6,32 uur varen we uit...
Lothar en Liselotte keken de drie mijnenvegers na toen ze 's anderendaags, bij
gunstig tij, de haven uitvaarden: de Lovecraft, de Poe en de Kafka.
En ze bleven ze nakijken tot de schepen in open zee waren, tot ze tenslotte
verdwenen achter de horizon.
Verdwenen voor immer!...
Want de Lovecraft, de Poe en de Kafka zijn nooit meer teruggekeerd...
(d'Exsteyl 1966 : 76-77)
−
d'Exsteyl's 'Morgen aan Zee' is a story about a prehistorical sea monster. The
minesweepers have never returned because they were destroyed by this monster. The
protagonists here, Liselotte and Lothar, believe in the existence of a seamonster and were
able to convince commander Joigny to attack the monster. It is unclear why d'Exsteyl
used these particular names for his minesweepers. Probably because these authors had a
strong belief in the mysterious and inexplicable, just like the two protagonists of this
story. There is no further explanation given in this story for the choice of these names.
Poe is mentioned in two stories of Bertin's Iets Kleins, Iets Hongerigs. First of all
in 'Ik zou wel eens willen weten wat hij wou':
Hij gaf me 'De schreeuw uit de kelder', 'Alle schaduwen van de angst' en 'Het oog
van de vampier', en zei dat hij nog vele andere boeken had, van Machen, James
en Poe, en zelfs enkele titels van Lovecraft en Hodgson. (Bertin 1972 : 21)
The narrator of 'Ik zou wel eens willen weten wat hij wou' lends books of Francesca
Denvarra, an author of horror fiction, from the library. The titles in the excerpt above are
works of Francesca Denvarra, she was the former inhabitant of the narrator's house. The
librarian tells the narrator that there are other horror stories by James, Poe, Lovecraft and
Hodgson present in the library. Poe is merely mentioned as an author.
Secondly, Poe is present in Bertin's 'Samengesteld uit spinnewebben':
Hij kon nog steeds niet op zijn naam komen maar hij moest een identiteit hebben.
Ik ben Edgar Allan Poe, dacht hij, ik loop hier alleen en trots en dan sterf ik ijlend
in de goot van Baltimore en er wacht geen Virginia Clemm op me. Ik ben
Howard Phillips Lovecraft en ik schrijf de symptomen van mijn ziekte op en geen
van mijn vrienden weet dat ik stervende ben, maar ik weet het. Vervloekt jullie
allemaal, hoe heet ik, wie ben ik? Wie ben ik? (Bertin 1972 : 115)
12 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Souper met Vleermuizen. Hasselt: Heideland (Vlaamse pockets nr. 178), 1966.
16
The narrator of 'Samengesteld uit spinnewebben' has an identity crisis and is haunted by
mysterious shadows. As the extract illustrates he believes he is leading Poe's life, who
died in Baltimore in miserable conditions after his wife Virginia Clemm had passed
away. The narrator compares himself to Poe because he believes his own life is a failure.
Another similarity is that the narrator of the story is mourning about the woman he loved
as well, just like Poe who was depressed after his wife's death. Furthermore, the narrator
compares himself to Lovecraft, because Lovecraft was ill and the narrator believes he
sees shadows everywhere which points at a mental illness.
In Bertin's Mijn mooie Duisterlinge Poe's name occurs once, in the story
'Geestesoproeping':
Aan het einde van de hal knielde hij even voor de wàre Groten: E.A. Poe, H.P.
Lovecraft en John Flanders. (Bertin 1979 : 164)
This story is about an author of horror fiction who has decorated part of his house with
pictures of famous authors of fearful writings. The narrator considers Poe, Lovecraft and
Flanders as the most important representatives of the genre and sees them as models for
his own work.
What is remarkable in these extracts is that Poe's name often occurs together with
H.P. Lovecraft, another American author of horror fiction.
The eleventh chapter of Ray's Malpertuis has a device taken from Poe's 'The Pit
and the Pendulum': “Oh! Une voix, une voix pour crier!” (Ray 1982 : 167) Poe's narrator
of 'The Pit and the Pendulum' finds himself in a claustrophobic place where he is being
tortured. He is horrified when he realizes that every movement in his cell is being
watched and thinks the following: “Oh! for a voice to speak! - oh! horror! - oh! any
horror but this!” (Poe 1981 : 33) The narrator utters the wish to cry out his dread but he
is unable to. He feels helpless and believes that death is unescapable. Ray's eleventh
chapter of Malpertuis is entitled “Les Ides de Mars” and deals with the final battle of the
Greek Gods. They enter the abbey of Father Eucherius and destroy Jean-Jacques
Grandsire. The voice is crucial here because Eisengott constantly cries out that they may
not watch the battle. Jean-Jacques ignores Eisengott's advice and looks into Euryale's
eyes. As a consequence he is transformed into a statue.
17
1.6 Magic Realism
“Magic Realism” is the coalescence of two oppositionary terms. Strictly speaking
'magic' is the art to realize wondrous effects through irrational means. “Magic” is
something which cannot be explained by science, it has the mysterious as foundation.
“Magic Realism” then could be described as the way to penetrate into reality through
magical means, in order to reveal reality's concealed interior. It is a way to connect
temporal reality with the incessant transcendental. Similarly it is the connection of
science (realism) and beauty (magic). There are two approaches to Magic Realism. On
the one hand, it is a magical explanation of actual things, in other words it illuminates the
deeper sense of reality in daily experiences and events. On the other hand dreams,
visions and magical experiences are given a realistic form. Magic Realism opposes
reality and the surreal. (Lanckrock 1952)
The works of Poe, Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin belong to the literary genre of
Magic Realism. Ray's 'Le grand Nocturne' is an example of the Magic Realistic
corruption of daily reality.
18
II. FEAR
Fear is one of the most primal feelings of man. It is a general concept, one can fear
several things such as death, suffering, the unknown etc. Anxiety involves an uncountable
number of emotions ranging from slight uneasiness to deadly dread. Fear
and more
specifically, the anxiety for the unknown and the inexplicable are the basis of fantastic
literature. It has regularly been posed that the sole purpose of horror fiction was to frighten
people, but this needs to be refuted. Horror spectacles have fascinated people at all times in
history. Man takes pleasure in reading macabre stories because it does not involve actual
danger or fear. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines “fear” in the
following way:
fear /fiә/ n. & v.● n. 1 a an unpleasant emotion caused by exposure to danger,
expectation of pain, etc. b a state of alarm (be in fear). 2 a cause of fear (all fears
removed). 3 (often foll. by of) dread or fearful respect (towards) (fear of heights;
fear of one's elders). 4 anxiety for the safety of (in fear of their lives). 5 danger;
likelihood (of something unwelcome) (there is little fear of failure). ● v. 1 a tr. feel
fear about or towards (a person or thing) b intr. feel fear. 2 intr. (foll by for) feel
anxiety or apprehension about (feared for my life) 3 tr. apprehend; have uneasy
expectation of (fear the worst). 4 tr. (usu. foll. by that + clause) apprehend with fear
or regret (I fear that you are wrong) 5 tr. a (foll. by to + infin.) hesitate. b (foll. by
verbal noun) shrink from; be apprehensive about (he feared meeting his ex-wife) 6 tr.
show reverence towards. □ for fear of (or that) to avoid the risk of (or that). never
fear there is no danger of that. no fear Brit. colloq. expressing strong denial or
refusal. without fear or favour impartially. [Old English from Germanic]
This dictionary entry gives danger and pain as instances of elements which could cause fear.
Anxiety could also be a state of alarm.
In his introduction to Schouten, Bertin says the following about fear in the horror
genre:
Waar het op neerkomt is niet zozeer een kwestie van 'geloven in' (spoken of andere
bovennatuurlijke verschijnselen), maar van 'bang zijn'. En daar zijn we. Horror =
wat je bang maakt. En dat is verschillend voor ieder van ons. Er is zoveel dat ons
bang maakt. Kanker, aids, een auto-ongeval, het sterven van een partner, een ouder
of kind, geweld, de dagbladen staan er vol van. Zinloos, absurd geweld, sadisme,
seriemoorden. En dan zijn er die dingen die ons nog banger maken: het onbekende,
UFO's, Roswell, klopgeesten, spookverschijningen, àlles wat onze moderne
wetenschap niet kan verklaren. Dit alles vloeit samen in dat genre dat wij horror
noemen en is vaak vermengd met elementen van de mainstream, de gewone roman,
de science fiction roman, de thriller, en gelukkig maar; immers, deze kruisbestuiving
zorgt voor verrassende en lekkere lectuur. Het betekent ook dat wij het griezelgenre
niet in één hokje kunnen duwen, en dat is het laatste wat ik zou willen. (Schouten
1997 : 9)
19
As this extract points out, fear is very subjective and differs from individual to individual.
Anxiety is the foundation of horror fiction according to Bertin. Van Hageland stresses the
importance of fear as well (Van Hageland 1976 : 7).
Fear is a crucial element in the work of Poe as De Lorde discusses:
C'est le génie même de la peur, en effet, qui s'incarne en Edgar Poe, et son œuvre
rassemble tous les germes d'effroi qui peuvent éclorer dans l'âme humaine: horreurs
physiques, anxiété morale, appréhensions douloureuses de l'au-delà et jusqu'à cette
sensation encore inédite en littérature, la peur d' avoir peur, qui torture le
malheureux Roderick Usher. Le trait dominant de ce talent exceptionnel est l'alliance
d'une imagination effrénée et d'une logique imperturbable, la fusion du cauchemar et
de la vérité. [...] A mesure que le lecteur prend contact avec Poe, une frayeur secrète
s'insinue doucement, se glisse en lui, puis le possède, l'étreint, le fait frissonner: les
nerfs les plus solides n'y résistent pas; bon gré, mal gré, nous suivons Poe dans un
enfer auquel son art a su donner l'apparence même de la vie; tantôt il nous ballotte
sur les vagues d'une mer démontée et tantôt nous suspend au bord du gouffre sans
fond; le vertige nous gagne, l'angoisse nous serre la gorge. (De Lorde 1927 : 247)
According to De Lorde, Poe's stories collect all the possible seeds for anxiety present in the
human soul. Poe describes physical horror, moral anxiety, fear for death etc. De Lorde
points out that Poe was the first author who described “the fear of being frightened” in his
tale 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. Poe 's combination of logic and imagination is the
major characteristic of his style, he combines truth and the surreal. Not only does Poe
present characters who are frightened but he terrifies his readers as well. The reader is
gradually absorbed by the fear experienced by the characters, wilfully or not.
The prose writings of Poe create an oppressive atmosphere of threat and fear. His
character's situations are described in a subtle way and the reader only gradually realizes
how terrifying they actually are. Poe describes ghastly situations and the setting of his
stories is often dark and threatening. He combines fearful elements as fog, darkness, old
houses, storms etc. in order to enhance anxiety. The following extract from 'The Pit and the
Pendulum' illustrates Poe's description of a frightening atmosphere:
So far, I had not opened my eyes. I felt that I lay upon my back, unbound. I reached
out my hand, and it fell heavily upon something damp and hard. There I suffered it to
remain for many minutes, while I strove to imagine where and what I could be. I
longed, yet dared not, to employ my vision. I dreaded the first glance at objects
around me. It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast
lest there should be nothing to see. At length, with a wild desperation at heart, I
quickly unclosed my eyes. My worst thoughts, then, were confirmed. The blackness
of eternal night encompassed me. I struggled for breath. The intensity of the darkness
seemed to oppress and stifle me. The atmosphere was intolerably close. (Poe 1981 :
23)
In this fragment the reader is struck by the increasing oppressiveness of this
20
character's situation. The darkness is suffocating and there seems to be no way out. Poe's
narrators are often found in claustrophobic spaces. The protagonist is isolated and is trapped
in a hopeless situation.
Poe's stories are framed by a narrator who introduces his
experiences. He usually presents solitary narrators, as Silverman explains:
Egæus and many of his other protagonists also share with the Gothic hero their
isolation and extreme sensibility, their degenerated lineage from an ancient family,
and often an addiction to opium or alcohol. As tellers of their own tales, they also
follow their Gothic models in recounting the past through a veil of illness,
overexcitement, or memory, often creating in the reader a sense of uncertainty about
the correct interpretation of events. Poe particularly liked the kind of personal
narration known as the 'tale of sensation', featured by Blackwood's in such tales as
“The Man in the Bell” or “The Buried Alive”. The persons who relate them are
usually solitary victims of a life-threatening predicament, about to be hanged, trapped
under a heavy iron bell, locked in a copper boiler. Their minutely described
sensations in these terrifying circumstances constitute the narrative. (Silverman 1991
: 112)
Silverman compares Poe's narrators with other Gothic heroes. They are descendants of an
ancient family as is the case in 'Metzengerstein' for instance. His narrators often lose
credibility because they have a mental condition, are forgetful or are under the influence of
drugs or alcohol. They try to convince the reader that they are not mad as in 'The Tell-Tale
Heart' and 'MS. Found in a Bottle'.
Poe's narrators are victims of life-threatening situations as is the case in 'The Pit and
the Pendulum'. The narrator's punishment consists of a range of tortures: a razor-sharp
pendulum that descends to ultimately slice him to death, swarms of rats, starvation and
thirst. The last torturing device is the walls of red-hot metal which begin to close and which
would eventually force him to fall into the pit. He is prevented from falling into the abyss by
an outstretched hand which seizes him just before he falls. General Lasalle of the French
army has saved him and the French army has abolished the Inquisition.
Frequently the narrator in Poe's tales wants to convince the reader of his rationality
and intelligence, as is the case in 'MS. Found in a Bottle'. Here the narrator states that he is
not superstitious and has little or no imagination. The well-educated and sceptical of this
tale sets on a voyage from Batavia to the Archipelago Islands. A storm shatters the ship and
drowns the crew, only him and an “old Swede” survive. As they are drifting around there
appears a gigantic black ship on an immense wave above them. It hurls itself upon their
vessel and the narrator is thrown on board of the mysterious ship. No one aboard the
phantom ship seems to notice the storyteller. All the members of the crew speak an
incomprehensible language and “bore about them the marks of a hoary old age.” The
21
narrator keeps a journal with writing material he found on board of the ship. At the end the
ship heads for stupendous ramparts of ice and is swallowed by a whirlpool.
In 'The Tell-tale Heart' the narrator wants to convince us that he is not a madman, as
this extract shows:
TRUE! - NERVOUS – VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why
will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not destroyed –
not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the
heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then, am I mad? Hearken!
And observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story. [...]
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should
have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded – with what caution –
with what foresight – with what dissimulation I went to work! (Poe 1981 : 244)
The evidence given by the narrator for his sanity is that he minutely planned and executed
the murder he committed. He wants the reader to believe that a madman is unable to do this.
The setting of Poe's tales is often Gothic and he uses certain elements (solitary
houses, darkness, fog etc.) to create a fearful situation. The seasons in which his stories take
place are mostly autumn or winter. According to Silverman, Poe wrote in the tradition of
Gothic fiction:
In its several varieties, Gothic fiction aimed at creating the presence of something
that suspends and calls into doubt the laws of the universe. [...] It implied that the
terrors of the world we know are driven by something unknown and unknowable
beyond them.
Poe derived many specific features of his tales from Gothic tradition. Among other
devices he borrowed motifs of enclosure and premature burial, animated portraits
and tapestries, putrescence and physical decay; the depiction of garishly lit
dwellings, particularly mansions and castles, as enclosing a nightmarish domain of
the fantastic and irrational; the use of mirrors, interior decor, and external landscape
to reflect psychological states. (Silverman 1991 : 112)
Silverman points out that there is another world hidden behind reality.
Examples of the combination of fearful elements to create a frightening atmosphere
are found in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. Several of the Gothic elements which were
named by Silverman in the quote above are present in this story. There is the premature
burial of Madeline, the mysterious mansion and the external landscape which reflects the
psychological state of the Ushers. Sova indicates that the plot “was familiar to readers of
gothic romances in Poe's time. A young man is mysteriously summoned to an ancient home
that holds long-hidden secrets imbued with power over life and death.” (Sova 2001 : 86)
The narrator answers a desperate appeal of his friend Roderick Usher to come and see him.
22
During his stay at the Usher mansion, he learns more about the mysterious and extraordinary
life of Roderick and his sister Madeline. Madeline is deadly ill and soon passes away. At the
end it is clear that she was buried alive.
The house itself has Gothic characteristics: it is mysterious, ancient and stands
singularly in the country. The opening paragraph of the tale illustrates the threatening and
Gothic aspects of the place in which this story is set:
DURING A WHOLE OF a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year,
when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on
horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself,
as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of
Usher. I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of
insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was
unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment with which the
mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I
looked upon the scene before me – upon the mere house, and the simple landscape
features of the domain – upon the bleak walls – upon the vacant eye-like windows –
upon a few rank sedges – and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees – with an
utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly
than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium – the bitter lapse into every-day
life – the hideous dropping out of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a
sickening of the heart – an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of
the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. (Poe 1981 : 51)
The sight of this dwelling causes agitation for the I-narrator and it is unclear what has
caused this feeling. It makes him feel uneasy, it depresses his soul and sickens his heart. The
deformed reflection of the house in the water of the tarn makes him even more frightened.
In addition to the mansion there are other Gothic elements to be found in 'The Fall of
the House of Usher'. First of all there is the insertion of the poem 'The Haunted Palace' into
the story, it reflects the downfall of Roderick Usher as Silverman discusses:
In “The Haunted Palace” (an increasingly infrequent return to verse) he gave
psychological turn to the theme of rebellion recently treated in Pym, describing the
development of a mind, as he put it, “haunted by phantoms – a disordered brain.”
Besieged by sorrow, the self that was once a “stately palace,” filled with harmonious
spirits moving to “a lute's well-tunéd law,” recedes into an ungraspable past [...]
The distinctive words that give the poem its particular pathos are “home” and
“entombed.” They identify the particular losses that explain the growth of
“discordant melody,” the slide into personal chaos. (Silverman 1991 : 138-139)
The subject of 'The Haunted Palace' is the transformation of a glorious and gleeful kingdom
into a sorrowful place with a mourning monarch. The word “entombed” reflects that the
king has lost a person he loved. Seelye suggests that the human mind is depicted in
architectural terms in the poem “The Haunted Palace”. Furthermore, the house of Usher, the
23
building itself, has had a destructive effect on Roderick. The decline of the building affects
him:
Overcome with a constant terror of the future, an apprehension of his own imminent
destruction, Usher attributes his condition to the effect upon him of the building. He
is convinced that 'the mere form and substance of his family mansion' has had a
destructive effect 'over his spirit' – matter over mind, body over soul – the
'reciprocity of adaptation' central to Eureka! (Seelye 1992 : 13)
When the last two of the race of the Ushers die at the end, the house itself collapses as well.
So 'the House of Usher', in both meanings, exists no longer.
Another Gothic element in 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is the medieval volume
'Mad Trist' of Sir Launcelot Canning which the narrator reads to Usher during a tempestuous
night. This reading builds up the tension towards the end of the tale. As the storyteller reads
on, strange sounds come from an apparently distant place in the house. Suddenly Roderick
screams that Madeline is not dead and is standing at the door, it appears that she was buried
alive. Madeline falls onto her brother and as brother and sister die, the house collapses as
well. Thereupon the narrator flees from the house.
According to Sova the emphasis is on the interior human world in 'The Fall of the
House of Usher':
The story departs from the usual gothic fare in its emphasis upon introspection rather
than action and incident. Aside from the entombment of Madeline, none of the
standard elements, such as mysterious appearances and disappearances, hidden
rooms, or ghosts and visions, exist. The focus is placed on the narrator's perceptions
and observations of a disintegrating intellect – of a crumbling Roderick Usher rather
than a crumbling castle or abbey. The effect produced is not one of physical terror
but of the psychological, which requires the reader to enter Roderick's mind and to
join him in fearing the onslaught of insanity. The end of the standard gothic tale
brings resolution through revelations of familial relationships, old vendettas, and
interpersonal debts. The end of “The Fall of the House of Usher” serves no such
purpose. Instead, it raises questions that can never be answered as the characters who
may possess vital knowledge perish. (Sova 2001 : 87)
This story is similar to the Gothic story because it focusses on introspection. The focus is on
Roderick's – together with the race of the Usher's – downfall and not on the destruction of
the house. The emphasis is on the psychological life of Roderick, his state of mind leads to
his madness. As Sova points out, there are also differences with the standard Gothic tale,
because it ends differently. The standard Gothic story offers an explanation of what has
occured while 'The Fall of the House of Usher' does not.
Roderick Usher is afraid of being afraid, he is a slave of his fear (De Lorde 1927 :
247). Poe's narrator expresses this in the following way:
24
To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave. 'I shall perish,' said
he, 'I must perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be
lost. I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder
at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this
intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its
absolute effect – in terror. In this unnerved, in this pitiable, condition I feel that the
period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in
some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR. (Poe 1981 : 55)
Roderick's nervous agitation and suspicion lead to his madness and his consequent
downfall. The evolution of Roderick's countenance after his sister's death and her
entombment is described as follows:
And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change came over
the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His ordinary manner had vanished.
His ordinary occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to
chamber with hurried, unequal, and objectless step. The pallor of his countenance
had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue – but the luminousness of his eye had
utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no more; and a
tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror, habitually characterized his utterance. [...]
At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all into the mere inexplicable vagaries of
madness, for I beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the
profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound. It was no wonder that
his condition terrified – that it infected me. I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet
certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet impressive superstitions.
(Poe 1981 : 62)
Roderick's condition even affects the narrator.
Similar to Poe's house of Usher is Ray's Malpertuis, it is a Gothic, ghastly mansion as
well. The subtitle of Ray's novel already suggest this: “histoire d'une maison fantastique”.
The name of the house “Malpertuis” is the same as the foxhole in Van den Vos Reinaerde.
Malpertuis stands for the dwelling of the evil, it is the house of the devil. Its name alone
already causes fear:
Malpertuis! C'est la première fois que le nom coule, d'une encre lourde, de ma plume
terrifiée. Cette maison imposée comme point final de tant de destinées humaines, par
des volontés terribles entre toutes, j'en repousse encore l'image; je recule, j'atermoie,
avant de la faire surgir au premier plan de ma mémoire. (Ray 1982 : 22)
In Malpertuis, the boundary between the fantastic and the surreal is exceeded.
Malpertuis is a place of contact between reality and the transcendental. Ray brings
traditional elements of fantastic literature together in his novel. Such elements are Greek
mythology, the folkloristic legend of the werewolf and the golem.
In Malpertuis Doucedame is presented as a werewolf. On the eve of Purification, the
25
priest Doucedame visits the abbey of the Witheren, where Father Eucherius is the principal
abbot. Jean-Jacques Grandsire is present in Witheren abbey as well. Candlemas is the
culmination of Mary's Purification period, fourty days after Christ's birth, it is the day on
which light is being celebrated. The device of Malpertuis's ninth chapter is Flemish
superstition: “A la Chandeleur, le démon, ennemi de la lumière, dresse ses plus terribles
pièges.” (Ray 1982 : 140) On Purification day, the devil, who is the enemy of light, sets his
most gruesome pitfalls. Doucedame asks Father Eucherius to confine him in a fortified
room, Doucedame wants to be protected from himself. Piekenbot, a cobbler, arrives at
Witheren abbey with a package for Doucedame. Philarète, the taxidermist, had ordered him
to do this in a dream. Father Eucherius is suspicious about this package and decides not to
deliver it to Doucedame. At midnight the sound of a wild animal is perceived from
Doucedame's room: “Ce sont les pas d'un géant... d'une bête plutôt, ce sont des bonds et des
heurts, qui font frémir les murs et même les dalles du corridor.” (Ray 1982 : 151)
Doucedame's reaction is:
Un rugissement de tigre s'éleva, puis une voix monstrueuse vomissant les injures et
les blasphèmes les plus noirs. [...]
Un rire démoniaque déchira la nuit et j'entendis le bruit frénétique de griffes essayant
de labourer le bois épais de la porte. (Ray 1982 : 151)
Bets enters and tells them she has seen a devil surrounded by fire trying to break out from
the window in the tower. The content of Philarète's package is a wolves pelt, which is cast
into the fire. Doucedame was destined to be haunted by the devil because he could not
conform to the cardinal sin of gluttany. He was possessed by the devil and is exorcised on
Purification day. Light and faith will conquer darkness and evil in Malpertuis. Doucedame
had to be set on fire in order to transform into a complete human again, afterwards he rejects
his animal side as the wolves pelt is cast into the fire.
Tchiek is the golem from the cabbala legends. He is miss Griboin's servant, and
assists her in cleaning Malpertuis:
Ce serviteur habillé d'une grossière robe de bure, coiffé d'une sorte de tricorne qui
semble vissé sur son énorme tête ronde, se présente sous la forme repoussante d'une
barrique montée sur d'épaisses jambes en pieds de marmite; des bras d'une longueur
simiesque achèvent cette grossière ébauche de corps humain. (Ray 1982 : 73)
According to Jean-Jacques Grandsire, he is an inconspicuous creature, hardly noticed by the
other inhabitants. Just like the golem, Tchiek is an empty being, unable to speak: “Il n'y
avait, dans l'ombre du tricorne qu'une large surface de chair rose et luisante, présentant trois
fentes minces à l'endroit des yeux et de la bouche.” (Ray 1982 : 73)
26
Bertin's 'Satan's tuin'13 ['Satan's Garden'] is written in the Gothic tradition. The story is
set in “Salers House”, a haunted mansion which is dominated by “the Dark” and surrounded
by a garden filled with demonic powers. The story begins with a storm, Salers House is a
Gothic mansion standing solitary on a hill. The following extract exemplifies Bertin's
creation of a fearful setting:
Salers Huis stond alleen in de nacht, niet levend en niet dood. De mist steeg als een
grijpende, klauwende massa, een omhulsel uit de tuin omhoog en bekleedde het huis
met grauwe wolken. De wind was gaan liggen, geen blad bewoog, geen tak kraakte.
Langzaam rees de maan op boven de heuvel, een zilveren, volle maan die haar koud
licht gretig uitspreidde over het huis, de tuin en het dorp. Schimmige vormen
bewogen in de tuin, geruisloos, materieloos. Langzaam lichtten de ogen van het huis
op, een vaag onwerkelijk groenzilveren licht dat door de vensters heen sijpelde. Het
huis leek een monsterachtig schepsel, beschermd door de mist, dat daar in de
duisternis op zijn prooi wachtte. (Bertin 1979 : 215)
The presence of night, a full moon, shadows etc. enhance anxiety. The house is described
as a monstrous dwelling.
In his introduction to Schouten, Bertin also indicates the difference with the terror
genre:
Het terreurverhaal kennen wij al eeuwen. In de mythen en sagen worden mensen
geterroriseerd door cyclopen, reuzen, draken, vampiers, weerwolven en vaak door de
goden zelf. [...] Terreur is een toestand van continue angst, die in een goed boek
meestal traag start maar dan geleidelijk in sneltreinvaart komt tot de protagonist (of
het slachtoffer, wat niet altijd hetzelfde is) niet meer weet waarheen. [...] Opnieuw
gaat het dus over angst, maar deze keer wordt de angst niet veroorzaakt door een
confrontatie met het onbekende of bovennatuurlijke (griezel) of door gruwelijke
toestanden (gruwel), hoewel beide daarbij kunnen betrokken worden. Terreur is een
gemoedstoestand, die veroorzaakt en aangemoedigd wordt door een continue reeks
gebeurtenissen die in crescendo gaan en die de protagonist/het slachtoffer ofwel zelf
bedreigen of iemand die hem/haar dierbaar is. Deze crescendo gebeurtenissen leiden
uiteindelijk tot een 'doorslaan van de stoppen', en het verzet van de protagonist, en
zijn/haar confrontatie met diegene die aan de basis ligt van de terreur. (Schouten
1997 : 11)
Terror is a state of continual fear, which is caused by a series of events which are build up
towards a tension, until the protagonist breaks down. 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is a
terror story according to Schouten's description. Roderick's state of mind leads to his
madness.
According to Schouten, Poe introduced a psychological element into the horror story
13 In: Bertin, E. C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
27
and gave a new dimension to the intangibility of death. Schouten gives as examples here the
following stories: 'The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar', 'The Premature Burial', 'Morella'
and 'The Masque of the red Death' (Schouten 1997 : 14).
In 'The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar' Ernest Valdemar undergoes a hypnotic
experiment to determine if the mesmeric process can forestall death and decomposition. The
dying Valdemar is put into a trance in which he remains for seven months without any
physical alterations. When the mesmerist decides to awaken Valdemar, his body rots away
beneath his hands. The story expresses Poe's ambivalence towards the mesmeric science that
preoccupied the thinking of his time. The belief in the powers of “mesmerism” in the United
States in the 1840s was very popular. The process of prolonging life fascinates Poe, yet
death and the ultimate decomposition of the human body are inevitable. (Sova 2001 : 85)
'Morella' is one of the short stories (next to 'Metzengerstein', 'Ligeia', 'A Tale of the
Ragged Mountains' and 'The Black Cat') that deals with metempsychosis 14. The narrator is
married to Morella and they both study mysticism but Morella's manner begins to oppress
the narrator. He soon abhors her and wishes her dead. When Morella is dying she states that
he, who detested her in life, will love her in death. In dying, Morella gives birth to a
daughter. The girl greatly resembles her mother and the narrator decides to baptize her at the
age of ten. Hesitating for a name at the font, he is impelled to whisper the name Morella.
Instantly the child collapses and answers “I am here!”. As the narrator inters his daughter
Morella in the family tomb, there is no trace of his dead wife Morella.
Prince Prospero in 'The Masque of the Red Death' attempts to escape the pestilence,
the “red death”, which is raging over the country by isolating himself together with a
thousand friends in his palace. They engage in feasting and celebrating. There are seven
chambers all decorated differently in colour (blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet and
black). In the black apartment there stands a gigantic clock of ebony against the western
wall. During a voluptuous masquerade, a mysterious and uninvited figure wearing a mask
enters the ball. The figure strides through the seven rooms and as Prince Prospero tries to
confront it, he falls dead. One by one all the revellers die. With this tale Poe shows that
death is intangible and inescapable.
In 'The Premature Burial' the narrator is haunted by his anxiety of being buried alive.
Suffering from catalepsy he dreads being mistaken for dead. In his obsession he equips the
family vault with food and water and several devices which would enhance an escape from
within, if necessary. When he awakes one night in complete darkness and feels wood all
14 The transmigration of the soul into a new human or animal body.
28
around him, he consequently thinks that he has been buried alive. But he then recalls that he
is actually on a shooting expedition and that he and his companions had sought shelter for
the night in a small wooden sloop. After this memorable night his obsession with being
prematurely buried ceases and his cataleptic disorder vanishes too.
With this story Poe plays upon the public preoccupation with the fear of being buried
alive in his time:
Here Poe addressed a widespread anxiety in the period, in part owing to uncertainty
over the physiology of dying. Fontenelle's often reprinted On the Signs of Death
(1834) showed how such grievous conditions as tetanus and asphyxia could simulate
death. Books and pamphlets like Joseph Taylor's The Dangers of Premature Burial
(1816) discussed lethal errors in medical diagnosis and funerary practice, giving rise
as well to many fictional accounts that made the treatment of the subject something
of a cliché by the time Poe's tale appeared. The year before, in fact, Willis had
discussed in the Mirror on a new “life-preserving coffin” that automatically opened
if the occupant stirred. (Silverman 1991 : 227-228)
Silverman also elucidates that this fear of live burial could be linked with Freud's view that
the anxiety of premature burial “derives from an earlier, pleasurable fantasy of intrauterine
existence.” By the use of the adjective “premature” in the title – 'The premature Burial' – the
equation of tomb and womb is made, the word “premature” being coupled with birth. The
state of being buried alive in a coffin could be compared to the situation of being in the
womb. (Silverman 1991 : 228)
According to Sova, this fear was fed by published reports of hungry cadavers and
cries which were heard coming from graves. Nonfiction accounts tell of people leaving
instructions to delay their interments and to test their bodies by inflicting pain upon them in
the effort to provoke a reaction. In the nineteenth century several devices were invented to
avoid accidental live burial such as the attachment of bells to corpses, the installation of
speaking tubes and air tubes in coffins and the supply of a flag a victim could wave in
distress. (Sova 2001 : 201)
As discussed by Bennett and Royle, fear can be caused by the uncanny, which is
described as follows:
The uncanny has to do with a sense of strangeness, mystery or eeriness. More
particularly it concerns a sense of unfamiliarity which appears at the very heart of the
familiar, or else a sense of familiarity which appears at the very heart of the
unfamiliar. The uncanny is not just a matter of the weird or the spooky, but has to do
more specifically with a disturbance of the familiar.
The uncanny has to do with making things uncertain: it has to do with the sense that
things are not as they might appear, that they may challenge all rationality and logic.
29
(Bennett and Royle 1995 : 33-34)
Bennett and Royle distinguish ten forms of the uncanny. The first are “strange kinds of
repetition: repetition of a feeling, situation, event or character”. Two examples of this are
the experience of déjà-vu and the idea of the “doppelgänger”. Another form is odd
coincidences and the sense that things are fated to happen. 'Animism' is a third form of the
uncanny, referring “to a situation in which what is inanimate or lifeless is given attributes of
life or spirit.” The next form is 'anthropomorphism': “it is the rhetorical figure which refers
to a situation in which what is not human is given attributes of human form or shape.” The
fifth form which is distinguished is 'automatism': “a term that can be used when what is
human is perceived as merely mechanical: examples of this would be sleepwalking,
epileptic fits, trance-states and madness.” But the opposite is also true: robots and other
automata are uncanny because what is perceived as human is in fact mechanical in this case.
A sixth example is “a sense of radical uncertainty about sexual identity – about whether a
person is male or female, or apparently one but actually the other.” Another form is the fear
of being buried alive. 'The Premature Burial' by Poe is given as an instance of the uncanny
here. 'Silence' is the following example. The ninth form is 'telepathy', this “involves the
thought that your thoughts are perhaps not your own, however private or concealed you
might have assumed them to be.” 'Death' is the last subdivision made by Bennett and Royle.
“In particular, death as something at once familiar [...] and absolutely unfamiliar,
unthinkable, unimaginable.” (Bennett and Royle 1995 : 35-37)
The uncanny is what ought to have remained secret but has come to light. The
importance of the hidden is foregrounded, as is often predominant in Poe's stories.
Jean Ray describes fear as follows:
La Peur est une fin, elle se situe au bout de la raison, de l'entendement, de la
compréhension. C'est l'expression du désespoir devant la route barrée d'obstacles
insurmontables, le premier réflexe de l'âme devant le Néant apparu. On peut
comprendre comment on arrive à la Peur, mais pour cela on ne comprend pas la Peur
elle-même. Si, des fois, elle prend une forme, c'est que dans l'ignorance de l'abstrait,
nous lui en prêtons une et si elle est hideuse, il ne faut nous en prendre qu'à l'infirmité
de nos sens. On lui rend une plus saine justice en la considérant comme une
gardienne, sévère sans doute et sans gestes tendres, mais se dressant entre nous et un
péril inconnu, qui nous laisse nus et sans défense. La Peur est d'essence divine, sans
elle les espaces hypergéométriques seraient vides de Dieux et d'Esprits. (as quoted in
d'Exsteyl 1972 : 27)
According to Ray anxiety is the expression of dispair and fear itself is incomprehensible.
30
One can grasp how fear arises but not the true core of it. It protects us from an unknown
peril. Ray's oeuvre is situated in another world outside reality. Fear is part of this surreal
world.
Anxiety is closely linked to forbidden sexuality, according to De Klerk. Ray's heroes
do not succeed in uniting with their goddesses. (De Klerk 1980 : 108) De Klerk suggests that
fear is an indication of the human unconscious:
La peur serait donc une manifestation de l'inconscient, du monde parallèle, comme si
le monde pur pouvait être souillé par un espace qui déverserait ses manifestations
maléfiques, ou du moins obscures, sur le monde habituel. (De Klerk 1980 : 109)
Pure reality could be sullied by a space which pours its evil and obscure manifestations
upon it.
In his introduction to Ray's Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques, Henri
Vernes states that Ray's characters are often fearless:
Enfin, chez beaucoup de personnages de ces contes, la peur n'existe pas – celle-ci
étant réservée au lecteur. Ce sont des êtres qui ont tout vu, tout vécu, et qui se
meuvent avec aisance et détachement à travers les pires épouvantes. (Ray 1961 : 9)
In Ray's stories, anxiety is unknown to his characters, it is a feeling which is reserved for the
reader. The protagonist of 'Dieu, Toi et Moi...'15 for example is fearless of having a
relationship with a female vampire.
Darkness, obscurity and the night are other elements which enhance anxiety. At
night, everything is possible, dark powers come to life, vampires, murderers etc. and fear
takes possession of man.
In 'La nuit de Camberwell'16 the narrator believes that his clock - his only friend - has
been stolen because it has disappeared from his house. He perceives noises and takes his
gun. Suddenly two hands seize him by his throat and strangle him. He knows that he is about
to die when his gun begins to shoot automatically. The narrator flees and when he returns to
his house, nothing of a murder is perceivable but his hat has been perforated and there are
marks of fingers on his throat. It appears that the storyteller had entered the house of a
stranger and had murdered people there. It is unclear whether this story is a hallucination or
reality, as the narrator tells us: “j'avais bu énormément de whisky ce soir-là.” (Ray 1961 :
389) The protagonist of 'La Nuit de Camberwell' gives the following description of his
anxiety:
Ce fut la Peur qui me sauta alors sur les épaules et qui me mit en hurlant à la porte.
Comme je bondissais dehors, le “fog” vint. En deux minutes le brouillard occupa la
15 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
16 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
31
rue. Cimentant les impasses, barbouillant les façades d'une uniforme gouache, il
étouffa ma voix qui criait à l'assasin; il poussait une glaciale pore d'angoisse dans ma
gorge douloureuse. Je courus après de lointaines silhouettes humaines qui fondaient
dans la brume quand je les approchais, je sonnai à des portes qui restèrent closes sur
des sommeils obstinés.
Et je ne vis personne; personne ne m'entendit et le silence terrible de ma maison
sanglante me poursuivait à travers la sournoise complicité du brouillard. (Ray 1961 :
392)
Another example of how fear arises at night and especially at midnight is found in
'Minuit-vingt'17. The narrator tells his servant, Myriam, that he will go to sleep at twenty
minutes past midnight. Heilmacher has been dead for a year, since his death Myriam and the
narrator have been going to sleep at twenty minutes past midnight. Heilmacher was the
person who had created their pendulum clock, his spirit is present in the clock. At night,
shadows appear: “Bien, bien, ce ne sont que des ombres alors, il faut aimer les ombres
Myriam, elles ne font rien et ne sont pas chères. Il faut même aimer l'obscurité Myriam, car
elle ne mange ni huile ni chandelle” (Ray 1925 : 136-137) These shadows are not
frightening for the narrator. Heilmacher had refused the narrator's offer to purchase the
clock. Whereupon the storyteller had set up a plan to lend Heilmacher a large amount of
money which he would be inable to return, so that the narrator's theft of the clock would be
justified. The clock has one flaw: “jamais, l'heure de minuit et le geste mortel du squelette
n'arrivait à l'heure juste.” (Ray 1925 : 137) The clock rings midnight with a postponement of
twenty minutes. A very peculiar element is that Heilmacher had passed away a year earlier,
at exactly twenty minutes past midnight: “il était au milieu des siens, quand il s'est levé
subitement en criant: c'est l'heure; puis il partit d'un grand éclat de rire, et il tomba mort.... il
était minuit vingt!” (Ray 1925 : 138) At twenty past midnight the clock normally begins to
laugh. After the candle had died out, darkness confounds them and howling dogs are heard.
At twenty past midnight, no laughter is heard, but the clock opens itself. As the narrator
believes that this is a surprise from Heilmacher, he advances towards the clock. At that
moment, an arm stretches out and strangles him.
In 'Le Miroir noir'18 Dr. Baxter-Brown is at first afraid when he sees the magical
mirror:
La lumière s'éteignit et le médecin vit une belle clarté bleue surgir du fond du miroir.
Son premier geste fut dicté par la peur. Il courut s'enfermer dans la pièce voisine.
Pourtant, il ne tarda guère à s'accuser de lâcheté et, bien que de mauvais frissons
agitassent tout son être, il revint vers la table. (Ray 1961 : 296-297)
17 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
18 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
32
The blue light of the mirror gives everything in the room a fearful view:
Ce fut pourtant sa dernière tentative de crâner devant l'inconnu; il venait de se rendre
compte que l'incompréhensible et grotesque image créait autour d'elle une
atmosphère d'abominable terreur. La lueur bleue suffisait pour éclairer les objets
proches du miroir, et Baxter-Brown vit la bouteille de whisky et Polly baignées de
phosphore et d'opale.
C'étaient là des choses familières et même amies, d'un usage quotidien, banal;
pourtant leur propriétaire les regardait avec terreur, comme si elles participaient au
menaçant mystère qui venait de naître à ses côtés. (Ray 1961 : 297)
The light of the mirror transforms every familiar aspect in the room into something
unknown and fills the narrator with terror. The motive of the mirror reoccurs in horror
fiction. It has been treated by Poe too in 'William Wilson' and 'The Fall of the House of
Usher'. The reflection of the House of Usher in the water is even more ghastly than the sight
of the house itself. The mirror causes terror for William Wilson because he sees his
reflection in it. The mirror here features in a story that deals with the “doppelgänger”
motive, William meets his alter ego. This story can be linked with Oscar Wilde's The
Picture of Dorian Gray and Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The
idea of the double is an example of the uncanny according to Bennett and Royle. (Bennett &
Royle 1995 : 35) This subject will be discussed in more detail in the chapter dealing with
the “doppelgänger”.
Bertin describes fear in the following way in his short story 'De fluisterende
Verschrikking'19 ['The whispering terror']:
Echte angst stroomt als ijs door je aderen, het kruipt onder je huid omhoog naar je
nek. Het is net of je aan de rand van een afschuwelijk diepe put staat vol krioelende
leegte. Er was iets en toch was het er niet. (Bertin 1972 : 33)
The feeling that something is present which cannot be perceived causes anxiety. In another
story, 'Horror House'20, Bertin states that fear is a primal instinct and that every human being
is attracted by what repels him the most. (Bertin 1972 : 39)
Anxiety is often caused by the sense that there's an undefinable presence of
something which cannot be explained. The following extracts from 'Le Gardien du
Cimetière' by Ray exemplifies this:
Oh! Quelque chose d'atroce, d'épouvantable s'est passé.... là contre la vitre, un visage
d'enfer s'est collé.... De terribles yeux vitreux, des yeux de cadavre, des cheveux d'un
blanc de neige, hérissés comme des lances et une bouche immense ricanant sur des
19 In: Bertin, E. C., Iets kleins, Iets hongerigs. Utrecht: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1972.
20 In: Bertin, E. C., Iets kleins, Iets hongerigs. Utrecht: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1972.
33
dents noires, une bouche rouge, rouge comme du feu, ou comme du beau sang qui
coule. Puis la roue de feu a tourné dans ma tête et le sommeil est venu, et les
cauchemars. (Ray 1925 : 162)
Quelqu'un ou quelque chose est entré dans la chambre. Quelle atroce odeur
cadavéreuse! Des pas glissent vers ma couche.... Et tout à coup, un poids formidable
m'écrase. Des dents aiguës mordent ma plaie douloureuse et d'atroces lèvres glacées
sucent goulûment mon sang. [...]
A deux pas de ma figure, le visage de cauchemar apparu jadis à la fenêtre, me fixe
avec des yeux de flamme et, de la bouche, affreusement rouge, un filet de sang
suinte, mon sang. (Ray 1925 : 166)
This story is presented as a statement made by the narrator in front of a judge, he has to
explain why the body of the duchess Opoltchenska was found next to the corpses of the two
guards Velitcho and Ossip. The narrator of this story is a guard at the cemetery of Saint
Guitton. This is a neglected cemetery and it has been twenty years since the last person was
interred there. However, the cemetery is bought by a Russian duchess, Opoltchenska, and it
has to be guarded day and night by three guards. The narrator is one of these three guards,
together with two old servants of the duchess, Ossip and Velitcho. The storyteller has been
forbidden to leave the cemetery, cannot have any contact with the outside world and has to
stay away from the mausoleum where the duchess lives, which is situated on the burial
ground. At midnight the guards drink “chur” or “skur”, a narcotic made out of strange plants.
Little by little the storyteller's health deteriorates, there is a swell behind his ears which
enlarges. One night the narrator discovers an inscription made by his predecessor, which
states that seven guards had already been murdered and that he will be their next victim if he
does not flee from there. When he succeeds in escaping he descides to return to the burial
ground because he wants to resolve the mysterious death of the eight guards. He shoots
Velitcho and Ossip and then waits for something to happen. It turns out that the duchess
Opoltchenska has prolonged her life by drinking the blood of the eight guards. In fact she
was interred eight years earlier at the cemetery de Saint-Guitton but she permanently dies
because the storyteller shoots her at the end.
This short story features a female vampire. According to Carion, Ray's stories feature
monsters. He focusses on the werewolf and the vampire. The first one features in Malpertuis
and the vampire appears in 'Le Gardien du Cimètiere'. (Carion 1986 : 27)
About the vampire he states the following:
Le second, le vampire, est un mélange de noblesse et de bestialité, de vie et de mort:
déjà mort, il est encore en vie; forme vide, elle se gonfle du sang de ses victimes qui
éprouvent à son égard un sentiment mêlé de fascination et de crainte. (Carion 1986 :
28)
34
The vampire establishes a link between life and death. It is a creature which is already dead
yet still alive.
In Bertin's story 'De Kinderkamer'21 ['The Nursery'] the main character also senses the
presence of something - at that moment - unknown:
Ik ben niet zo gevoelig voor het bovennatuurlijke. Natuurlijk, ik heb al seances
meegemaakt en heb spiritistische materialisaties met eigen ogen gezien. Maar ik ben
zelf geen goed medium, dit heeft iets te maken met mijn fluïdium en aura en zo.
Maar hier, in dit huis, voelde ik de aanwezigheid van iets; het kwam op mij
toegestroomd vanuit die open deur als een stortvloed. Het was niet zinsverdovend, of
beangstigend. Ik zag niets, maar had enkel het koude, gevoelloze maar
overduidelijke besef dat hier buiten ons tweeën nog iets anders aanwezig was. En
dan, even onverwachts als het zich gemanifesteerd had, was het weer verdwenen en
liet een abrupte indruk van leegte na. Het was alsof ik de plop kon horen waarmee
toestromende lucht de lege plaats vulde waar zopas nog iets geweest was. [...]
Wat had ik zoëven ervaren? De aanwezigheid was niet de boosaardige energie die je
kan bespeuren in zogezegde spookhuizen, die je kippevel bezorgen zonder dat je
eigenlijk kan zeggen waarom. De onzichtbare aanwezigheid was niet kwaadaardig
geweest, enkel... observerend, bijna onverschillig. (Bertin 1979 : 66-67)
The protagonist of this story is Herbert Delaney, a journalist, and an author of horror stories.
At a party he is introduced to François Delvère by a mutual friend. Delaney and Delvère
share a common interest in fantastic literature. François invites Herbert to stay with him for a
couple of days. During his first night at Delvère's house, Herbert sees a girl standing on the
balcony of the nursery, but François only has a son. The next day he discovers that there is
no longer a balcony, it had been pulled down about ten years earlier. François' wife had a
miscarriage at the beginning of their marriage and after that it was impossible for them to get
pregnant again. However, twelve years earlier his wife was impregnated by her lover. Her
lover fell off the balcony, one month before the childbirth and because of the shock this had
caused for Iris, the baby was prematurely born. Iris hates her son, merely because he is a
boy. She does not call him Allan, but Ellie and she treats him like a girl as well. Allan has a
deformed body with a hunch on his back. When Allan fractures his arm, X-rays are taken
which show that his twin sister is growing in his hunch. Normally this foetus would not have
developped itself but Iris has given it a personality by treating Allan like a girl. On the day
that Iris's lover has been dead for twelve years, the mysterious energy in the house explodes.
Both Ellie and Allan appear that night and their body splits itself. Iris falls out of the window
of the nursery and there is something inexplicable found in the nursery. There is no
explanation given for the events at the end and François has to be interned.
21 In: Bertin, E. C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
35
In Ray's works independent parts of the human body feature as frightening elements.
The hand is an example of this, it occurs in 'Une Main'22, 'La Dette de Gumpelmeyer'23 and
'La Main de Gœtz von Berlichingen'24. According to De Klerk, the hand is a symbol for
power and supremacy.
'Une Main' begins with the description of a daily, homely setting. The narrator is
sitting in his lonely chamber, with a glass of whisky and the companionship of his fire when
he perceives something scratching at the windowpane. After he has recognized a human
hand, he says “mon cœur s'arrêta et mon feu ne fit plus d'ombres. Car entre toutes les choses
hostiles, la pluie qui glace, l'ouragan qui brise et les bêtes de nuit jeteuses de sort, l'homme
est la plus mauvaise.” (Ray 1925 : 110) The hand holds a knife and his heart tells the narrator
that this is a lonely hand. It is shivering, cold, hungry and in pain. The storyteller offers the
hand his glass of whisky out of commiseration. The hand accepts the offer and disappears, it
reappears shortly afterwards without the knife in its hand. The narrator understands what the
hand desires and shakes it for a long time. When the hand has disappeared, a weeping is
perceptible on the street.
In 'La Dette de Gumpelmeyer', the jeweller Gumpelmeyer has cut a hand off, when
he was closing the grid of his shop's door. He is uncertain whose hand this is, because he had
only seen a shadow, the hand was the only thing visible. He salves his conscience by
thinking it must have been the hand of a murderer or a thief. He wants to throw the hand
away but he seems unable to get rid of it. The hand is described as:
une main peu ordinaire, petite, mais tellement longue qu'elle en paraissait déformée,
une crasse de plusieurs jours y adhérait, mais dans la molle chair de l'entre-doigt il
dinstingua l'œuvre blanche et rose de l'acare, il en observa les cent minuscules
meurtrissures et vit qu'un autre mal encore plus mystérieux, plus horrible, avait
vilainement rongé le bout des doigts, estropié le pouce, raccorni les ongles. (Ray
1925 : 203)
This hand has already suffered a lot. As a consequence of cutting off the hand, Gumpelmeyer
grows ill and his hand becomes inflamed so that he has to shut down his shop. After
realizing that asking God for forgiveness will solve his problems, he cuts off his hand as
well. Afterwards the jeweller is optimistic and feels that he has payed his debts to God and to
mankind.
In 'La Main de Gœtz von Berlichingen' the narrator tells us about his uncle Frans22 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
23 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
24 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
36
Pieter Kwansuys. Kwansuys and his friends are fascinated by Goethe's Gœtz von
Berlichingen. During one of his offences, Gœtz von Berlichingen had lost his right hand. A
smith made him a surrogate hand with which he was still able to handle his sword. Von
Berlichingen had lost this artificial hand in Ghent where he had supported Charles the Fifth.
Kwansuys claimed he has retrieved this iron hand, which is compared to a spider. After
Kwansuys's death, the narrator inherits from him and also recovers the hand of Gœtz von
Berlichingen but casts this into the river. Kwansuys's friends had all disappeared or died.
Anxiety is enhanced by several aspects. The Gothic setting of Poe's 'The Fall of the
House of Usher' and Ray's Malpertuis is frightening. Poe's characters are terrified by the
oppressive and claustrophobic situations they are in. Opposite to Poe's protagonists are Ray's
characters who are often fearless. Gruesome elements in Ray's works are independent parts
of the body like hands and heads, vampires, monsters such as the werewolf and the golem
etc. Poe emphasized human psychology and the importance of the inner self in his stories.
This influence could be found in the horror fiction by Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin. Their
characters are psychiatric patients, have an identity crisis or mental disorder, they are
hypnotized etc. Fear could be caused by the unknown, the inexplicable, death, the uncanny
etc. The importance of death in relation to fear and horror literature will be discussed in the
following chapter.
37
III. DEATH
Death is closely connected to fear. The unknown often causes fear and death is
something unfamiliar, it is unclear what happens to man when his earthly life has ended.
Schouten indicates the evolution from fear to death as essential themes for horror
stories:
De dood is de essentie van de griezelliteratuur. Tot de jaren negentig van de
twintigste eeuw lag het accent vooral op de angst voor het bovennatuurlijke, het
onbegrijpelijke. Het leven na de dood. Onrustige geesten, aan de Aarde gekluisterd,
vinden pas werkelijke vrede na het voltooien van een onafgemaakte taak: meestal
een wraakoefening op de levenden. In de moderne griezelliteratuur staat de dood nog
steeds centraal, maar is het leven vlak voor de dood, of het sterven zelf thema
geworden. (Schouten 1997 : 31)
Before the end of the twentieth century the emphasis of horror fiction was on fear for the
supernatural and the inexplicable. Death is treated in two ways in horror literature, as a
character or as a theme.
It plays a crucial role in Poe's tales. Some of them fantasize ways of surviving death,
such as 'Metzengerstein' and 'The Duc De L'Omelette'.
The premise of 'Metzengerstein' is the doctrine of metempsychosis. There is an old
feud between the Metzengerstein and Berlifitzing families. The young Baron Frederick
Metzengerstein inherits his family's possessions at the age of eighteen. On the fourth day of
Metzengerstein's celebration of his inheritance the Berlifitzing stables catch fire in which
Count Berlifitzing perishes. During this event Baron Metzengerstein is sitting in his private
apartment, looking at a tapestry that pictures an epic battle between the two families. His
eyes are drawn to a gigantic horse which suddenly moves and stares at him. When
Metzengerstein runs away he meets some of his servants who have caught a gigantic horse,
which was seen fleeing from the burning Berlifitzing stables. The horse bears the mark of
the Berlifitzing family but no one claims it there, so baron Metzengerstein decides to keep
the steed. The baron develops a perverse attachment to the horse and starts to isolate
himself. One night when Metzengerstein is out riding, his castle catches fire. When he
returns, the steed plunges into the flames. There is a cloud to be seen in the figure of a horse
afterwards. The reader is left to believe that Count Berlifitzing has returned to take revenge
on the sole remaining bearer of the name Metzengerstein (Sova 2001 : 156). Here the soul of
count Berlifitzing was transmigrated into the horse.
The protagonist in 'The Duc De l'Omelette' escapes death because the devil has
38
resurrected him from “a rose-wood coffin inlaid with ivory”. For the duc, hell is a superb
apartment filled with statues and paintings. He suggests a game of cards with his soul at
stake, Baal-Zebub agrees to play a game double or nothing. As the duc de l'Omelette wins,
the devil loses both the game and his claim on the aristocrat's soul.
Keyser discusses the fascination for death in American culture around 1831. There
was a “cult of remembrance” as Keyser calls this. It was believed that by remembering and
honouring the dead, they could be brought back to life. The lament for deceased beloved
was romanticized. This remembrance is central in Poe's 'Ligeia'.
In 'Ligeia' he shows that recollection can be a curse. Ligeia is of exceeding beauty
and erudition, but her physical beauty is far less tempting for the narrator than her great
learning. Although she strongly attempts to resist death she grows ill and dies. After Ligeia's
death the narrator leaves the city by the Rhine and settles in an ancient abbey in England. He
marries again with Lady Rowena Trevanion, whom he loathes. She is the complete opposite
of Ligeia and he cannot forget the first. Because of the narrator's remembrance of Ligeia, his
attachment to her is preserved which unables him to love Lady Rowena. Lady Rowena soon
falls ill and dies as well. What happens then, is described by Silverman as follows:
As the narrator watches, Rowena's corpse seems to shuttle between life and death, or
between more life and more death, for after each return of increasing vitality she
relapses into even more advanced signs of rigidity or decay. This “hideous drama of
revivication” ends when “the thing that was enshrouded” finally arises and advances,
seeming taller and darkerhaired than in life, seeming to have the full, black, wild
eyes, so the narrator cries at the end, not of Rowena but “of the lady – of the LADY
LIGEIA!” (Silverman 1991 : 139)
The narrator was able to bring Ligeia back to life because of his remembrance and
imagination (Keyser : 2000). It could also be posed that the ending of the story is a
hallucination because the narrator is under the influence of opium. Or perhaps he imagines
he is seeing Ligeia when in fact it is Lady Rowena who stands in front of him. According to
Silverman 'Ligeia' is a tale of the revenant. The storyteller's obsession with Ligeia's eyes
testifies of her demonic power over him.
In Poe's tales the relationship between life and death is ambiguous. He constantly
questions the finality of death as resurrection is a recurring theme in his tales. Death is often
present as a form of life. A corpse is something that could come to life, it is not just a piece
of flesh. He believes that the anti-poles life and death, body and mind are inextricably
combined. This is reflected in 'The Premature Burial' according to Silverman:
Fearful of being prematurely buried, the narrator of Poe's tale places in his family
vault receptacles for food and water, and makes himself a warm padded coffin built
39
to fly open at the feeblest body movement. He even leaves a hole in the lid so that
one of his hands can be linked to an alarm bell outside the tomb by a long rope. The
setup resembles the womblike crate and guide rope in Pym, and illustrates Freud's
view that the fear of being buried alive, for many people the most uncanny thought
of all, derives from an earlier, pleasurable fantasy to intrauterine existence. The title
itself captures the equation of tomb and womb, 'premature' of course often being
coupled with 'birth'. (As applied to births, the word first appeared in the English
language in 1838.) Or as Poe himself writes in the tale, “The boundaries which
divide Life from Death, are at best shadowy and vague.” (Silverman 1991 : 227-228)
In 'The Premature Burial' there is a link between birth and death.
Poe frequently focusses on the physical aspects of death. An example of this is the
description of Mr. Valdemar's death in 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar':
As I rapidly made the mesmeric passes, amid ejaculations of 'dead! dead!' absolutely
bursting from the tongue and not from the lips of the sufferer, his whole frame at
once – within the space of a single minute, or less, shrunk – crumbled – absolutely
rotted away beneath my hands. Upon the bed, before that whole company, there lay
a nearly liquid mass of loathsome – of detestable putrescence. (Poe 1981 : 207-208)
In 'The Masque of the Red Death' the belief that death is inescapable is predominant.
Even Prince Prospero and his friends's seclusion cannot protect them from the red death:
And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief
in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of
their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the
ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods
expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over
all. (Poe 1981 : 763)
Jean Ray also believes that death could be overcome, as he describes in 'Le Grand
Nocturne'25:
Les hommes qui asservissent le temps en ne permettant pas aux veilles d'être
différentes des lendemains sont plus forts que la mort. Ni Théodule Notte ni
Hippolyte Baes ne le disaient, mais ils le sentaient comme une vérité profonde contre
laquelle rien ne prévalait. (Ray 1961 : 222)
This extract shows that whoever is capable of equalizing past and present could surpass
death. In the parallel universe in Ray's work, everything is able to resurrect. In 'Le Grand
Nocturne', Theodule encounters dead people in a crack of space. Miss Marie has returned
from the dead, so that Théodule could love her. If persons who have passed away are able to
revive, death could not be final.
Ray's 'Le Gardien du Cimetière' et 'Dieu, Toi et Moi...' feature a female vampire.
25 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
40
Vampires are creatures which are already dead yet still alive. The use of a vampirecharacter exemplifies Ray's double view on the finality of death.
'J'ai tué Alfred Heavenrock'26 is similar to Poe's 'Morella' because it also involves
reincarnation. Morella relives in the daughter she gave birth to. In 'J'ai tué Alfred
Heavenrock' the narrator, a salesman who trades shaving things and creams, is bound for
Kent. However, he gets lost and arrives at Ruggleton, a small town where the only
remaining house is owned by miss Florence Bee. She wants to let her house and abandon
Ruggleton. The storyteller, David Heavenrock, invents the character of Alfred Heavenrock,
his so-called cousin. He tells Florence that his cousin would probably be interested in
buying her house. According to David, “Alfred” is an alcoholic maniac, obsessed with
spiritism and resurrection. He describes “Alfred” to Bee:
Il se croit beau, mais il est déplorablement laid avec sa petite moustache en croc, ses
gros sourcils roux et ses horribles lunettes teintées. Il prend du ventre... – je ne puis
souffrir les hommes gras – il a toujours les mains sales, comme s'il venait de trier un
fond de grenier, et... et... il boit! (Ray 1961 : 208)
After some days, David has disguised himself as “Alfred” and returns to miss Bee's house.
“Alfred” tells her that David is in love with her. He has planned to poison Florence, in order
to rob her. But “Alfred” is thrown out of Florence's house after disrespectfully treating her.
Afterwards, David takes off his Alfred-disguise and returns to her house. David tells miss
Bee that “Alfred” “informed” David that he and Florence were engaged, this had enraged
David and he has killed “Alfred”. Florence is naive and believes all of David's stories. Three
weeks later, the narrator and miss Bee are married and a little later their son, Lionel, is born.
More than a year has elapsed when Florence claims that she has seen Alfred Heavenrock.
David's reaction to this is: “Je crois que tout tourna autour de moi et, soudain je sus ce
qu'était l'épouvante.” (Ray 1961 : 218) A little later, David finds a letter from his wife,
stating that Alfred Heavenrock has threatened her and that she has run off with him for
Lionel's sake. It appears that the invented character Alfred has reincarnated in Lionel:
Lionel grandit, il est roux comme un feu, sa voix est aigre et crépitante. On a beau le
laver à grande eau, il a toujours des mains sales. Il est méchant et aime férocement
l'argent; il n'y a rien pour lui faire plaisir que des shellings neufs et brillants. Dans
ses promenades, il entraîne toujours sa bonne vers le cimetière. (Ray 1961 : 218219)
The child also expresses the wish to resurrect the dead and drinks the liquor Kirchenwasser.
This is exactly as David had described and disguised himself as Alfred Heavenrock.
26 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
41
In 'Mon ami le mort'27 death is present as a character. The storyteller has a
conversation with Uriah Drosselbaùm, who tells the narrator that he is dead. He deceives the
narrator in believing that the other persons present in the pub “Site Enchanteur” are also
dead. Uriah explains this: “Les morts, expliqua mon compagnon, reviennent souvent
s'asseoir parmi les vivants, ce sont des compagnons en général convenables, et de commerce
facile, ils boivent sec mais presque tous trichent aux cartes.” (Ray 1925 : 97) Uriah tells him
that dead persons most oftenly reoccur on tempestuous nights. Drosselbaùm orders the
narrator: “Buvez, mon ami, je crois que seul le whisky ouvre la lourde port de votre
compréhension, sans vous foisser, à l'état normal vous devez être d'une stupidité notoire.”
(Ray 1925 : 98-99) The narrator and Drosselbaùm leave the inn together, and Drosselbaùm
sees the Flying Dutchman28 in the sky. Together they embark on the ship. Drosselbaùm
appreciates the narrator's companionship and suggests to kill him. At his turn, the narrator
knocks him off the ship and returns to the Site Enchanteur. There he discovers that the
alleged dead persons are in fact alive.
It is again indistinct for the reader what has to be believed. The narrator is in a state
of intoxication and Uriah Drosselbaùm tells him to drink more in order to understand that
the deceased could resurrect.
Ray's 'Le Tableau'29 is similar to Poe's 'Metzengerstein', in 'Metzengerstein' the soul
of count Berlifitzing lived on in a horse. In Ray's story, Warton exists in the painting he has
made. Gryde is usurer and Warton is in debt with him. Warton is unable to redeem his loan
and offers Gryde the painting he has been working on for his entire life. When Gryde's
friend examines the picture, he is bewildered by it but at the same time he admires it. The
painting depicts “une grande figure d'homme nu, d'une beauté de dieu, sortant d'un lointain
vague, nuageux, un lointain d'orage, de nuit et de flammes.” (Ray 1925 : 173) Gryde agrees
that Warton could spread out his debt over ten months but Warton has to complete the
painting and entitle it as well. After eleven months Warton had still not payed off his debts
whereupon Gryde decides to sell Warton's possessions. When he enters his house, both
Warton and his mother are found dead. Warton has left a letter in which he states that he has
entitled his painting “Vengeance”. According to Gryde this is not an appropriate title and he
asks himself how the picture will be completed. One night, Gryde believes he has seen the
figure on the painting moving and it tried to seize him. Enraged, Gryde thinks of destroying
the picture with a dagger but he reconsiders and casts the dagger away. After this event “la
27 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
28 A ghost ship which is doomed to sail the seven seas eternally.
29 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
42
figure du tableau tenait dans sa main un poignard qu'elle n'avait pas hier, et je reconnus aux
ciselures artistiques que c'était le poignard que Gryde avait jeté hier sur son bureau!” (Ray
1925 : 177) Gryde's friend promises him that he will destroy the painting, but he does not
out of avarice. Gryde is found dead in his office, with a slit throat and the bloody dagger is
visible on the painting. Warton has avenged the avaricious Gryde by means of the painting
with the significant title “Vengeance”.
In Malpertuis uncle Cassave declares that “mourir est une chose sérieuse, et il ne
faut pas se presser.” (Ray 1982 : 15) Cassave's death is crucial in Ray's novel as it is his last
wish that every member of his family would live together in Malpertuis until their death.
Otherwise, they would lose their part of the inheritance. If the last two survivors are a man
and a woman, with the exception of the couple Dideloo, they will marry and each will
receive half of the legacy. Most of the family loathe eachother yet driven by avarice they all
move into Malpertuis. Eisengott will supervise the correct execution of Cassave's will.
Quentin Moretus Cassave was a very learned and intelligent man, he had specialized
himself in the esoteric sciences. He had studied how to resurrect the dead and wanted to
rescue the Greek gods, who were in peril of life. All the heathen gods possess some
strength, a smouldering spark of vitality is still present within them. Doucedame's
grandfather and captain Anselmus, Jean-Jacques grandfather, brought them to Malpertuis.
Cassave's cousin Philarète, a taxidermist, manufactured a new skin for the decaying
remainders of the gods and in this way they were transformed into humans. According to
Doucedame, Cassave was not the devil in human shape: “Incarna-t-il le démon? Je ne le
crois pas, mais je pense que le Malin a compté avec lui en lui abondonnant, comme un fief,
la maison maudite, Malpertuis, où il se livra à l'épouvantable expérience.” (Ray 1982 : 163)
Darkness and light are crucial motives in Ray's Malpertuis. The character of
Lampernisse cannot live without light. The paint shop used to be run by Lampernisse:
Je me nomme Lampernisse et je jouissais des couleurs. Maintenant on m'a mis dans
le noir. Autrefois j'ai vendu du noir animal et de charbon, mais je n'ai jamais servi le
noir de la nuit à personne. Je suis Lampernisse, je suis bon et l'on m'a mis au fond de
la nuit, avec quelqu'un qui éteint toujours les lampes! (Ray 1982 : 28)
As this extract exemplifies, Lampernisse believes that there is a demon who extinguishes all
the light in Malpertuis. The colours of the paint symbolize the colours of the spectrum,
which form light when they are put together. Lampernisse is unable to live without light. He
is the reincarnation of the god Prometheus30:
30 Prometheus was a titan, who deprived the Gods of their fire and gave it to man.
43
Lampernisse qui fut peut-être le seul, parmi les dieux captifs du satanique Cassave, à
conserver toujours au moins une demi-conscience de son essence divine... Lui,
n'oubliait jamais tout à fait!... Tous les autres avaient de longs moments de torpeur et
d'oubli... L'aigle de Prométhée, l'aigle du châtiment, lui-même, dut oublier
longtemps. C'est ce qui permit au lamentable Lampernisse de mener contre lui, à
coups de couleurs et de lumières, pendant de longs mois, un dérisoire combat dont la
tragique issue était cependant écrite sur la roue inexorable du Destin...
(Ray 1982 : 164)
As Prometheus was chained to a mountain where an eagle continuously pecked his
liver, Lampernisse is fixed as well. Similar to the mythological legend of Prometheus, an
eagle extinguishes the light in Malpertuis.
According to De Klerk, Ray's characters desire to give a positive meaning to the acts
attributed to the devil. Prometheus' rebellion exemplifies the freedom of mind. Ray's novel
illustrates the struggle between light and darkness, between faith and paganism. (De Klerk
1980 : 71)
Little by little, Malpertuis's inhabitants begin to disappear: Uncle Dideloo, Nancy,
Tsjiek etc. On Christmas Eve, everybody has disappeared, Jean-Jacques and Euryale are the
only ones left in Malpertuis. On this crucial day for Christian belief, the forces of the pagan
gods culminate and are destroyed. The Greek gods reveal their true identity and cast off
their disguise.
Closely linked to darkness and death is the ghastly cemetery, it is predominant in
Ray's stories 'Le Gardien du Cimetière', 'Dieu, Toi et Moi...' and 'Le Cimetière de
Marlyweck'. In 'Le Cimetière de Marlyweck'31, Peaffy, the only friend of the storyteller
takes him to the cemetery of Marlyweck. They travel by horsetram and this leads them into
a parallel world. They have to be on time to return with the horsetram, because the next one
is in a hundred-and-two years. Mysterious events occur on the cemetery: a statue starts to
move, the children's cemetery is swayed on a rocking sea etc. The narrator is attacked by
the scythe of the statue and pillars pursue him whereupon he flees to the cemetery's gate. He
calls Peaffy for help, but he has disappeared and the storyteller never sees him again. The
elements which had threatened him at the cemetery turn up in his garden. “Toutefois ce ne
fut pas la peur qui domina mes sentiments ce soir-là, mais la colère” is what the narrator
tells us. (Ray 1961 : 174) Afterwards, he encounters Peaffy again but loses track of him. At
the end of the story, the statue has entered the narrator's house and is whetting his scythe.
In 'La Vérité sur l'oncle Timotheus'32, Ray's narrator describes death as follows: “La
31 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
32 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
44
Mort est une manifestation matérielle et intelligente, douée de volonté et de personnalité.”
(Ray 1961 : 80) The narrator of this story, Timotheus's nephew, is the assistant of the
superintendent of Bricklayers-Asyl. There is no cause of death to be found for Jonathan
Wakes. He has died because death wanted him to. The narrator encounters his uncle
Timotheus Forceville and realizes that he is the incarnation of death. Timotheus teaches his
nephew how to let persons die.
The primal fear for death is recurrent in d'Exsteyl's stories. It appears subconsciously
as the belief in another world after death or explicitly when the “Angel of Death” takes on a
tangible form as is the case in 'De Zwijgende Fietser'33 ['The Silent Cyclist']. Ray's
characters confront and challenge death whereas d'Exsteyl's protagonists establish a distance
from death. d'Exsteyl observes and rationalizes the impossible, a conscious recognition of
death's omnipresence and a realization that death cannot be overcome. (Bertin 1980 : 11)
Paradoxically, two of his stories, 'De Schim van Lady Maud'34 ['The Shade of Lady
Maud] and 'De Emmaüsganger'35 ['The Man of Emmaus'] question the finality of death.
Both these stories feature characters who have arisen from death. 'De Emmaüsganger' starts
off with the Easter Mass and the dogma of Christ's resurrection. After Mass, the narrator
visits the tombs of his father and a friend at the cemetery. Standing at his father's grave he
realizes that he does not believe that his father, as he has known him for twenty-seven years,
actually lays in that grave. When he goes to a park afterwards, he is again confronted with
death through the monument of Georges Rodenbach which states: “Quelque chose de moi
dans les villes du Nord / Quelque chose survit de plus fort que la mort.” (d'Exsteyl 1954 :
54) A young man with a beard accompanies him and together they elaborate on death. If
Jezus was the chosen one, it is comprehensible that he arose from death according to the
narrator, but he doubts that this would be the case for all human beings. The narrator
declares that he fears death:
−
−
Mijn geloof is geschokt, zei ik. Ik ben bang voor de Dood!
Dat is iedereen. Dat was ook Christus, Herinner u Zijn woorden “Vader, waarom
hebt ge me verlaten?”. Maar juist omdat u bang bent voor de dood gaat u over de
betrekkelijkheid van het aardse leven nadenken. U gaat zich afvragen wat of voor
betekenis dit leven nog bezit indien het, hoe schoon en krachtig ook, door een
idioot toeval kan worden afgebroken. (d'Exsteyl 1954 : 55)
Human rational thinking resists a belief in resurrection because it cannot be explained. The
33 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Souper met Vleermuizen. Hasselt: Heideland (Vlaamse pockets nr. 178), 1966.
34 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Steekspel met Schimmen. Gent: De Vlam, 1954.
35 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Steekspel met Schimmen. Gent: De Vlam, 1954.
45
young man tells the narrator that Christ had resurrected to indicate that the existent spirit
surmounts the mortal body. This narrator's companion appears to be Christ and he states that
as long as you believe in Christ, you will be able to live on after death.
Death is crucial in d'Exsteyl's novel De Dames Verbrugge as well. The death of three
characters, Celestine Verbrugge, Octaaf Verbrugge and Denise Eeckman, is central in this
story. d'Exsteyl's narrator Hugo fears the elements which are associated with death:
Aanvankelijk was Hugo uit gemoedsoverweging niet van plan geweest de lijkstoet
naar het gemeentekerkhof te volgen. Hij stond weliswaar vertrouwelijk tegenover de
dood in de christelijke conceptie van einde met daaropvolgend nieuw en eeuwig
begin. Doch de attributen van de dood: lijkkoetsen, doodskisten, rouwbehang en
kerkhoven, in 't bijzonder kerkhoven met hun versteende zee van walgelijkonsmakelijke grafmonumenten waaruit verroeste versierselen macabere geluiden
ontlokken, zweepten zijn overgevoelige fantasie soms op tot obsederende
nachtmerries. (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 51)
Hugo Saint-Laurent does not fear death itself because he believes in an eternal life after
death. Similar to Ray, cemeteries and other attributes of death create anxiety.
Françoise Verbrugge also believes that death is not final: “Er is weliswaar de treurnis
om het plotse afscheid. Want iets meer dan dit laatste is de dood niet: een afscheid tot in de
onafzienbare toekomst.” (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 77) After this statement by Françoise, she discusses
the subject of death with Hugo.
Similar to Poe's 'Metzengerstein' is the murder committed by Joachim von
Brückstaufen in De Dames Verbrugge. In 'Metzengerstein', the soul of count Berlifitzing
lived on in his horse, in order to take revenge on the sole remaining bearer of the name
Metzengerstein. In De Dames Verbrugge, the devil is reincarnated in the horse of von
Brückstaufen's teacher, Dr. Kreisner. Von Brückstaufen is able to manipulate the horse into
trampling Dr. Kreisner's face. Dr. Kreisner had kicked Pall, von Brückstaufen's dog, and
this was the immediate cause for the murder. Von Brückstaufen had a supernatural power
over animals and they obeyed all of his commands. Parallel to the narrator of Poe's 'The
Black Cat', von Brückstaufen prefers animals to humans.
Von Brückstaufen's suicide illustrates the power of the mind over the body. He was
specialized in occultism and more specifically in “fakirism”. Von Brückstaufen had
participated in an experiment where a fakir was buried for thirty-five days in an air-tight
closed coffin, six feet under the ground. This experiment is elucidated by Celestine as
follows:
Als de primaire principes van het occultisme u niet vreemd zijn, weet u wellicht dat
aan de meeste fakiristische experimenten en dus aan de schijnbegrafenis, een
46
volledig overwicht van de geest boven de stof ten grondslag ligt. Krashna KodahKhan bewees dit in positieve zin, met andere woorden: zijn oppermachtige geest
verhinderde de dood in een toestand waarin nochtans elk normaal leven onmogelijk
is. Mijn vader zou het doen in negatieve zin en de geest zou tot sterven in plaats van
tot leven dwingen. (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 158)
As the fakir's strength of mind forced his body to remain alive, Von Brückstaufen had done
the opposite and forced his body to die.
When Celestine went to live with her brother and sisters, she experienced that “er in
het huis vreemde en zonderlinge dingen gebeurden en langzamerhand gaven die me een
angstwekkende kijk op mijn omgeving.” (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 161) Celestine discovered that the
demon Von Brückstaufen was present in her siblings and that they were fascinated by death.
Octaaf Verbrugge was the most human of the siblings Verbrugge, but he had a predilection
for skulls which he painted in different colours.
Bertin's stories also deal with the ambiguity of death as is the case in 'Gesprek met
nergens'36 ['Conversation with nowhere']. The protagonist of this story finds himself in a
psychiatric institution and believes he is having a phone-call with his wife, who has been
dead for four years. In reality, the woman on the other line does not know him. The
protagonist had murdered his wife and wants to suppress this event.
Bertin's 'Hypnos'37 ['Hypnosis'] could be compared to Poe's 'The Facts in the case of
Mr. Valdemar' and the suicide of Von Brückstaufen in d'Exsteyl's De Dames Verbrugge,
these stories deal with hypnosis. Slade tells the narrator about the hypnotist Ballanter who
believes that the mind is able to manipulate the body, as long as there is a will which is
strong enough. Donald, Slade's brother-in-law, disagrees with Ballanter and they decide to
have an experiment. After Donald has been placed in a large black box, Ballanter hypnotises
him and makes him believe that four days will pass during his sleep, while only four
minutes will have elapsed in reality. The growth of his fingernails should prove how
Donald's body reacted to this event. None of the people present had exactly heard what
Ballanter had said to Donald but after opening the box the decayed corpse of Donald was
found in it. It is most likely that Donald's brain got the command to age four years. This
brain felt its body rot away while sleeping. This experiment has proven the strength of the
human mind. Ballanter married Jeanine, Donald's wife and Slade's sister, afterwards. Both
Jeanine and Ballanter had died in a car-accident on their honeymoon. It is suggested that
36 In: Bertin, E. C., Iets kleins, Iets hongerigs. Utrecht: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1972.
37 In: Bertin, E. C., Iets kleins, Iets hongerigs. Utrecht: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1972.
47
Slade had drugged Ballanter and that this was the cause for him falling asleep behind the
wheel.
Death is essential as a theme in horror fiction. Especially Poe, Ray and d'Exsteyl
approach death ambiguously, it is inescapable but not final. In Poe's 'Metzengerstein', the
human soul reincarnates into a horse, while the Greek gods in Ray's Malpertuis have been
revived in a human form. d'Exsteyl's 'De Emmaüsganger' deals with a character who has
been resurrected. Man fears death and the elements linked to it, such as the cemetery.
48
IV. WOMEN
Gothic fiction has often depicted women as innocent victims of evil, they are
assaulted by vampires, monsters, ghosts etc. This research wants to investigate if this view
on women could be found in the work of Poe, Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin.
The importance of women in the life of E.A. Poe is reflected in his stories. His
mother, the actress Eliza Poe, died when Edgar was nearly three years old, on December 8,
1811. After his mother's death, Edgar went to live with John and Fanny Allan. Fanny was
often too ill to take care of Edgar, so he was in fear of losing a parent again. Poe kept
searching for motherly succour. When Fanny died he felt guilty that he had left her. He went
to live with his aunt Maria Clemm (Muddy) later. Edgar then married his first cousin,
Virginia (Sissy). She died at the age of 19 from tuberculosis. (Silverman 1991)
Keyser points at the fact that the loss of the women in Poe's life was a source of
inspiration for his tales. He had seen death agonies, corpses, he had heard the moaning of the
people he loved. (Keyser 2000) His personal experience with death is why these aspects
recur in his tales. Poe rather saw women as surrogate mothers or sisters, than as lifelike
partners.
Poe's relation to his aunt and his cousin is reflected in the tale 'Eleonora' as Silverman
explains:
“Eleonora” (published in The Gift, an annual) forms with “Ligeia” and “Morella” a
trio of tales on fidelity to the deceased One Beloved. This time, however, Poe
rendered the theme in terms of his relation to Sissy and Muddy. The possibly mad
narrator, Pyrros, has married in youth his fifteen-year-old cousin Eleonora, with
whom he dwells in intimate isolation from others, and not only with her: “we lived
all alone, knowing nothing of the world without the valley, - I, and my cousin, and
her mother.” (Silverman 1991 : 170)
The narrator of this story lives innocently together with his cousin Eleonora and her mother
in the remote Valley of the Many-Colored Grass. After fifteen years the narrator and
Eleonora fall in love. When she is dying she fears that the narrator will leave the valley and
fall in love with a woman from the outside world. The narrator makes a vow “to herself and
to Heaven, that I would never bind myself in marriage to any daughter of the Earth – that I
would in no manner prove recreant to her dear memory, or to the memory of the devout
affection with which she had blessed me.” (Poe 1981 : 183) As time advances, the valley is
deprived of its gaiety, colour and life, so the narrator abandons it. He travels to a strange city
where he falls in love with Ermengade. The storyteller marries her without even thinking
49
about Eleonora and the vow he has made to her. At first he thinks he is cursed but one night
he believes he hears Eleonora's voice saying: “Sleep in peace! for the Spirit of Love reigneth
and ruleth, and, in taking to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengade, thou art absolved,
for reasons which shall be made known to thee in Heaven, of thy vows unto Eleonora.” (Poe
1981 : 185)
The tales 'Berenice' and 'Morella' for instance concern the disabling effects of the loss
of loved ones, as Silverman states:
“Berenice” and “Morella” are subtle psychological studies of the attempt to deal with
such loss through avoidance and denial, told in eerie, disturbed tones by the
traumatized survivors. The narrator of “Morella” has difficulty remembering his
feelings about his wife. [...] He calls Morella not his wife but his friend, lessening his
loss by devaluing her. More extremely, Egæus in “Berenice” claims to have had no
feeling for his wife-cousin at all: “During the brightest days of her unparalleled
beauty, most surely I had never loved her.”
Poe dramatizes how despite these and similar efforts to put at bay feelings of
attachment, the bereaved characters are driven to express them. [...]
Not only does attachment to the dead refuse to be sundered or submerged, but death
itself is treated as an illusion or mistake, the beginning of another life. (Silverman
1991 : 114)
This denial could be found in 'Ligeia' as well, where the narrator has a singularly bad
memory. He does not know Ligeia's family name etc. so it is possible that she was an opium
dream.
The narrator of 'Berenice', Egæus, is a descendant of a family of visionaries and lives
together with his cousin Berenice in his paternal halls. They greatly differ from one another:
Egæus is ill of health, gloomy, addicted to meditation whereas Berenice is very beautiful
and energetic. Berenice grows ill and he suffers from monomania38 by which he can think of
nothing but Berenice's teeth. Egæus states: “During the brightest days of her unparalleled
beauty, most surely I had never loved her. In her strange anomaly of my existence, feelings
with me, had never been of the heart, and my passions always were of the mind.” (Poe 1981
: 189) But after Berenice has grown ill, his feelings have altered: “And now – now I
shuddered in her presence, and grew pale at her approach; yet, bitterly lamenting her fallen
and desolate condition, I called to mind that she had loved me long, and, in an evil moment,
I spoke to her of marriage.” (Poe 1981 : 189) As Berenice starts to waste away, Egæus
becomes obsessed with her teeth. When she dies after an epileptic seizure, Egæus is unable
to recollect what he has done since her interment. A servant announces that Berenice's grave
has been violated and that her body has been mutilated but that she is still alive. Egæus'
38 A very strong interest in one particular idea or subject which prevents you from thinking about anything else.
50
clothes are muddy and clotted with gore and as he shrieks and bounds to the table, a box
filled with instruments of dental surgery falls off the table and thirty-two teeth scatter about
the floor. In this tale teeth are an important symbol.
This symbol can be linked with eating which pervades in Poe's tales. Silverman
suggests that “the wish to devour represents primitive attempts at preserving loved ones,
incorporating them so as not to lose them, filling oneself to make up for (and to that extent
deny) the loss.” (Silverman 1991 : 90)
Furthermore teeth recur in 'The Pit and the Pendulum', where the prisoner is
terrorized by rats who bite with their sharp fangs in his fingers, and in 'The Gold-Bug',
where the gold-bug bites at everything which comes near him.
Teeth are also important in Ray's story 'Dents d'or'39 where the narrator, Abel Teal,
deprives corpses of their golden teeth. He narrates that he is going to steal the golden tooth
of Silas Humblett from his tomb, but it appears that this grave has already been plundered.
When he wants to rob the grave of Lady Bollingham - who has sixteen golden teeth - he
discovers that she is buried with her jewellery. This theft makes him considerably wealthy
and he takes on a servant, miss Margaret Blockson. The narrator falls in love with Ruth
Conklin - who has some golden teeth - and asks her to marry him. In three weeks he finds
seven mouths of corpses empty, someone has been ahead of him each time. During lunch,
Ruth's sister, Elsa, states that 'Bec d'Or' is about to be interred and that he has an entirely
golden set of teeth. When Abel hears this, he immediately goes to the cemetery. But when
he tries to steal the teeth, the mouth of Bec d'Or shuts itself, so he is unable to loosen the
teeth. It appears that his sister-in-law, Elsa Conklin has been the mysterious person who has
been stealing golden teeth from tombes as well. Elsa asks Abel to marry her, and they will
live together with Ruth who will do the housekeeping even though it is Abel and Ruth who
are in love. When he wants to discharge his servant, Meg Blockson, she refuses and
blackmails him because she knows that he is a thief. Elsa kills Margaret, Elsa and Abel form
a pair of thieves from then on. At the end Ruth passes away, but Elsa and Abel do not
deprive her of her golden teeth.
Ray's story shows resemblance to Stevenson's The Body Snatcher. In this tale of
terror, corpses are deprived from their grave and sold to medical schools for vivisection.
Poe's mother's early death was present in almost all his adult imaginings. The
shrouded female figures that rise from the grave in his stories (like lady Madeline in 'The
Fall of the House of Usher') all return us obsessively to the question whether a beloved
39 In: Les 25 meilleures histories noires et fantastiques. Verviers : Marabout, 1961.
51
woman can really be dead. As Silverman formulates this:
Ligeia's ultimate rebirth only dramatizes more horrifyingly how those most deeply
beloved live on within oneself, never dead and ever ready to return. And Poe's need
to keep writing versions of the revenant plot indicates clearly enough his own
difficulty in putting the past to rest. (Silverman 1991 : 140)
In 'Ligeia' the narrator depends upon Ligeia like a child as the following extract
elucidates:
I saw not then what I now clearly perceive, that the acquisitions of Ligeia were
gigantic, were astounding; yet I was sufficiently aware of her infinite supremacy to
resign myself, with a child-like confidence, to her guidance through the chaotic world
of metaphysical investigation at which I was most busily occupied during the earlier
years of our marriage. [...]
How poignant, then, must have been the grief with which, after some years, I beheld
my well-grounded expectations take wings to themselves and fly away! Without
Ligeia I was but a child groping benighted. (Poe 1981 : 170)
Poe's loss of his mother is reflected in this story. When Ligeia dies the narrator immediately
seeks another caretaker. It appears that he is inable to be alone and needs someone he can
depend on. Poe's narrators are controlled by an insatiable need for love, they wish to be
loved, rather than to love.
Similar to Poe, a mother figure is often present in Ray's tales. Ray's servant Elodie is
present in such stories as Malpertuis and 'La Main de Gœtz von Berlichingen':
Elodie, notre vieille bonne, qui avait établi à son usage un calendrier de saints
propices aux fêtes et aux agapes familiales, avait, en quelque sort, canonisé
quelques-uns de nos amis et visiteurs et, parmi eux, le plus auréolé de gloire fut
certes mon oncle Frans-Pieter Kwansuys. (Ray 1961 : 58)
Elodie reads stories to the characters in Ray's tales, she provides the others with copious
meals, pancakes, waffles etc. In Malpertuis, Elodie is the only one who makes Jean-Jacques
feel welcome.
Ray's stories often feature a female vampire as is the case in 'Le Gardien du
Cimetière' and 'Dieu, Toi et Moi...'. The narrator of this last story is a sailor who has
returned to his native town, Weston. His neighbour, miss Messenger is a female vampire.
She sleeps in a tomb on the cemetery every night and has been dead for fifteen years. After
she has nourished herself with the narrator's blood they become lovers. The narrator seems
to be fearless of having a relationship with a vampire. When he wants to pull her into bed,
she leads him to a tomb: “Ceci, dit-elle, est tout ce que les puissances de la nuit me
permettent pour accueillir le sommeil et l'amour.” (Ray 1961 : 93) As De Klerk suggests,
52
sleep, death and love are linked together in the grave. The tomb is the sole place where the
female vampire can receive her lover. The narrator permits her to drink his blood and she
reveals her love for him. The captain needs to love her purely but he fails in doing this. (De
Klerk 1980 : 187) When she believes that the narrator has exchanged her for his servant's
daughter, miss Messenger permanently dies. He has found her hideous cadavre in her tomb.
She has passed away because there is no person to love her. Love has transformed into death
here.
De Klerk has pointed out the difference between these two female vampires. In 'Le
Gardien du Cimetière', the vampire does not exchange anything for the blood she withdraws
from her victims, she only takes life. The female vampire in 'Dieu, Toi et Moi...', on the
other hand, exchanges love for blood. The figure of the vampire is closely related to
forbidden sexuality. (De Klerk 1980 : 189)
'Un Conte de fées à Whitechapel'40 is a fairytale story which deals with a prostitute
who marries. Charley Sinclair and his friend Fledgemill use a narcotic to put Priscilla
Malverton, a prostitute, to sleep. When it appears that Priscilla will not awaken, Fledgemill
pledges that he will marry her if she would be revived. Priscilla eventually does wake up
and Fledgemill redeems his pledge. Although the story sets off with a negative view on
Priscilla Malverton, she is respectfully treated by Sinclair and Fledgemill.
Ray's females are women living in the neighbourhood of the port. These are
described in 'Femme aimée au parfum de Verveine'41. In the bar “Site Enchanteur” a group
of partygoers arrives. When the innkeeper announces that he wants to close, Dolly
Natchinson advances out of this group and she begins to sing the hymn where Butterfly
laments her solitude. “Cela lui fut inspiré et ordonné par Dieu.” (Ray 1925 : 65) She has
sung the commiseration of all the women from the port. The narrator gives an enumeration
of women from the port and concludes afterwards: “Toutes, entendez-vous, toutes sont
accourues sur la route mystérieuse du souvenir pour sauver l'évocatrice de leur éternelle
misère de femmes abandonnées.” (Ray 1925 : 67)
A following story which deals with a chanting woman is 'Herr Hubich dans la nuit'42.
Herr Hubich sits next to a rowing couple in a restaurant. He describes furious women as
toothless monkeys: “ce sont des guenons édentées qui jurent, menacent, salivent, crachent,
et postillonnent.” (Ray 1925 : 209) The woman utters the wish to sing but her husband
disapproves. She perseveres and eventually does sing. Herr Hubich has fallen in love with
40 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
41 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
42 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
53
this woman and engages in a conversation with her. The woman however, excells him in
their topics of conversation. Herr Hubich expresses the wish to die for her because “on
n'oublie pas un homme qui meurt d'amour pour vous.” (Ray 1925 : 216)
The women in 'Femme aimée au parfum de Verveine' and 'Herr Hubich dans la nuit'
are parallel: they both have violet-coloured eyes and sing the lament of Butterfly. Ray
frequently depicts females as creatures with a divine status.
Ray's women frequently occur as a threesome: the ladies Chouts in 'La main de Gœtz
von Berlichingen', the misses Rückhardt in 'La Ruelle ténébreuse'43 and in Malpertuis the
three ladies Cormélon. The ladies Cormélon, Rosalie, Eléonore and Alice, are the three
Eumenides44 from Greek mythology, Tisphoné, Megeria and Alecto:
Trois figures d'épouvante, trois horreurs sans nom, jaillies du tréfonds des enfers, y
évoluaient sur des ailes larges comme des voilures de barques. [...]
C'étaient des masques livides et grimaçants, tordus par une fureur démoniaque et
couronnés par une chevelure de serpents animés d'une rage folle.
Eisengott partit d'un éclat de rire strident:
− Les reconnaissez-vous, Père Euchère? Les Euménides!!! Voilà une des
abominations vivantes qu'Anselme Grandsire a rapporté au grand Casave! Les
Euménides!! Tisiphone... Mégère... Alecto! Les dames Cormélon, si vous
préférez! Elles réclament Jean-Jacques...
(Ray 1982 : 172-173)
Euryale is one of the three Gorgons, they are able to transform individuals into
statues with their eyes. Jean-Jacques describes her as follows:
ma cousine Euryale, habillée comme une madelonnette, mais plus belle encore que
Nancy, avec sa formidable chevelure rousse qui semble parcourue d'étincelles et ses
yeux de jade.
Elle les tient fermés et je le regrette: on voudrait jouer avec eux comme avec des
gemmes, les faire rouler entre ses doigts, réveiller leurs flammes vertes, les aviver de
son souffle. (Ray 1982 : 25)
All these females are malignant and frighten the male protagonists of these stories.
Similar to Poe, female eyes recur in Ray's oeuvre. The narrator of Poe's 'Ligeia' is
obsessed and enthralled by her eyes. Euryale's eyes in Ray's Malpertuis have an enchanting
quality as well. She is able to transform humans into statues with her vision. Euryale's eyes
are described as follows: “J'y vis briller deux flammes vertes, immobiles, comme d'énormes
pierres de lune perdues au fond d'une eau nocturne.” (Ray 1982 : 51) Euryale's look aids
uncle Cassave to expire. She transforms Jean-Jacques Grandsire into a statue:
Eisengott poussa un cri de désespoir.
− Malédiction... Il a regardé!
43 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
44 The Eumenides or Erinyes are three goddesses of vengeance.
54
Je me tournai vers le lit du malade.
Il était vide, mais Jean-Jacques Grandsire se tenait debout au milieu de la chambre, le
visage froid comme du marbre tourné vers le firmament apaisé.
J'étendis mes mains vers lui mais les retirai aussitôt avec horreur. Je venais de
toucher une statue de pierre, sans vie, sans âme!
Les paroles d'Eisengott tombèrent dans le silence comme des gouttes glacées:
− Ainsi meurent ceux qui ont levé leurs yeux sur la Gorgone!
Tout tourna autour de moi, je courus comme un dément à travers les couloirs,
m'arrachant à des bras qui essayaient de me retenir, en criant sans cesse:
− La Gorgone! La Gorgone! Ne la regardez pas!
(Ray 1982 : 174)
As is the case with Euryale, Ray's evil characters frequently have green eyes. In 'La bête
blanche'45, the ferocious animal has green eyes as well. Creatures and characters who cause
anxiety are depicted with green eyes.
In d'Exsteyl's story 'De Volmaakte Partner'46 ['The Perfect Partner'] the protagonist is
lured into death by his ideal woman. This portrays a negative image of women.
'De Schim van Lady Maud' ['The Shade of Lady Maud'], another story by d'Exsteyl
presents an anglican minister who is sentimental about the past. The song “Rhapsody in
Blue” recalls the moment when he had first embraced his lady Maud. Howard had met her
during a guided tour throught Ghent. Within two days he had asked lady Maud to marry
him. The narrator's best friend, Roderic de Bueren, had also fallen in love with lady Maud
but he had never told her nor her husband. Maud has been dead for a couple of years and
shortly thereafter, Roderic had died too. Because the minister had heard the song “Rhapsody
in Blue” he knows that something will happen on that day. Roderic has returned from the
dead to confess to Howard that he has always loved lady Maud and that they are united in
heavenly life. The woman in this story was a connection between Roderic and Howard. It is
because lady Maud loves these two men, Howard in the earthly life and Roderic in the
transcendental, that Roderic was able to return from the dead. In this story the woman
enables a link between life and death. Her love is able to surpass life.
According to Bertin, women play a minor role in d'Exsteyl's work. They are either
frail and dazzlingly ravishing creatures, where one can only feel a mystical love for or old,
shrivelled women with virulent intentions. The women in De Dames Verbrugge are more
deeply worked out. (Bertin 1980 : 12)
De Dames Verbrugge has four principal female characters: the three sisters
45 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
46 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Steekspel met Schimmen. Gent: De Vlam, 1954.
55
Verbrugge, Aurelia, Françoise and Celestine, and Denise Eeckman, Octaaf Verbrugge's
fiancée. Two prostitutes occur in De Dames Verbrugge, which is a less positive image of
females. These two prostitutes are Celestine and her mother.
Similar to Ray's Malpertuis, three sisters are centralized in d'Exsteyl's De Dames
Verbrugge. The existence of the third sister, Celestine, who has passed away, is kept hidden
for the narrator at the beginning of the story. Françoise tells Hugo that she has died of
tuberculosis in a Swiss sanatorium. But in reality she has been banned from the family. It
appears that she worked as the prostitute Claire in a bar in Brussels, from which she had
disappeared. An extract taken from Celestine's diary partly reveals the mystery of the
Verbrugge family. She had been abducted from her family by the demon
of von
Brückstaufen. Joachim von Brückstaufen, Celestine's father, an incarnation of the devil and
traces of this demonic character are to be found in his descendants. He was a minister and
had married a former prostitute. It is unknown why her family came to live in Ghent.
Joachim von Brückstaufen took on the name of Jean-Henri Verbrugge then and founded a
building company. Jean-Henri had collaborated during World War I, because of his love for
the German “heimat”. He was fascinated by occultism, more specifically by the figure of the
fakir. Aurelia had beaten Celestine to death.
d'Exsteyl's narrator, Hugo Saint-Laurent, describes the mysterious Françoise as
follows:
Maar toch moet ik je eerlijkheidshalve bekennen dat haar ganse wezen de mystieke
aantrekkingskracht van het Vrouw-symbool op me uitoefende: DE vrouw als
volmaakte synthese van geesteszuster en toegewijde minnares... (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 8-9)
Françoise has a mysterious and oriental appearance:
Françoise scheen een van die mystieke, mysterieuse figuren die men op Oosterse
ikona's vindt. Ze had een lange, slanke gestalte met enigzins zware, doch bijna
gesculpteerde borsten. Ze bewoog zich met steeds dezelfde nauwkeurig afgemeten
pas, trots en majestatisch als een koningin. Nooit heb ik haar luidkeels horen lachen,
doch bijna altijd speelde rond haar mondhoeken een stereotiepe glimlach, die haar
uitzicht nog geheimzinniger maakte. (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 161)
Hugo falls in love with her. He states that every individual's life resembles a novel,
compared to which literary fantasy is inadequate:
En ook de dames Verbrugge hebben waarschijnlijk zo'n levensroman. Toen ik hier
straks in deze serene en tot dromen stemmende sfeer van mijn kamer terugkeerde,
ben ik daarover gaan mijmeren: ik zag de dames Verbrugge als de personages uit een
van die levensechte romans van baron Cyriel Buysse en van diens tante en
kunstzuster Virginie Loveling. Maar toch nog treffender traden ze op me toe als de
mythologische figuren der gezusters Cormélon uit de huiveringwekkende bladzijden
56
van Jean Ray's magistrale “Malpertuis”... (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 9)
d'Exsteyl compares the sisters Aurelia and Françoise to the sisters Cormélon who are the
reincarnation of the Greek goddesses of vengeance in Ray's Malpertuis. This already reveals
the hideous character of the sisters Verbrugge. Denise Eeckman's view on the two sisters
further illustrates this:
Ongetwijfeld was Aurelia, zijn oudste zuster, de ergste. Ze is een echte feeks, een
zeer gevaarlijke en kwaadwillige vrouw. Françoise is anders, geheimzinniger, schijnt
zich blijkbaar om geen aardse dingen te bekommeren. En toch, hoewel ze
ongenaakbaar-koud als marmer toont, voel ik als vrouw zeer duidelijk dat ze een
geweldige sensuele natuur bezit, dat ze...
− U blijkt de dames Verbrugge goed te kennen, merkte Hugo enigzins schamper
op. Nochtans vertelde u me dat u nog nooit bij hen aan huis bent geweest.
− Ik... ontmoette ze... ergens... anders, antwoordde ze zonder veel animo.
(d'Exsteyl s.d. : 74)
This extract suggests that Denise encounters the two sisters in another world, out of
reality. Similar to Poe's Ligeia and Ray's Euryale, Françoise Verbrugge's eyes have an
enthralling effect on the narrator: “Ze keek hem plots vlak in de ogen en Hugo voelde hoe
de kracht van haar blik een hevige beroering in hem teweeg bracht, voelde dat deze
aanbiddelijke vrouw een grenzeloze macht over hem had.” (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 79-80) Women
have power over men and control them.
Parallel to Poe and Ray, who often include a mother figure in their works, the ladies
Verbrugge act as mother figures as well. Hugo Saint-Laurent goes to live with them because
he participates in an archeological research of the ruins of the Saint-Amandus abbey in
Ghent.
Bertin's 'Mijn mooie Duisterlinge'47 ['My beautiful Woman of Darkness'] features a
protagonist who has been rejected by the girl he fell in love with, Catharina. He has had a
car accident after this rejection and has been living in two worlds since then. In the
evenings, his loneliness becomes too intense and he searches for a replacement in his mind.
That is why he believes he is able to read minds because he could never be lonely anymore
then. This thought has led him to the creation of his “woman of darkness”, Cathy. He is lost
in the transition area of his own mind, and that is where his dreamvision, his Cathy waits for
him. She exists within the protagonist. The narrator has created an image of his ideal
woman.
47 In: Bertin, E.C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
57
Poe, Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin have an ambiguous view on women. On the one hand
they idealize females as mysterious and dreamlike figures or goddesses. But on the other
hand their women are malignant and have the male characters in their power. d'Exsteyl's
Françoise and Aurelia Verbrugge from De Dames Verbrugge and Ray's ladies Cormélon in
Malpertuis are instances of this. An important motive in relation to this aspect are female
eyes. As in Poe's 'Ligeia', the eyes have an enchanting and enthralling effect on men. Mother
figures are present in the stories by Poe, Ray and d'Exsteyl.
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V. VIOLENCE AND MURDER
Violence and murder are closely related themes, as murders often involve great
violence, torturing etc. The thought of pain frequently causes anxiety.
Another often recurring aspect in Poe's tales is domestic violence. 'The Tell-Tale
Heart' and 'The Black Cat' are examples of this.
In 'The Tell-Tale Heart' the storyteller works as a caretaker for an old man. He
murdered the old man and gives the old man's eye as his reason to justify the murder. The
body has been dismembered and is placed under the floorboard. Although the narrator's
motives for the murder are irrational, he tries to convince us of his sanity because he
carefully prepared it. This is how the protagonist explains his motive for the murder:
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it
haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved
the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I
had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that
of a vulture – a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my
blood ran cold; and so by degrees – very gradually – I made up my mind to take the
life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever. (Poe 1981 : 244)
The narrator is irritated and frightened by the eye and this is why he decides to kill the man.
His irritation turns into perverseness, he commits the murder simply because he knows it is
wrong. When the police arrive they search the house but find nothing. Even though the
narrator is safe from discovery he is tormented by the increasingly louder sound in his ears
of a beating heart and thinks the police is able to hear it as well, so he confesses the crime.
Something similar happens in 'The Black Cat' where the mental deterioration of the
alcoholic protagonist leads to irrational, violent acts. The narrator has always preferred
animals to humans and he used to be fond of his pets but because of his alcoholism he starts
to maltreat them. He fancies that his favourite cat, Pluto, starts to avoid him. Pluto has done
nothing wrong, the evolution in the protagonist's temperament is described as follows:
Pluto – this was the cat's name – was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him,
and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that
I could prevent him from following me through the streets.
Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general
temperament and character – through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance
– had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew,
day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I
suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her
personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my
disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still
retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple
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of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when, by accident, or
through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me – for what
disease is like Alcohol! - and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and
consequently somewhat peevish – even Pluto began to experience the effects of my
ill temper. (Poe 1981 : 236)
He blames his changed personality on intemperance, which he considers as a uncontrollable
disease. When he returns home one night, intoxicated, he cuts out one of Pluto's eye with his
penknife. As the cat slowly recovers, the narrator feels remorse but eventually perverseness
leads him to the hanging of Pluto. He has no justification for it, he has merely done it
because he knows it is wrong. Poe's narrator of 'The Black Cat' defines “perverseness” as
follows:
And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of
PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more
sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses
of the human heart – one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which
give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself
committing a vile or a stupid action, for no other reason than because he knows he
should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgement,
to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit
of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing
of the soul to vex itself – to offer violence to its own nature – to do wrong for the
wrong's sake only – that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I
had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cold blood, I slipped a
noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; - hung it with the tears
streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; - hung it
because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of
offence; - hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin – a deadly
sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it – if such a thing were
possible – even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most
Terrible God. (Poe 1981 : 236-237)
Perverseness is one of the primal urges of the human soul and it leads to the narrator's
violence. The protagonist soon brings another cat home, which resembles Pluto, it is also
entirely black and one-eyed but has an indefinite splotch of white covering its breast. As the
storyteller imagines that the white splotch of hair is shaped like gallows he begins to dread
the animal. When he attempts to kill the cat with an axe, his wife tries to protect it and gets
killed instead, he bricks up her corpse in his cellar wall. It appears that the cat had been
walled up together with the body and it betrays its presence to the police when they hear
inhuman shrieks coming from behind the wall. The cat is found sitting upon the corpse's
head:
The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes
60
of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat
the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing
voice had consigned me to the hangman. (Poe 1981 : 243)
It is probable that Pluto's soul reincarnated into the other cat and wants to take revenge for
its death.
It appears that both protagonists of 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' lose
their self-control and this is the cause of their crimes.
A similarity between 'The Black Cat' and in 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is the connection
between guilt and sound. In 'The Tell-Tale Heart' the protagonist believes he hears the heart
of the murdered old man thumping but the “low, dull, quick sound” is the beating of his own
heart and symbolizes his remorse. In 'The Black Cat' the narrator also feels guilty because he
hangs Pluto. The corpse of his wife is discovered because the cat gets walled up with it and
the animal starts to cry when the police came to the narrator's house. The sound made by the
cat reveals the hiding place of the corpse. The hidden corpses in these stories cannot stay
concealed. The narrators reveal their murder and tell the reader how they feel.
Another parallel between these tales is the role played by the eye. The old man in
'The Tell-Tale Heart' gets killed because he has a vulture eye. In 'The Black Cat' the first act
of cruelty done by Pluto's master is the cutting out of one of its eyes. The second cat the
narrator buys in this tale has only one eye as well. The narrator of 'The Black Cat' cuts one
of Pluto's eyes from the socket after the pet had “inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with
his teeth” (Poe 1981 : 236). Silverman discusses the importance of eyes, together with teeth,
in Poe's tales:
What relates eyes and teeth is their single capacity to take in, to incorporate objects.
Poe frequently associates eyes with pits, tarns, whirlpools and other depths that can
engulf, as when he writes in “Morella”: “I met the glance of her meaning eyes, and
then my soul sickened and became giddy when the giddiness of one who gazes
downward into some dreary and unfathomable abyss.” Like teeth, eyes in Poe's
works arouse the dread of being consumed. (Silverman 1991 : 207)
In Bertin's story 'De man die ogen verzamelde'48 ['The man who collected eyes'] the
protagonist, Claes Perquoi is fascinated by eyes. He begins a collection of eyes, at first he
collects only eyes from animals but later human eyes as well. He gradually becomes
tormented because he cannot complete his collection of eyes, he desires to possess “the one
eye”. Claes grows mad and has to be interned. The narrator wants to find out what had
caused this, it appears that Claes had tried to cut out God's almighty eye from a painting
48 In: Bertin, E.C., Iets kleins, Iets hongerigs. Utrecht: A.W. Bruna & Zoon, 1972.
61
which said “God sees you”. At the end the narrator casts this painting into the fire and feels
he has destroyed something that was not part of this world and which should never have
belonged to it.
Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' is similar to Bertin's 'Achter het Behang'49 ['Behind the
Wallpaper']. In Bertin's story the protagonist is situated in a mental institution and tells the
reader his story. He has murdered his sibling Patricia and has buried her behind the wall of
his room in the madhouse. The protagonist believes he hears a heartbeat, he discovers that
his heart is no longer present in his chest. The heart comes crawling from behind the
wallpaper and he is impossible of regaining it. The next morning he awakens and his mental
state has extremely improved. When the narrator stands up he kicks against the wall, it starts
to crack and a swarm of big black flies come flying out of the crack. Behind the wall the
corpse of Patricia was found in excessive state of decomposition. The protagonist had
smashed her skull and had buried her there a couple of weeks before and had been
concealing his crime through amnesia since. Here again guilt is exemplified by hearing a
heartbeat where the corpse is buried.
A parallel situation is described in the story 'La Vengeance'50 by Ray. Rooks strangles
his father and buries the corpse under the wooden floor here. The rats which have devoured
his father's body have eaten his hatred and come to take revenge by eating Rooks. In this
story sound also plays an important role, as the following extract exemplifies:
Une nuit il fut éveillé par un bruit étrange; celui d'un doigt toquant sur du bois. Ce
n'était pas contre la porte de la rue, ce n'était pas contre celle de la chambre. Il écouta
attentivement; c'était sous le plancher que le doigt frappait. Rooks ne douta pas un
instant que ce ne fût le mort qui frappait désespérément sous le parquet. Il y avait du
whisky dans une bouteille; Rooks en but et le bruit cessa, du moins il ne l'entendait
plus. (Ray 1925 : 92)
Rooks believes it is the corpse which is tapping on the floor but in fact it are the rats. His fear
and guilty conscience make him believe this. He drinks whisky to suppress his anxiety.
A similar situation is described in Poe's 'The Imp of the Perverse'. This tale is
presented as an essay on the human impulse at first. The protagonist states that he is a victim
of the imp of the perverse. He has murdered a man by putting a poisoned candle in his room.
Later he can no longer hide the secret of him committing a murder even if it has stayed
concealed for many years. Here again his guilty conscience creeps up and leads to
confession:
49 In: Bertin, E.C., Mijn mooie duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
50 In: Ray, J., Les contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
62
At first, I made an effort to shake off this nightmare of the soul. I walked vigorously
– faster – still faster – at length I ran. I felt a maddening desire to shriek aloud. Every
succeeding wave of thought overwhelmed me with new terror, for, alas! I well, too
well, understood that to think, in my situation, was to be lost. I still quickened my
pace. I bounded like a madman through the crowded thoroughfares. At length, the
populace took the alarm, and pursued me. I felt then the consummation of my fate.
Could I have torn out my tongue, I would have done it – but a rough voice resounded
in my ears – a rougher grasp seized me by the shoulder. I turned – I gasped for
breath. For a moment I experienced all the pangs of suffocation; I became blind, and
deaf, and giddy; and then some invisible fiend, I thought, struck me with his broad
palm upon the back. The long-imprisoned secret burst forth from my soul. (Poe 1981
: 445)
Sova emphasizes the similarity of 'The Imp of the Perverse' with 'The Tell-Tale Heart'
and 'The Black Cat':
The tale has two primary interpretations among critics. The first is that the Imp of the
Perverse represents the self-destructive tendencies of the narrator, and that this
tendency is present in all people. The second is that the imp is the narrator's excuse
for avoiding moral responsibility. Critics have identified passages in this story that
reflect the narrator's unconscious desire to be caught, a desire also found in the
narrators of “THE TELL-TALE HEART” and “THE BLACK CAT.” (Sova 2001 : 113)
It is human nature to act against conscious desires. Every murderer has an urge to confess as
d'Exsteyl also pointed out in De Dames Verbrugge:
De dwaze wereld denkt en beweert in zijn grenzeloze naïeviteit dat ieder nooit
ontdekte moordenaar eens door wroeging gefolterd in volle straat uitroept: «Ik heb
een mens gedood!» en verwijst verbijsterd naar het schrikkelijk Raskolnikovvoorbeeld van de overigens geniale Dostojevski. (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 152)
Joachim von Brückstaufen disagrees with this and does not feel the urge to confess his
crime.
The characters in Les Contes de Whisky live in an unattractive environment filled
with violence and crime. The stories deal with normal people, the lonely sailor, villains... As
the title already suggests the characters present in these stories are often under the influence
of alcohol. Alcohol has the characteristic of transforming people into aggressive and violent
individuals. Ray gives an Anglo-Saxon aspect to his stories by the use of English names for
his characters. Moreover, they drink whisky, an Irish or Scottish product, the preferred drink
of seamen. Ray's protagonists frequently are intoxicated, which makes it unclear if their
events are dream or reality. Whisky gives access to a dream world, as described in 'Josuah
Gullick Prêteur sur Gages':
Lorsque le whisky m'ouvre la porte magnifique de la Cité du Rêve, je me vois dans
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ma chambre où s'entasse tout le luxe entrevu des musées, des étalages de grands
magasins et des images des beaux livres. Un grand feu ouvert m'entoure d'amicales
lueurs, un fauteuil-club me caresse les membres, la liqueur divine flambe
étrangement au gré d'une facette du cristal [...] (Ray 1925 : 81)
Whisky makes Ray's characters courageous, it suppresses their anxiety. Similar to Poe, Ray
depicts hallucinations, inebriety and emotional confusion.
The pitiful situation of the protagonist in 'La nuit de Camberwell' is described by Ray
in a detailed and humorous manner:
Ma petite maison de Camberwell est froide et humide, j'y vis tout seul. Des
champignons simulent de fantastiques tumeurs livides dans les encoignures, la
promenade des limaces s'inscrit chaque nuit en patientes lames d'argent sur les murs,
n'empêche que je suis roi chez moi et que je n'entends pas céder le pas à des
cambrioleurs attirés par mon argenterie ternie et trois ou quatre toiles de valeur. (Ray
1925 : 55-56)
Most of the stories of Les Contes du Whisky are set in the surroundings of the port of
London. This world is shrouded in an air of repugnance. The crimes which are committed
are not penalized by legal punishments. In 'Irish Whisky' for instance, the shady Gilchrist is
transformed into a spider. The firm Halett and Gilchrist is a trading company which makes
expeditions to Egypt and India. The narrator, Tom Wade, is a bookkeeper in this company.
His son, Herbert, died in a shipwreck of one of Gilchrist's ships, “Waverley”. Gilchrist is
corrupt, he had doubled the assurance on this cargoship, so this shipwreck is very convenient
for him. When Wade wants to take revenge for the loss of his son, he hears the voice of
Murray, the captain of the “Waverley”, who has perished in the shipwreck as well. Murray
tells Wade that Gilchrist's punishment will be horrible. One night, Wade and Gilchrist are in
the office when Murray's ghost enters and transforms Gilchrist. Little by little he is altered
into a spider. Wade avenges his son by torturing and mutilating the spider.
d'Exsteyl discusses the scrutiny of Ray's descriptions. He claims that this is the
strength of the mystery story. He gives an extract from 'Irish Whisky' as example (d'Exsteyl
1972 : 23):
Gilchrist a disparu. C'est ce que dit le monde, et ce que vous direz aussi. Cela n'est
pas vrai. Il est toujours là, dans le coin du bureau, seulement il a pris les proportions
d'une araignée ordinaire, bien que très grosse et particulièrement repoussante. Dès
que j'ouvre le coffre-fort, elle sort de sa cachette et me regarde, me surveille. Et voici
où ma vengeance commence. Dans les livres, je commets faux sur faux; je la saisis
alors avec les pincettes du foyer et je la jette sur les pages malmenées. Elle constate le
délit, court affolée sur le papier blanc et fait d'horribles gestes de ses pattes velues!
Car Dieu lui a laissé toute son intelligence d'homme dans sa minuscule enveloppe
d'insecte immonde. J'ouvre alors le coffre-fort et je prends son cher argent. [...]
(Ray 1925 : 23)
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Three murders are central in d'Exsteyl's De Dames Verbrugge: the murder of Octaaf
Verbrugge, Celestine Verbrugge and Denise Eeckman. d'Exsteyl's novel is presented as a
detective story, similar to Poe's 'The Mystery of Marie Roget', 'The Murders in the Rue
Morgue' and 'The Purloined Letter' in which Auguste Dupin acts as a detective. Bertin
points out that d'Exsteyl's crime fiction has a traditional structure, similar to the work of
Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Ellery Queen. A number of characters are introduced,
who are confronted with a crime (a murder) which has to be resolved. After this a series of
mysterious events occur, until a complete explanation is given at the end of the novel.
(Bertin 1980 : 13)
The narrator of De Dames Verbrugge, Hugo Saint-Laurent, could be compared to
Poe's character Dupin. The analytical method utilized by Dupin is similar to that of SaintLaurent. Hugo became fascinated by the figure of the detective through literature. As Conan
Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is assisted by Watson, Saint-Laurent aids his old friend Steve
Raskin, who is a police inspector, in resolving the murder of Octaaf Verbrugge. Raskin
literally calls Hugo “mijn beste Watson”. (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 51) And Françoise Verbrugge says
the following to Hugo: “Dus ben je werkelijk tóch van plan om je Sherlock Holmesneigingen op de « zaak Verbrugge » bot te vieren?” (d'Exsteyl s.d. : 81) Hugo expounds
their method as follows: “De ontsluiering van een misdaadmysterie is niet zozeer een louter
wetenschappelijk onderzoek van zakelijk feitenmateriaal als wel een logische beredenering.”
(d'Exsteyl s.d. : 42)
Denise Eeckman, Octaaf Verbrugge's fiancée, accuses Octaaf's associate Guy De
Landsheere of murdering him, while Françoise Verbrugge suspects Denise. Steve Raskins
believes that De Landsheere is the culprit. It turns out that Françoise and Aurelia had
committed the three murders. They are possessed by the demon Von Brückstaufen, they had
inherited this demonic character from their father.
Françoise had beaten Celestine to death because Celestine wanted to prevent
Aurelia's marriage. Celestine was brutally murdered: her body was chopped up and then
boiled in order to separate the flesh from her bones. Octaaf Verbrugge wished to marry
Denise Eeckman and wanted to subdivide the fortune of the Verbrugge family. Françoise
and Aurelia disagreed because they wanted the inheritance to remain a homogenous entity.
When Octaaf threatened that he would tell the truth about Celestine's death to the police, his
sisters decided to murder him. Denise Eeckman had been underestimated as a witness, upon
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which Aurelia and Françoise hanged her. The sisters Verbrugge have confessed their crimes
to Hugo, but he will not betray them because he is in love with Françoise. Fonske, a servant
of the Verbrugge family who had committed suicide will be blamed for the murders on
Octaaf Verbrugge and Denise Eeckman. The murder of Octaaf Verbrugge will be presented
as a robbery with murder and Fonske's motive for murdering Denise is that he believed she
was a witness of Octaaf's murder.
In De Dames Verbrugge, d'Exsteyl treats murder as an intellectualy calculated act, the sisters
Verbrugge committed these murders cold-bloodedly.
Poe's narrators in 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'The Black-Cat' and 'The Imp of the Perverse'
are driven by perverseness to commit a murder. They do wrong for the wrong's sake. These
characters have a self-destructive tendency as they have an uncontrollable urge to confess
their crime. For Ray, violence is closely related to alcohol in Les Contes du Whisky. Both in
Ray's Malpertuis and in d'Exsteyl's De Dames Verbrugge, the characters are predetermined
to be violent by their demonic character.
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VI. DOPPELGÄNGER
The theme of the double has become a popular literary device, the benevolent part of
man tries to suppress its immoral half. The “doppelgänger” motive has been recurrent since
Gothic fiction. Literary works that have the “doppelgänger” as theme are Stevenson's The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. These
stories are similar because they thematize a multiple personality.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde describes someone who leads a double
life of outward sanctity and inward vice. The story is narrated to us by Utterson, Dr. Jekyll's
lawyer. He has to draw up Jekyll's will, in which Hyde inherits all his possessions. The first
part of the story involves two individuals, the respectable Dr. Jekyll and the damnable
Edward Hyde. It is suggested that they have a homosexual relationship and that Hyde is
blackmailing Jekyll. Later it appears that Henry Jekyll's scientific studies had led him to a
fascination with the duplicity of man. He started to develop a potion which could dissociate
these two and which transformed him into his immoral alter ego. The wickedness of his
“doppelgänger” was reflected in Hyde's deformed and decayed body. Hyde commits
monstrous acts and murders a man. The ending is ambiguous, Dr. Jekyll has permanently
disappeared and it is unclear what has occurred with Mr. Hyde.
In The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian sells his soul to the devil when he wishes that
his portrait would grow old instead of him. Basil Hallward paints the picture of Dorian
Gray. Dorian desires timeless beauty and together with Lord Henry Wotton, who is a true
aestheticist, he begins a discovery of his senses. Dorian is highly influenced by Hallward's
painting, Lord Henry Wotton's personality and by the poisonous French novel51 he reads.
Dorian starts to lead a sinful life but his acts do not alter his appearances, he remains young
and beautiful. His portrait however reflects the state of his soul, it bears the marks of his sins
and shows an old, deformed and ugly Dorian. After showing Basil the painting, Dorian stabs
him to death. As Dorian looks at the loathsome painting, he wants to destroy it, but by
destroying his conscience, he destroys himself. The picture shows Dorian Gray in “all the
wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty” again but Dorian's deformed and ugly body is
unrecognizable.
Wilde's novel bears some points of resemblance to Stevenson's. It is also set in a
foggy London with excursions into lowlife neighbourhoods, it too is about appearances and
reputations, and involves an individual who lives a double life of outward purity and secret
51 Although it is not named in Wilde's novel, it is often argumented that this French novel is Huysmans's À Rebours.
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corruption. As Dr. Jekyll uses the ugly deformed Hyde as his evil body double, Dorian Gray
has a magic portrait that reveals the consequences of his sinful life.
It is believed that the Jekyll and Hyde condition is the situation of every man, every
individual has a double identity. The opposition between good and evil, duty and temptation
is present in the human soul. All human beings commingle good and evil.
As discussed before, Bennett and Royle distinguish ten forms of the uncanny. One of
them is “strange kinds of repetition: repetition of a feeling, situation, event or character.”
The idea of the “doppelgänger” (or double) is an example of this form of the uncanny.
(Bennett and Royle 1995 : 35-37) Bennett and Royle are indebted to Freud's essay entitled
'The “Uncanny”' ('Das Unheimliche'). This essay investigates the importance of the notion
of the double:
What makes the double uncanny? According to Freud's essay, the double is
paradoxically both a promise of immortality (look, there's my double, I can be
reproduced, I can live forever) and a harbinger of death (look, there I am, no longer
me here, but there: I am about to die, or else I must be dead already). The notion of
the double undermines the very logic of identity. (Bennett & Royle 1995 : 38)
This quote could be applied to Poe's work. The image of the double also contains the
ambiguous relationship between life and death. In Poe's tales death could be overcome and
people are able to ressurect. The “doppelgänger” is able to live on, even when his copy has
died and the reverse is also true.
Poe's tale which has the “doppelgänger” as theme is 'William Wilson', where Wilson
meets his alter ego. His double appears in life. In this story the immoral narrator is irritated
in learning that someone else has the same name, which violates his feeling of uniqueness.
The narrator does not give the reader his actual name, but calls himself William Wilson. He
has an easily excitable temperament which he has inherited from his family. At school he
encounters another scholar who, although not related, bears the same Christian name and
surname as himself. Even though they are inseparable, there is a rivalry between the
Williams. They show great resemblance: the same age, the same height, alike in general
contour of person and outline of feature. The second Wilson imitates the habits of dress,
speech and conduct of the first. He even copies the first William's voice: “My louder tones
were, of course, unattempted, but then the key, - it was identical; and his singular whisper, it
grew the very echo of my own.” (Poe 1981 : 39) The narrator seems to be the only one to
notice this imitation. The copy angers him, but worse are the second Wilson's attempts to
supervise and advise him. His alter ego follows him and reappears at significant moments.
68
He interferes when the first William is seducing a young and beautiful noblewoman.
Enraged, the first Wilson plunges his sword into the chest of the second William. Afterwards
he sees a mirror standing in the room, where none had been before and, looking into it, he
sees his own reflection covered with blood. The narrator hears Wilson's voice but:
I could have fancied that I myself was speaking while he said:
'You have conquered, and I yield. Yet henceforward art thou also dead – dead to the
World, to Heaven and to Hope! In me didst thou exist – and, in my death, see by this
image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself.' (Poe 1981 : 48)
William does not share his dishonesty with his double. Eventually William discovers that he
has murdered his conscience. The second William only appeared at significant moments to
advise the first.
The outcome of 'William Wilson' resembles that of Dorian Gray in The Picture of
Dorian Gray. When Dorian destroys the painting, he dies as well. The opposition between
William Wilson and Dorian Gray is that Dorian's “doppelgänger” is caught in his portrait.
Dorian and his double are not two separate individuals, while the two Williams are.
Royle states that William Wilson is hostile but also affectionate towards his double.
He is incapable of hating his alter ego. Royle also suggests that the double is a humorous
figure:
What makes 'William Wilson' funny is partly its sense of absurdity, playfulness,
hyperbole, perversity and hocus-pocus, but partly also its implacable earnestness, its
peculiar, deadly seriousness. The story seems to be implicitly immersed, and
explicitly to culminate, in a funny cross-talk involving death, the double and
telepathy. (Royle 2003 : 190)
'William Wilson' has an overall seriousness but also some amusing aspects. The
exaggeration in the description of the second William frequently has a comic effect.
Doubles play a crucial role in Poe's tales, as Silverman points out:
Wilson cannot escape his 'image' nor Usher his twin, that is, because these figures
are also parts of themselves, doubles of them. Doubling is extensive in Poe's tales,
many of whose heroes and heroines are hard to distinguish from each other and often
have the physical and mental traits of Poe himself. [...]
Although such doubling is common in romantic literature and essential to Gothic
fiction, where criminals resemble victims, it has a special gravity in Poe's tales. To
have twins, doubles, and twos means that, like William Wilson, one can be here and
not here, can die and still survive. (Silverman 1991 : 151)
Poe uses the double to express the continuity of one's life in his double. When one part of the
double passes away, his alter ego is able to live on. This again proves Poe's belief in life
after death.
69
According to Van Leer it is unclear how Wilson's conscience represents a moral
advance:
Usually in doppelgänger stories, the double shows the central figure a new side to
himself. In a highly moralistic version like Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian
Gray, for example, a picture reveals the corruption that the protagonist attempts to
hide. In Poe's account, however, the twin teaches the narrator nothing about his inner
nature, both because Wilson understands his villainy pretty well from the beginning
and because he does not have much of an inner nature to understand. (Van Leer 1998
: 13)
'William Wilson' is not a moralistic story, the protagonist has learned nothing about his
immoral nature.
Poe's past is doubled into the present. 'William Wilson' contains autobiographical
elements. William Wilson's birthday is 19 January, which is Poe's birthdate, but Wilson's
birthyear is 1813, while Poe was born in 1809. Another detail of Wilson's life which
parallels that of Poe's own is that Poe had studied under Reverend John Bransby. Dr.
Bransby is William Wilson's schoolmaster. (Silverman 1991 : 151) Sova states that “critics
view “William Wilson” as Poe's attempt to come to terms with his own dual nature, to
reconcile his self-destructive behavior with the rational need to restrain such behavior. (Sova
2001 : 256)
Another example of one of Poe's tale dealing with the “doppelgänger” theme is 'The
Oval Portrait'. The narrator enters an abandoned château which is richly decorated with
tapestry, armorial trophies and paintings. His attention is drawn by an oval portrait “of a
young girl just ripening into womanhood.” (Poe 1981 : 299) The picture has “an absolute
life-likeliness of expression” so that the narrator mistakes the head for that of a living person.
(Poe 1981 : 300) The narrator learns more about the portrait in a volume which discusses the
paintings and their history. The lovely maiden had wedded the painter who “already had a
bride in his Art.” She “hated only the Art which was her rival” (Poe 1981 : 300) so it was
terrible for her that he wanted to paint her portrait. Her husband is so obsessed by and
focussed on the painting that he does not notice how his wife is growing ill as the painting
progresses. He rarely turned his eyes from the canvas and “he would not see that the tints
which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside him.”
As the painter finishes his portrait he perceives that his wife has passed away:
And then the brush was given, and then the tint was placed; and, for one moment, the
painter stood entranced before the work which he had wrought; but in the next, while
he yet gazed, he grew temulous and very pallid, and aghast, and crying with a loud
voice, “This is indeed Life itself!” turned suddenly to regard his beloved: - She was
dead! (Poe 1981 : 303)
70
In painting his wife's portrait, the artist has taken the life out of her body and transferred it to
his painting. He had been so absorbed by his work that he allowed his wife to wither away.
The girl lives on in her portrait and this exemplifies Poe's ambigous view on death. Death
can be overcome as she is able to continue life in her picture. For Poe, the resolution of
duality is death. This story shows a resemblance to Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray in
that it also involves a portrait. Dorian's beauty will also live on in his portrait.
In Ray's 'Le Grand Nocturne'52 the protagonist, Théodule Notte, discovers a
mysterious book dealing with black magic, conjuration etc. During his infancy Théodule
had already seen this red book in a nightmare where “l'invraisemblable, l'étrange, tout ce
qui vous met des nausées d'angoisse dans la bouche, lui avait sauté à la figure comme un
chat, en cette journée, à quatre heures de l'après-midi, en revenant de l'école.” (Ray 1961 :
228) The scenes he had witnessed in his nightmare are those of his future. His destiny has
already been determined.
After finding the book in captain Soudan's room he again experiences an event
which is presented as a nightmare where an indefinable black monster enters his room:
Mais avant d'y plonger dans la béatitude de l'oubli, il vit une grande ombre
s'interposer entre lui et la clarté de la veilleuse. Il vit une immense figure tournée vers
lui, si grande que le plafond fut soulevé par elle et que son front s'entoura d'une
parure d'étoiles. Elle était plu ténébreuse que la nuit même et empreinte d'une
tristesse si grande et si grave que tout l'être de Notte frémit de douleur.
Il sut alors, par une révélation mystérieuse éclose au plus profond de son âme, qu'il
venait de se trouver face à face avec le Grand Nocturne. (Ray 1961 : 239)
It is unclear if this nightmare is caused by occult powers or by Notte's intoxication, because
“il avait bu trois verres d'un whisky fameux qu'il avait acheté à un marinier du port.” (Ray
1961 : 237)
Théodule is frightened by the unknown and by darkness. The reading of the
mysterious book makes it possible to relive the past. Occult sciences give acces to a parallel
world, situated out of space and out of time. Théodule is able to live in another world, where
he is invisible to the other inhabitants of the village and encounters persons who are already
dead.
As a child, Théodule had been in love with his mother's friend Marie Baes, this love
for his godmother was impossible. Marie however was in love with captain Soudan. Notte is
nostalgic about the past and is able to relive the homely atmosphere of the bygone days. In
52 In: Ray, J., Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques. Verviers: Marabout, 1961.
71
this other world, Théodule murders the people he had encountered in his childhood
nightmare. Théodule and Marie live together in the “Taverne de l'Alpha” which is situated
in a crack of space. Théodule kills captain Soudan in this parallel universe. It appears that
captain Soudan was the demon of books, Tegrath, and the only demonic creature which had
remained on earth. Théodule's friend, Hippolyte Baes tells him that Tegrath was his father,
which makes Théodule a devil himself. When Théodule is persued by the police for the
murders he has committed, him and Hippolyte flee into the parallel world of the past.
Hippolyte is “le Grand Nocturne”, who describes his task as follows:
Quelqu'un s'est penché sur ta grande misère, mon pauvre ami. Il ne pouvait rien
contre le sort qui devait être le tien. Mais il a marché à tes côtés, il t'a défendu contre
les atroces entités du cauchemar. Il a tâché d'arrêter les heures et de te regarder blotti
dans le passé, toi pour qui l'avenir ne réservait qui la dernière des épouvantes... (Ray
1961 : 259)
Every human character hides its true identity with a mask, this true personality is only
revealed after this disguise has been cast away. It reveals the malignancy present in every
individual. Ray's works often feature a double space: reality and the surreal. It is possible for
Ray's characters to flee into a parallel universe which is situated out of time and out of
space.
De Klerk suggests that Théodule has contradictory feelings for his mother and his
father. He feels love for his mother but loathes his father, which is the “Oedipus-complex”.
These feelings have been transposed to his godmother Marie and his biological father
captain Soudan. Captain Soudan was the lover of both his mother and Marie. (De Klerk
1980 : 56) Notte hates captain Soudan because he was Marie's lover and he was jealous
about him. After murdering Soudan, Notte discovers that Soudan was his biological father
and that he is a demon's son, which only increases his loathing for Soudan.
A similar story is 'Étranges études du Dr. Paukenschläger'53, where a journalist
disappears into the fourth dimension. This is a story which contains elements of the science
fiction genre. The storyteller, the journalist Denver, encounters Dr. Paukenschläger on an
abandoned road. The professor is suspicious about the journalist's presence there, he believes
he is a spy sent by doctor Tottoni. However Dr. Paukenschläger is able to read the
journalist's mind and in that way discovers his true identity. Dr. Paukenschläger wants to
take him to the world of the fourth dimension: “un monde voisin, invisible, impénétrable
pour nous, parce qu'étant situé sur un autre plan, ce monde est étrangement, criminellement,
dit Paukenschläger, réuni au nôtre.” (Ray 1925 : 192) One can only travel to this parallel
53 In: Ray, J., Les Contes du Whisky. Brussel: La Renaissance du Livre, 1925.
72
world from appropriate places, the one where Denver and Dr. Paukenschläger are situated is
suitable for the experiment. Denver is permitted to take notes during the experiment. In
order to open the gate to this parallel world, Dr. Paukenschläger has developped a system
which transmits certain waves. He has to align the aerial of his device towards a star in order
to enter the fourth dimension. A vagabond, which was not within the protective reach of Dr.
Paukenschläger's device is devoured by creatures. After Denver's disappearance, his notes
are retrieved which inform about the mysterious circumstances in which he has disappeared.
This is what has occured: “un singulier monde diaphane à peine visible, s'y
juxtapose. Je vois le bois de sapins à travers un cône d'une transparence presque parfaite et
remplie d'une sorte de fumée, violemment tourmentée. Une dizaine de grosses sphères,
bulles bizarres, bondissant sur le marais, et les mêmes fumées tourbillonantes les
remplissent.” (Ray 1925 : 195) Denver describes how the vagabond's body is snatched away
by the cone. Dr. Paukenschläger has disappeared and Denver is flooded by a rain of blood
when he sees a hand coming out of heaven which seizes him. An American medium has
described Denver's destiny: “des figures de cauchemar entremêlées à des formes sphériques
et côniques, qui dans une formidable ruée de rage poursuivaient un être humain. (Ray 1925 :
197) The same medium writes Denver's words down: “Je ne suis pas mort. C'est pire. C'est
épouvantable. Ils vous guettent.” (Ray 1925 : 197) Spiritualists believe that Denver is still
alive in a parallel world.
In Ray's Malpertuis, the Greek Gods have a human “doppelgänger” in whose bodies
they are revived. Eisengott hides Zeus, Prometheus was reincarnated in Lampernisse,
Griboin is the god Hephaistos, Tsjiek is the ruin of a titan, Apollo revived in Mathias Krook,
miss Groulle is Juno, the three Eumenides were reincarnated into the ladies Cormélon and
Euryale is the last of the Gorgons. Uncle Dideloo, his wife Sylvie, doctor Sambucque and
Philarète were humans.
As described by Bertin, d'Exsteyl's stories have a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde duality”.
The terrors in his stories are hidden behind a daily reality and homely cheerfulness. (Bertin
1980 : 7) The influence of Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is perceptible in d'Exsteyl's
'De Volmaakte Partner' ['The Perfect Partner']. In this story the protagonist, Detlev Corsinsky
is visited by his ideal woman, Jennifer. She is exactly as he had fantasized her in his dreams.
From the moment Detlev sees her, he is enchanted by her. Jennifer will provide an answer to
73
all his questions and he asks her how imperfect man could reach perfection. She tells him
that only dead persons know the answer to this question. The only moment for man to
exceed earthly life is during the unification with a woman. Body and mind parallel each
other according to Jennifer. She reveals that she is Detlev's perfect partner, Jennifer is his
death. This state of perfection causes fear and loathing for man. Detlev is frightened to enter
the dark unknown and does not want to die yet. When Jennifer reappears he shoots her, but
she continues staring at him. By murdering his alter ego, Detlev commits suicide. Detlev's
“doppelgänger” is a woman, who lures him into death. In this tale the schizophrenic theme is
shifted to a man/woman duality, a physical/mental love and to the last duality of life and
death. (Bertin 1980 : 8)
In 'De Vreemde Biecht van Ole Jörgensen'54 ['The Strange Confession of Ole
Jörgensen'], another story by Roger d'Exsteyl, the narrator tells the reader that the story he is
about to tell shows resemblance to Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde. Ole Jörgensen is a Danish painter living in Paris who makes a painting called “Satan”:
Het door mij geschilderde portret nu week volkomen af van de gewone
duivelsvoorstelling. Mijn “Satan” was geen vuurspuwend monster met horens en
bokkepoten, doch integendeel een weelderig uitgedoste jonge man op wiens knap
gezicht de zonde der verleiding geslaagd tot uiting was gebracht. (d'Exsteyl 1954 :
60-61)
After Jorgensen has finished the painting he looks in the mirror and discovers that he has
turned into the young man he had painted. He decides to repaint the “Satan” and after he has
finished it, he again transforms into the person he has painted. Jörgensen does not only
adopt the appearances of this man, but he also takes over his sinful inclination. Every time
Jörgensen wants to commit a crime, he repaints his “Satan” and transforms into this figure.
One night, when he is caught red-handed and realizes that he has already transformed back
into Ole Jörgensen, he kills the night watchman and flees. After this event, the series of
crimes which had plagued Paris and its environments stop. It turns out that Jörgensen has
returned to Denmark and he has sent his “Satan” to the Parisian police, who are left with this
mysterious case.
This story is not only similar to Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde but also resembles Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Jörgensen's satan figure is a
beautiful young man, dressed with refined clothing, just like Dorian Gray, who looks like a
dandy:
Hij ging naar 19e eeuwse mode gekleed in een kapmantel met kwasten en gevoerd
54 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Steekspel met Schimmen. Gent: De Vlam, 1954.
74
met vuurrode zijde. De glimmende chapeau-haut-de-forme hield hij koket op het
linkeroor schuin. (d'Exsteyl 1954 : 61)
Jörgensen's painting also offers him a way to live a secret sinful life, just as Dorian's portrait
gives him this opportunity.
The “doppelgänger” motive also recurs in d'Exsteyl's 'De Grote Samenzwering' 55
['The Big Conspiracy']. In this story the narrator, who believes he is Felix Brocanteur, has an
identity crisis. At work, at the hotel where he stays and at the place where he lives everyone
mistakes him for François Desmet. The narrator believes he is Felix Brocanteur, a trading
representative and is incapable of understanding why everybody thinks he is François
Desmet. The only persons who could prove he is Brocanteur are either dead, in the hospital
or abroad. Even his identity certificate states that he is François Desmet, a history teacher. A
police inspector suggests that he is most likely suffering from amnesia and that he has
forgotten his true identity. There is no proof that the narrator really is Felix Brocanteur, even
his wife recognizes him as François Desmet. The narrator, Felix Brocanteur, tells us that this
is how he has become François Desmet from one day to the next.
One of Bertin's tales dealing with identity crisis and transformation is 'Een Kwestie
van Concurrentie'56 ['A Matter of Rivalry']. It presents us with Mr. Thomson who visits a
psychiatrist because he believes he is the devil Valefar. The psychiatrist attempts to convince
him that he is not a demon. It appears that the psychiatrist works for the company “Gabriel &
Vennoten, N.V.”, an association of angels who want to eliminate their demonic rivals by
brainwashing them into believing that they are human. Mr. Thomson shows the psychiatrist
his chequebook for buying human souls, but the narrator deceives him and tells Mr.
Thomson that this is a regular chequebook. The narrator performs surgery on Mr. Thomson
to remove his devilish characteristics:
Nadat ik hem de straat had zien oversteken, ging ik terug naar mijn spreekkamer. Ik
opende de linkerlade van mijn bureau en haalde er de afgezaagde horens uit, de
delen van de hoeven die ik had moeten afhakken om zijn poten enigzins op voeten te
doen lijken, en de lange lederachtige staart met de vervaarlijke punt, waaruit nog
steeds enkele druppeltjes groen bloed vielen. Ik wikkelde het zootje in een plastieken
zak en deponeerde het in de afvalkoker. Dan opende ik de vensters volledig om de
stank van de Hel uit mijn kamer te laten ontsnappen. (Bertin 1979 : 58-59)
At first, the devils took on a human identity and form, to simplify the process of buying
human souls to go to hell. These devils had a human alter ego. But now the angels transform
55 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Souper met Vleermuizen. Hasselt: Heideland (Vlaamse pockets nr. 178), 1966.
56 In: Bertin, E.C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
75
the devil physically and mentally into persons by brainwashing them and depriving them of
their demonic characteristics. The angels call this process “a matter of rivalry”.
In Bertin's 'Een Pentagram voor Cenaide'57 ['A Pentagram for Cenaide'] the
protagonist Jack Morgan, a painter, falls in love with Cenaide, his best friend's wife. When
Jack realizes that these feelings are not mutual, he becomes obsessed with occultism. He
decides to draw a pentagram58 for Cenaide to gain contact with supernatural powers and in
this way affect Cenaide. On the canvas on which he painted this pentagram he makes a
portrait of Cenaide. When it occurs to Jack that the pentagram is unable to affect Cenaide's
feelings for him, he is furious and begins to concentrate more deeply on the portrait. This
portret becomes his new obsession:
Hij legde al zijn gevoelens in het portret, al die maanden van begeerte en verlangen,
de eenzame nachtwaken, de tranen die hij nooit geweend had, hij gaf het allemaal
vlees en bloed in het portret. Hij schilderde niet langer het portret van een vrouw, hij
schilderde een beeltenis van liefde, de essentie van het begrip liefde zelf, niet enkel
de seksuele aantrekkingskracht of begeerte, en ook niet enkel het psychisch contact,
sympathie of medelijden, het was dit alles en niets meer, de geest van het
onverklaarbare fenomeen 'liefde', liefde zonder enig voorbehoud, zonder rationaliteit.
(Bertin 1979 : 138)
Jack captures his love for Cenaide in this painting. When he draws a pentagram on the floor
and puts the portrait in the heart of it, the picture comes to life and Jack holds and kisses
Cenaide. After this event, Jack Morgan is found dead in his apartment with large amounts of
dry paint in his stomach, lungs, brains and heart. Jack Morgan has represented love in his
painting. He has portrayed Cenaide as a woman who loves him, which is not reality. His
love for Cenaide eventually leads to Jack's downfall.
In his story 'Geestesoproeping'59 ['Recalling of a Ghost'] Bertin intermingles two
identities. It is unclear who the narrator really is: August Lambert or Alex L. Clayton-Leun,
both writers of thrillers. It is possible that these two characters are one and the same person,
that they are each other's “doppelgänger”. At first, the protagonist, August Lambert, is
presented as a writer who envies the success of Clayton-Leun. He plans to write the ultimate
terror story. August is intoxicated and starts to hallucinate, he sees a pentagram on his
ceiling. He believes he hears the voice of his wife, Rosemary, who has been dead for eight
years. It appears that August is dead and writes manuscripts for his master Clayton-Leun.
Clayton-Leun recalled the ghost of August Lambert to give him inspiration to write a story.
Lambert has written 'A story that scares you to death' and this is what had happened to
57 In: Bertin, E. C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
58 A shape like a star with five points, often used as a magic sign.
59 In: Bertin, E.C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert uitgaven, 1979.
76
Clayton-Leun, he had a heart attack because this story scared him to death.
Another one of Bertin's stories is 'Mijn mooie duisterlinge' ['My beautiful Woman of
Darkness']. The protagonist of this story was rejected by Catherina, but he has banned this
event out of his mind. He looks into his mind for a substition for his loneliness, this is why
he has created his ideal woman, Cathy. It is indicated that the protagonist and Cathy are the
same:
“Maar hij zei toch dat ze hier was, hier in deze kamer. Wat toonde u hem om hem te
kalmeren? Een foto van een of ander meisje dat op zijn Cathy lijkt? Een foto van die
Catherina misschien?”
“Neen, hoe zou een foto ooit gelijkenis kunnen vertonen met een sprookjesachtige
nimf die enkel in zijn geest bestaat? Ik toonde hem Cathy werkelijk, ik toonde hem
waar Cathy écht is. Toen hij zichzelf zag, zag hij ook Cathy. Ik hield hem een
zakspiegel voor.” (Bertin 1979 : 21)
The protagonist's ideal woman exists within himself, so she could be considered as his
“doppelgänger”.
The “doppelgänger” condition is present in every human being, man tries to suppress
his evil and immoral side. The theme of the double is crucial in Poe's tales, in 'William
Wilson' for instance where Wilson meets his alter ego in life. If one murders his
“doppelgänger”, he himself dies as well, as in Poe's 'William Wilson' and d'Exsteyl's 'De
Volmaakte Partner'. The alter ego of d'Exsteyl's narrator in this last story is the female
incarnation of death. Similar in Bertin's 'Een Kwestie van Concurrentie' and Ray's
Malpertuis is that respectively devils and Greek gods get a human “doppelgänger”.
77
VII. SPACE AND THE CITY
An important aspect in the creation of a fearful atmosphere is the place in which a
story is set. Space is a crucial element in fantastic literature, it frequently enhances anxiety.
Desolate mansions have repeatedly featured as the decor of Gothic fiction.
Poe uses a large variety in space for his tales: phantasized, fairytale settings
('Eleonora', 'X-ing a Paragrab'), European countries (Italy in 'The Assignation' and 'The Cask
of Amontillado', Spain in 'The Pit and the Pendulum'), metropolises as New York ('Astoria',
'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar'), Paris ('The Murders in the Rue Morgue', 'The
Purloined Letter') and London (King Pest) etc. Poe expresses a compelling fascination for
natural beauty in three stories: 'The domain of Arnhem', 'Landor's Cottage' and 'The Island
of the Fay'. Furthermore his tales are often set in exotic places as is the case in 'Silence – a
fable', 'A Tale of Jerusalem' and 'The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade'. In some
of his tales, space is indefinite. As discussed before, the 'Fall of the House of Usher' is set in
a Gothic mansion. William Wilson's school is a “large, rambling, Elizabethan house, in a
misty-looking village of England.” (Poe 1981 : 35) Other tales deal with travelling, sailing
and the ocean ('MS. Found in a Bottle', 'The Balloon-Hoax', 'A descent into the Maelström').
As is the case in 'The Pit and the Pendulum', space is presented as oppressive and
claustrophobic.
Poe's work resembles his cosmopolitanism. Poe's contemporaries linked space to the
opening country, the westward movement of the empire. They saw it as an opening up of
possibilities. Hawthorne and Poe however shared a fascination for the inner territory. Seelye
says the following about space in Poe's work:
Perversely, as with so many other things, Poe saw space otherwise. Though he
turned his back to the frontier, his trans-Atlantic view emphasized the ocean, and a
number of his stories, like The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, are seaborne, a
circumstance which only emphasizes his peculiar consciousness. For Poe's ocean is
always a gigantic helix, drawing the hapless voyager toward some vast, central
maelstrom. [...] Spacious, it is nevertheless an ever-closing space, a claustrophobic
phenomenon much like the pits, walls, coffins and heavy masonry of his other tales.
[...] Whereas Poe's theatrical cosmopolitanism, his delight in mystification and
madness, provide the interior decoration and furniture of his grotesques and
arabesques, it is his peculiar spacial consciousness which lends them their form.
(Seelye 1992 : 9-10)
Poe focussed more on the human interior, the mind and feelings, rather than on exterior
space.
The city has ghastly aspects as well: deserted streets, darkness, fog etc. These
78
elements add to a terrifying description of it. For Ray, London and Ghent are the
predominant cities in his tales. According to Van Keymeulen, Ray's Ghent is similar to
Dickens's London. “Ook Ray heeft Gent gehuld in slierten van nevels, heeft het vervormd
en lelijk gemaakt, doortrokken van mistige kanalen, en met de regen die striemend op de
kasseien neervalt.” (Van Keymeulen 1984 : 19) Ghent is Ray's fantastic universe.
The city of London is the setting for most of the stories in Les Contes du Whisky.
Ray creates a gloomy atmosphere and the city is presented as a hallucination.
Or as Giraud describes the specific setting sketched by Ray:
Le pays de M. Jean Ray, l'auteur des Contes du Whisky, ne ressemble guère à celui
de M. Louis Delattre. Imaginez une Angleterre fantastique, déformée par les
hallucinations de l'ivresse. M. Jean Ray nous entraîne à sa suite dans le pays du
cauchemar et de l'épouvante. Ici tout est sombre, violent, ténébreux, exaspéré.
(Giraud 1925 : 472)
Ray's England is deformed by hallucinations of inebriety. It is a violent, gloomy and dark
country. The stories of Les 25 meilleures Histoires noires et fantastiques are mostly set in an
Anglo-Saxon decor. Exceptions are 'La main de Gœtz von Berlichingen' which takes place
in Ghent, Rotterdam is the setting for 'La Ruelle Ténébreuse' and 'Storchhaus ou La maison
des cigognes' has Hannover as decor.
Another important role in creating the specific fearful situation in Ray's stories, is his
description of the city. “Hij heeft een mysterieuze, morbide stad gecreëerd, ongrijpbaar,
dreigend, donker van angst.” (Van Keymeulen 1984 : 19) It is dark, foggy, it often rains, as
this extract from 'Le miroir noir' shows:
Il faisait froid et sombre quand il quitta l'autobus à Cornhill; et quand il quitta
London Wall, maussade et revêche comme le génie même de la méchante humeur, le
fog enfumait lentement les rues. Les réverbères pleuraient de rares larmes rousses
dans le brouillard qui se peuplait de fantômes; les bruits eux-mêmes s'ouataient, les
sirènes de l'Embankment pleurnichaient, lointaines, à peine audibles, étouffées par la
poire d'angoisse de la brume. (Ray 1961 : 302)
Another example from 'La nuit de Camberwell':
Comme je bondissais dehors, le “Fog” vint. En deux minutes le brouillard occupa la
rue, cimentant les impasses, barbouillant les façades d'une uniforme gouache, il
étouffa ma voix qui criait à l'assassin; poussait une glaciale poire d'angoisse dans ma
gorge douloureuse. Je courus après de lointaines silhouettes humaines qui fondaient
dans la brume quand je les approchai, je sonnai à des portes qui restèrent closes sur
des sommeils obstinés. (Ray 1925 : 58-59)
Ray creates a setting of confusion: roads fade away, façades appear to be the same,
there is fog etc. The places described by Ray are forced unto the characters as labyrinths.
(Carion 1986 : 20) Space has a double function in his work:
79
L'espace, dans l'œuvre de Jean Ray, est donc double. La surface, apparemment
familière mais vite transformée en dédale, dissimule un autre monde, parallèle au
premier et qui parfois s'ouvre au personnage désorienté. (Carion 1986 : 22)
Behind the familiar space and reality, another supernatural world is hidden. 'La ruelle
ténébreuse' or the Beregonasse street “existe en dehors du temps et de l'espace.” (Ray 1961 :
31) Malpertuis is a place of contact between two worlds as well. The house is to be found in
“la rue du Vieux Chantier”. Malpertuis is also an ambiguous place, one moment it is there,
the other moment it is untraceable. Similar to Poe's House of Usher, Malpertuis is described
as a Gothic mansion:
Elle est là, avec ses énormes loges en balcon, ses perrons flanqués de massive rampes
de pierre, ses tourelles crucifères, ses fenêtres géminées à croisillons, ses sculptures
grimaçantes de guivres et de tarasques, ses portes cloutées.
Elle sue la morgue des grands qui l'habitent et la terreur de ceux qui la frôlent.
Sa façade est un masque grave, où l'on cherche en vain quelque sérénité, c'est un
visage tordu de fièvre, d'angoisse et de colère, qui ne parvient pas à cacher ce qu'il y
a d'abominable derrière lui. Les hommes qui s'endorment dans ses immenses
chambres s'offrent au cauchemar, ceux qui y passent leurs jours doivent s'habituer à
la compagnie d'ombres atroces de suppliciés, d'écorchés vivants, d'emmurés, que
sais-je encore? (Ray 1982 : 41)
The sight of the house is frightening, it is described as a characteristical dwelling of a terror
story. Malpertuis does not merely function as the setting of Ray's novel, it is an important
motive and the house affects its inhabitants. Malpertuis is a maze with long corridors,
innumerous doors and ghastly rooms. The yellow salon for instance is described as “la plus
vilaine, la plus pauvre, la plus sinistre, la plus glaciale des pièces qui, sinistres et glaciales,
se partagent l'intérieur de Malpertuis.” (Ray 1982 : 24)
The importance of places in Ray's work could be connected with the role played by Ghent in
his stories:
Telkens weer is zijn geboortestad het kader waarin zijn verhalen, zij het niet steeds
uitdrukkelijk, zich afspelen. Ongeacht of ze nu naar een Engelse, Duitse of andere
havenstad verwijzen, de zwarte kanalen, gepokte gevels, mistige steegjes en
mysterieuze patriciërswoningen van het oude Gent zijn dankbare decors voor het
optreden van de Angst. (Gaublomme 1989 : 59)
'La main de Gœtz von Berlichingen' takes place in Ghent. It contains
autobiographical elements, because it is set in the Ham, the area where Ray grew up. The
Ham is close to the port of Ghent and is described in 'La main de Gœtz von Berlichingen' as
a depressive quarter:
Deux générations de marins et de voyageurs y vécurent et, comme le port est proche,
l'appel des sirènes s'y marie avec les immenses résonances des sous-sol et les échos
80
appauvris de la rue sans joie qu'est le Ham. (Ray 1961 : 58)
Baronian and Levie discuss the ambiguity of Ghent:
Si Gand n'offre pas un plan rigoureux, elle possède néanmoins une géométrie
onirique dont les trois tours formeraient en quelque sorte les repères lancinants.
Espace à la fois ouvert et fermé, à la fois tourné vers l'extérieur, vers les banlieues et
les campagnes, et replié sur lui-même, figé, immuable depuis des siècles.
Rien ne fascine plus qu'une ville ambiguë, qu'un lieu peuplé d'hommes, où ce qui se
livre au premier abord n'est que le côté enjôleur d'un miroir à deux faces, où ce qui
se dissimule n'est qu'une invitation déguisée à la découverte. Gand, c'est cela, une
cité double, ou plutôt une cité qui entretient une constante équivoque – et d'autant
plus sûrement, d'autant plus profondément qu'elle est bâtie comme un méandre.
(Baronian and Levie 1981 : 19)
Ghent is at the same time a closed and open city and has two faces. The only points of
identification in this city are the three most important towers of Saint Nicholas' Church, the
Belfry and Saint Bavo's Cathedral.
Similar to Ray's Malpertuis, space has an ambiguous function in d'Exsteyl's oeuvre.
The “Kruiswegstraat” where De Dames Verbrugge is set, forms a connection between reality
and the surreal as well. It could be compared to Ray's 'La ruelle ténébreuse'. The
“Kruiswegstraat” reappears in d'Exsteyl's stories 'Souper met vleermuizen' and 'Een Tram na
middernacht'60. In this last story a body is found which has been run over by a tram. This is a
peculiar event because there are no longer trams which ride after midnight in Ghent and
moreover, the body is found in de “Kruiswegstraat”, a street where there are no rails. The
narrator states “Alleen mij is bekend dat in de Kruiswegstraat zich misschien een
aanrakingspunt bevindt tussen ons bestaansvlak en de dimensie X...” (d'Exsteyl 1966 : 18) In
'Souper met vleermuizen', this street is described in the following way:
De Kruiswegstraat: een van de talloze smalle en doodstille zijstraten die net zovele
draden van het spinneweb zijn rondom het stadscentrum geweven. De huizen zijn er
oud met hoge gevels waarvan de verf sinds jaren afbladert en goor uitgeslagen
wonden laat, met wormstekelige houten logia's en verroest-ijzeren balkonnetjes, met
glimmende arduinen stoepen uitgesleten door de schreden van ontelbare generaties.
Tussen de straatkeien groeit het gras in verdorde toefjes... (d'Exsteyl 1954 : 41)
The “Kruiswegstraat” is depicted as a lifeless, neglected small street where time time has
been standing still.
Other stories in Steekspel met Schimmen which are set in Ghent are 'Het zonderling
verhaal van het verlaten woonschip', 'De Emmaüsganger', 'Old curiosity shop', 'Vier blikjes
karnemelk halen' and 'De schim van Lady Maud'. Ghent is present in 'Een tram na
60 In: Exsteyl, R. d', Souper met Vleermuizen. Hasselt: Heideland (Vlaamse pockets nr. 178), 1966.
81
middernacht', 'De mummie van Ramses VI', 'De grote samenzwering', 'Vier blikjes
karnemelk halen', 'Solo voor een bizarre bazuin' and 'Flash-back', stories from Souper met
Vleermuizen.
In relation to the atmospheric description of space, the motive of fog is important. It
is present in the oeuvre of the four discussed authors. Poe often uses it as an element to
enhance his fearful settings. It adds a frightening element to the city. In d'Exsteyl's De
Dames Verbrugge, it functions as an “assistant” for the murder on Octaaf Verbrugge. On the
night of this murder there was a thick fog, which made it easier for the murderer to escape
unseen. In Bertin's 'Satan's Tuin', fog enhances anxiety:
De mist sloop als een levende lijkwade over de grond, dicht en ondoordringbaar. Een
schaduw bewoog in de tuin, daar waar geen schaduwen konden zijn. De maan
bereikte haar hoogtepunt. Alle leven verstarde. Alsof iemand de tijd stilzette. (Bertin
1979 : 215)
In Bertin's oeuvre, space is frequently undefined, no names of countries or cities are
given. The city is less important. However, space has an influence on Bertin's characters as
in 'De Kinderkamer' and 'Satan's Tuin'. In 'De Kinderkamer', the nursery is the place where
mysterious events occur and both Allan and his female half split. Salers house and its
surrounding garden are possessed by “the dark” in the story 'Satan's Tuin'. As a child, Yvette
used to play with the evil monsters in the garden. She is controlled by the dark powers
which are present in the house and the garden. At the end, she is pregnant from “the dark”.
Poe created ghastly settings but focussed more on the human interior than on external
landscape, space was less important in his work. Paradoxically, in Ray's and d'Exsteyl's
oeuvre the city, more specifically Ghent, is crucial. They present the city as a maze, it is a
frightening setting where obscurity and fog enhance fear.
82
VIII. CONCLUSION
Man has always been fascinated by the inexplicable and the fearful. However, horror
fiction has been underestimated as a literary genre even though it has the most primal feeling
of man as subject, namely fear. This study aimed at finding the influence of E.A. Poe on
three Belgian writers from Ghent: Jean Ray, Roger d'Exsteyl and E.C. Bertin. It investigated
how the works of an American nineteenth century author parallel those of three Belgian
writers from the twentieth century. Poe is considered as one of the most influential masters
of the short story and as the founding father of the “American Gothic”. His tales of terror
and detective stories have influenced authors all over the world.
Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin have used Poe's name in their works. He is predominantly
mentioned as an author of horror fiction. d'Exsteyl has compared Jean Ray to Poe in 'Old
Curiosity Shop' and the eleventh chapter of Ray's Malpertuis has a device taken from Poe's
'The Pit and the Pendulum'. Poe's detective stories are similar to d'Exsteyl's De Dames
Verbrugge and his tale 'Old Curiosity Shop'.
Poe's influence has been discussed in relation to six themes: Fear, Death, Women,
Violence and Murder, “Doppelgänger” and Space and the City. Poe enhances anxiety by the
combination of fearful elements such as fog, Gothic mansions, oppressive atmospheres,
death, violence etc. This Gothic atmosphere is perceptible in the oeuvre of Ray, d'Exsteyl
and Bertin as well. Poe's House of Usher is similar to Ray's Malpertuis or Bertin's Salers
House61. These mansions function as a link between reality and a surreal world. For Ray,
anxiety is located in another world. The city, darkness, night, independent body parts,
cemeteries etc. are his favourite elements to create a ghastly atmosphere. Poe's protagonists
are afraid of being afraid as is the case with Roderick Usher, while Ray's characters are
fearless.
Poe's narrators often fear death but he has an ambiguous view on death's finality. He
believes in resurrection and life after death. This is similar to Ray's approach on death. He
presents characters who are death's incarnation, vampires etc. In Malpertuis the Greek gods
have been revived. In d'Exsteyl's 'De Schim van Lady Maud' and 'De Emmaüsganger'
resurrected characters appear. These aspects are present in Bertin's work as well.
For Poe, women are divine creatures who have an enthralling effect on his male
narrators. Their eyes play a crucial role in this process. Mysterious and idealized females
61 'Satan's Tuin' In: Bertin, E. C., Mijn mooie Duisterlinge. 10 fantasy- en horrorverhalen. Zele: D.A.P. Reinaert
uitgaven, 1979.
83
occur in Ray's, d'Exsteyl's and Bertin's writings as well. However, their women are often
negatively depicted and have a demonic characteristic. The female characters in Ray's
Malpertuis have a destructive power, similar to the ladies Verbrugge in d'Exsteyl's De
Dames Verbrugge. Parallel to Poe, whose characters are in need of motherly succour, a
mother figure is present in Ray's Malpertuis and d'Exsteyl's De Dames Verbrugge.
Violence and murder are the themes of Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'The Black
Cat'. These stories are similar to Ray's 'La Vengeance' and Bertin's 'Achter het Behang',
because they establish a link between murder, guilt and revenge. For Ray, violence is linked
to alcohol. Three murders are crucial in d'Exsteyl's novel De Dames Verbrugge.
The “doppelgänger” theme has been a popular literary device in Gothic fiction. The
“doppelgänger” can either manifest itself during life, where the benevolent part of man tries
to suppress its immoral half, or in death. Poe's 'William Wilson' is his tale about the double,
Wilson's double is his conscience. When one tries to murder his alter ego, he kills himself, as
is the case in Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Poe's 'William Wilson' and d'Exsteyl's 'De
Volmaakte Partner'. In Ray's Malpertuis and Bertin's 'Een kwestie van Concurrentie'
respectively the Greeks gods and demons are given a human “doppelgänger”. Closely
related to the motive of the double is the identity crisis as in d'Exsteyl's 'De Grote
Samenzwering' and Bertin's 'Geestesoproeping'.
Space is an important aspect in the creation of fear. Poe's landscapes and mansions
are frightening. Ray and d'Exsteyl present the city as a maze, composed of ghastly alleys and
houses. Their stories are predominantly set in an Anglo-Saxon environment and in Ghent.
Space plays a minor role in Bertin's writings.
Parallel in the works by Poe, Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin is the uncertainty they bring
about. It is unclear for the reader whether their stories are true or false. This could be linked
to their belief in the existence of a supernatural world next to daily reality. Poe's narrators
hallucinate under the influence of opium or because of a mental disorder, Ray's characters
are inebriated and Bertin's protagonists are psychiatric patients.
An Anglo-Saxon influence is noticeable in the work of Ray, d'Exsteyl and Bertin.
Their characters are given English names and their stories frequently have an Anglo-Saxon
setting.
Horror literature has a long tradition but it still appeals to readers. Most likely
because man is oftenly attracted by what repels him the most. Although Poe's tales were
published over 150 years ago, he retains the power to shock and enthrall his readers with
each tale of terror and fantasy. The influence of Poe is as well perceptible in early twentieth
84
century writings as at the end of the century. The horror fiction of the late twentieth century
has been influenced by science fiction but there are still parallels to be found with Poe.
“Poe's singular ability to probe into the caverns of the psyche and reveal, through the
medium of imaginative prose and poetry, that combination of fear, guilt and obsession
common to mankind has insured his permanence among the great writers of the world.”
(Introduction to The Complete Illustrated Works of Edgar Allan Poe)
85
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Keyser, G., 'De vloek van de herinnering'. De Groene Amsterdammer, 16/12/'00.
Keymeulen, K. Van, 'Een stad, donker van angst.' Knack Gent, 12/09/'84, pp. 18-21.
Krystal, A., 'Three-fifths genius?' Times Literary Supplement, 16/10/'92.
Lampo, H., 'Jean Ray of Merlijn in Vlaanderen.' Nawoord in Malpertuis. Amsterdam:
Meulenhoff, 1970.
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Lampo, H., 'Geniaal om den brode.' Muziek & Woord, mei 1987.
Leer, D. Van, 'Introduction'. Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Tales. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1998.
Seelye, J., 'Introduction'. Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Stories. London: Everyman's Library,
1992.
Slooten, R. Van, 'Eureka'. Trouw, 15/03/97.
Tavernier, L., 'Het herliegen van de werkelijkheid.' Knack, 26/09/84, pp. 117-129.
Tricht, H. Van, 'Bertin, Eddy C.: Mijn mooie Duisterlinge.' Lektuurgids 27 (1980), nr. 2, p. 70.
Vander Motten, J.P., 'Poe in Belgium'. In: Poe Abroad. Influence, Reputation, Affinities. Edited
by Lois Davis Vines. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1999.
Vander Motten, J.P., 'Poe and the Belgian Aesthetic Movement'. In: Poe studies/Dark
Romanticism: History, Theory, Interpretation. Washington: Washington State University,
2001.
Versluys, K. and A.G.H. Bachrach, 'Edgar Allan Poe'. Moderne Encyclopedie van de
Wereldliteratuur. Antwerp: De Standaard, 1983.
OTHER MEDIA
SOUND RECORDING
The Alan Parsons Project (1976). Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe.
Polygram Records Inc. CD. (41 mins)
INTERNET
Vuijlsteke, M., (2003) Jean Ray. Waterwijk. Available from
http://www.waterwijk.be/geschiedenis/figuren/ray/index.htm [Accessed 20 May 2007].
Vandamme, G., (2004) Jean Ray. Literair Gent. Available from
http://www.literair.gent.be/html/lexicondetail.asp?ID=5&AID=487 [Accessed 20 May 2007].
E.C. Bertin. Stichting Lezen. Available from
http://auteurslezingen.stichtinglezen.be/html/fiche.asp?id=esbktdb [Accessed 20 May 2007].
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PICTURES
Picture young Poe available from
http://www.answers.com/topic/e-a-poe-jpg [Accessed 20 May 2007].
Daguerrotype Poe available from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe [Accessed 20 May 2007].
Cover of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination available from
http://www.booksandcollectables.com/books/poe_mystery.php [Accessed 20 May 2007].
Picture original burial place of E.A. Poe available from
http://www.lacoctelera.com/ladymacbeth/post/2005/09/28/lugares-sagrados- [Accessed 20
May 2007].
Signature Jean Ray available from
http://www.dmnet.be/voix/main/fr/pgatfr/autfr29.html [Accessed 20 May 2007].
Filmposter “6, Rue Calvaire” available from
http://users.telenet.be/belfilm/Films/kruiswegstraat_6.htm [Accessed 20 May 2007].
Picture E.C. Bertin available from
http://www.villakakelbont.be/html/index_auteurs.asp?url=auteursContent.asp&qs=show=id|
id=757 [Accessed 20 May 2007].
DICTIONARIES
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Ninth Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
LONGMAN, Dictionary of Contemporary English, Fourth Edition. Essex: Pearson Education
Limited, 2005.
VAN DALE, Vertaalwoordenboek Frans-Nederlands. Antwerpen/Utrecht: Van Dale
Lexicografie bv, 2006.
VAN DALE, Vertaalwoordenboek Engels-Nederlands. Antwerpen/Utrecht: Van Dale
Lexicografie bv, 2006.
VAN DALE, Vertaalwoordenboek Nederlands-Engels. Antwerpen/Utrecht: Van Dale
Lexicografie bv, 2006.
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