Re: W.H.Hodgson
Posted by:
Platypus (IP Logged)
Date: 22 June, 2019 12:39PM
Minicthulhu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have read cca. 70 short stories by W.H. Hodgson
> so far and I must say a great body of his work has
> nothing to do with the supernatural and is a far
> cry from his “standard“ horror tales.
> There are scores of Mr. Hodgson´s stories
> published in his life one would hardly expect to
> be written by him. “Kind, Kind and Gentle is
> She“, “My House Shall Be Called the House of
> Prayer“, “The Captain of The Onion Boats“,
> “Judge Barclay´s Wife“, “The Girl with The
> Grey Eyes“, “Sea Horses“, “Date 1965:
> Modern Warfare“, “The Valley of Lost
> Children“ and many, many others … It is hard
> to believe these stories, full of humour,
> sentimentality, fun, action and love, were written
> by the same author who created “The House on The
> Borderland“ or “The Voice in The Night“ …
All I can say is that I read most of the stories you mention, and I did not find it hard to believe that Hodgson wrote them. The story that attracted my suspicion was one that features a female protagonist, seemingly a stand-in for Hodgson's wife, as protagonist, saving her talented, slightly-pompous, but clueless, lover who seems to be a stand-in for Hodgson.
I'm not necessarily saying Hodgson could not have written it either. But it was published after his death. And even Moskowitz says there was no evidence that the story was ever submitted to magazines prior to his death. Would you be surprised if his wife wrote it?