A Warning To The Curious by M. R. James
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- čas přidán 25. 04. 2024
- M.R. James's "A Warning to the Curious" (1925) is a seminal ghost story that explores the consequences of disturbing ancient artifacts and the enduring power of folklore. Set in the fictional coastal town of Seaburgh, based on Aldeburgh, Suffolk, where James had strong personal connections, the story follows Paxton, an amateur archaeologist who unearths one of three legendary crowns believed to protect England from invasion.
The story draws upon a rich tradition of magical artifacts in British folklore, such as the Glastonbury Thorn and the buried head of Bran the Blessed, situating itself within a larger cultural narrative of Britain's magical defenses. James's deep knowledge of East Anglian history and folklore is evident in his vivid descriptions of Seaburgh's landmarks and his reference to the crown of Redwald, an ancient East Anglian king, foreshadowing the 1939 discovery of the Sutton Hoo treasure.
As a work of folk horror, "A Warning to the Curious" explores the clash between modernity and the lingering presence of the past, with Paxton encountering the vengeful ghost of William Ager, the crown's guardian. The story resonates with other works in the genre, such as H.R. Wakefield's "The First Sheaf" (1922), highlighting the dark side of rural traditions and the supernatural.
The story's post-World War I context adds depth to its themes, reflecting the profound impact of the war on British society. Paxton's tragic fate, with his broken jaw and mouth filled with sand, evokes the horrific injuries suffered by soldiers in the trenches, serving as a metaphor for the lost potential and unfulfilled promises of a generation scarred by war.
Derrida's concept of hauntology and Mark Fisher's extension of these ideas provide a compelling lens for analyzing the story. The ancient crown and Ager's spectral presence embody the past's disruption of the present, while the story's pessimistic tone reflects the post-war zeitgeist and the haunting of society by the specters of war and lost futures.
"A Warning to the Curious" showcases James's mastery of the ghost story genre, weaving together folklore, history, and the supernatural to create a haunting tale that continues to resonate with readers, reminding us of the enduring power of the past to shape our present.
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/ @classicghost - Zábava
Good morning/evening Walker clan!
Hi Tony.
I love a classic M. R. James read by you.
Life would be just a bit dull without hearing something from you.
😊👻☠️🖤
What a great story and reading! The description of Paxton's tendency to be in "a state of fidgets" and "a state of shivers" delighted me at first, but after your interpretation I wonder if those states were common to war trauma survivors at the time.
I became a Patron I think a week or 2 ago. I love your stories and listen to both this and the Classic Detectives channel as well(sorry if the name is incorrect for the second channel). I also enjoy your talks afterwards regarding the author's and the story. Thank you for all you do.I do greatly appreciate it.😊
Same here, patron and loving the Detective channel as well, Secrets in the Snow my favorite story so far
@@LucicPower I can’t seem to find the detective channel. I’ve searched Tony Walker classic detective on podcasts and can’t find it
It's on youtube " classic detective STORIES " please let me know if you find it, a lot of Dashiell Hammet there
@@CR-dr8ok open.spotify.com/show/59i6IL1Rj2Xtq0e6V25zPd?si=jOslFq6HRqefVtokLC0vvg
@@LucicPower got it! Thank you!!!
No one rambles as superbly as Tony😮😂❤❤❤🎉
Sometimes I enjoy the ramble bit more than the actual story😂
Me too! 😁
The guy has a PHD in it+ thoroughly deserved "he's a good egg" no doubt
He’s my midnight rambler !
@@teddydog6229 that sounds like an Allman Brothers song!✌️
I haven't heard this one before, great narration, good story. Thank you, Tony Walker!
I must chime in on WW1: my son is a marine and lost his leg a few years ago, he is doing fantastic now, climbs mountains, flies helicopters and all that crazy shit that gives me a fright. I always have something negative to say about war though... I fucking hate it.
Your commentary on WW1 reminds me of something said by Franklin D. Roosevelt - "War is young men dying and old men talking" And "Old men make war, young men fight & die." -Winston Churchill. These quotes never fail to make me cry, not because of my son but due to something that goes much further back for me, like past lives or something.
Oh gosh!
May your son always stay safe now.
I hate war too, no reason other than it's wrong. There has to be a better way.
@@Story-Voracious66 💜
It's true that many people have recorded this story but I listen to them all as each person brings their own flavour to it. Your reading of Paxton's character is lighter than many others and makes him sound more like the young man that he actually is. I am a huge fan of James' stories and I enjoyed this reading very much. Many thanks!
Ditto all other comments, and I Love your thoughtful rambles afterwards as much as the stories.
Tony, in my opinion, you are one of the very best narratiors of M.R. James, 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
(As well as all the other authors!!)
Appreciated Gratefully as Always!!
Namasté 🙏🕊️💞🌟
Andréa and Jasper. ...XxX...
Ps,I shall become a Patreon soon!!❤
Thank you. i’m flattered :)
I agree.
@@martinandroid2538 @andreadingbatt me too!
Great job Tony! I love M.R. James' stories!
Wonderful to end the day.with my favorite channel and narrator ❤. Goodnight all.
Oh wow...never read
this one..thanks Tony!
What a wonderful tale!
And as always,great talk afterwards.
The commentary about soldiers fighting for a positive(?) future that didn't arrive for them, instead financial, physical and medical hardships, reminds me of stories about some Vietnam war vets.
I'm not sure which part I like the most, the story or the history talk afterward. Excellent telling as always. Thanks Tony.
Thoroughly thought provoking waffle. Thank you.👍
Loved this one. Something about the mood gripped me. Thanks Tony!!!
Thanks, Tony and Gavin!
DuPont Chemicals had a slogan "Better Living Through Chemistry" in the 1950s so your memories of "progress" as a goal was set a long time before you were born.
Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in the 1950s.
We hippies told you in the 1960s that that lifestyle would bring you to grief, the same kind of grief that we are experiencing now.
Possibly that point of view was later in the UK than it was in the US, because we were already getting disillusioned by the 1970s.
I'm 77 so I'm some years ahead of you.
I listen to both you and Ian Gordon regularly, and your style is both different enough and equally enjoyable so that one would appreciate hearing the same stories(we all love to hear our favourite stories more than once anyway) read by both of you, and others of course, should they do as great a job as you. I like the way you stress particular words somewhat differently to how I would, and the melodious phrasing of sentences. Anyways, thank you for all the stories.
Hear hear! Nobody "owns" these stories. Let a thousand readers bloom!
Loving the detailed description, can't wait till my bedtime to settle down with this story, thank you so much Tony 🙏 💛
Hope your Saturday was a good one. I'm fighting the pain of Fibromyalgia today and tonight, but your voice helps 💜
Sorry to hear that
@ClassicGhost Thank you Tony...it's life, for now 💜
My partner has Fibro, it's an awful thing to live with. Hope your flare up has calmed down now🤞
My goodness was this reading exquisitely flawless. I felt like I was IN the story with you! (Somehow my membership didn't renew, but it's fixed now! Glad to continue with my humble support.)
I loved the story and Tony's superb narration. I listened to his discussion afterwards and was happy to discover the origin of the haunting line in the introduction to the narration of the story, ' You tried to get into the locked drawer today, didn't you?' It's from the 1973 film, 'Psychomania'. Thank you, Tony!
Thank you! I love all those quotes in the beginning and wondered where they came from :) they’re blended together perfectly
Loved that story. Great reading, lively, colorful, just terrific! Thanks so much!
Thanks, Tony! Great M. R. James Story, well narrated. Enjoyed the waffle at the end; good food for thought.
Thank you, Tony. Beautifully read and I enjoyed the ramble at the end.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.😊
Oh, I love this story!!
Tony, I'm always thrilled to hear your take on a take... Can't wait to listen to this one! xx
I love your storytelling abilities! Thank you so much!
I also love 1:01:52 your banter after the story narrations!
It is so very welcome in this world of isolation and solitude… 🤓 💜
Hi. 🙋.
At least we're together here. 🙂
👋🏽 Hola! Alone, but never lonely…Thanks!☺️👍🏽
This is my favorite James story. Thanks!
Thank you to your friend who sponsored this one. How about Count Magnus next?
i haven’t done that one ☝️
The BBC did an adaptation of Count Magnus a couple of Christmas's ago. Very good and very chilling👍
You're brilliant idea of giving new life to old and in some cases forgotten ghost stories has got me thinking.
When I was at school there was a horror anthology paperback in the school library, I can't remember its title. One of the short stories was an absolute belter called You Have Been Watching. Initially a newly wed couple didn't want a TV, but after a couple of months of marriage they decide to get one from a second hand shop in town. Oddly enough it seems the TV actually came originally from the couples house... and that's all I'm going to reveal!
I've searched for this story online over the years but thus far no joy.
In fact I'm going to give it another go!
It wasn't one of the Herbert Van Thal anthologies? Pan Horror stories?
This story just scares the hair off me .... need to listen in daylight not at night! The film version was just heart breaking b/c the poor ol' guy looking didn't even have a descent pair of shoes. I don't know whose idea it was to put that heartbreaking scene in there. It's not in the story just the film I'm thinking
Hey Tony Walker, sure there are different qualities of readers of stories and I can see your reluctance to read stories covered well by other Tubers, but each reader has and athmospere that resonates with listener according to mood, Like Wine. You all give us a choice. Same great story different reader to match mood of season. Thanks for your work.
,
+@hangawara Thank you. I know what you mean and I thank you for saying so. I am in awe of some other narrators. Not Arthur Lane though :)))
MR James and Algernon Blackwood for the win
Love M.R. James, love Old Gods of Appalachia, and I greatly appreciate your narrations. Keep up the good work!
Thanks 🙏
I just listened to "Crossed Wires" with a certain guest star. Well done!!! Very entertaining.❤
It was great fun 🤩
The past does haunt the present. You can see it and feel it everywhere.
I just love the interesting rabbit holes that we travel through with Tony!
❤️
thoroughly enjoyed your post story analysis today, very interesting to reconsider this story in the context of the broader social context of the time
I remember watching an old adaptation of this one! I think it was from the 70s and on the "bbc dead of night" series playlist on youtube
You are as good as any of them. Thank you for the story, and btw it is nice to hear different interpretations, the story becomes new with each narration
I had listened to this one on Bitesized, so I almost passed it over, but I'm glad I didn't, because your reading of it brings so much to it, and of course there's lots to enjoy and learn from in the 'ramblings'. So I think it would be a shame for you to avoid stories because others have done them previously. It's a great story too
It's always a good day when Mr Walker uploads a narration. I enjoy listening to these immensely, thank you. Have a great day, sir.
"Our thumping hearts
Hold the Ravens in
And keep the Tower
From tumbling "
☺️
Oh wowowow ok this is the big guns, dying to listen!!! Gonna have a spooky breakfast.
No diggin ere
Ah that was grand and a good discussion for afters!!
I was having a good think on this one and on your enlightening comments. Thanks for sharing your vast wealth of knowledge with us, Tony! I'm looking at the story through the lense of religion; in particular, Christianity which used pagan folklore to scare believers. The young man in this story serves as a cautionary tale, not only for pagans, but for church folk. The ministers and priests can claim how delving into this kind of "evil' world will lead to something even more horrible than the death of the body, but, the snuffing out of the light of the soul.
This is true and James was steeped in the everyday culture of the Anglican church
Thank you for the reading Tony..
Thanks back for listening
One thing I like about James, apart from his narrative gifts, is how his paranormal entities and ghosts are very focused and attached malevolently to one individual or small groups of men. It’s not like a ghost or apparition pops up and sends dozens off shrieking. It always is roused or displeased by one individual which, for all the shiny science and modernity, makes it all the more isolating. After all, who’s going to believe you ? This is the first post -WW1 James story I’ve heard. I wasn’t even aware James had lived that long into the 20th century. Of course not by our standard of blood and guts, the violence in the story isn’t particularly savage but by James standards it really is quite brutal. I loved hearing you do an unfamiliar James story and the shadow of the Great War made it all the chillier.
Excellent narration as always, thank you - great story too... My vote is, hands down, please read any story you desire, your version & style are superior to any others you mention here, & any that I have managed to listen to here on youtube, in my opinion. Being a folk musician that loves to play in musical communities, I understand not wanting to tread on the toes of other "performers" covering songs, but there is such a world of difference between versions. I look forward to becoming a patron in the near future finance pending.
Thanks for the encouragement. Good luck with the music
Interesting to see how the great genre writers of the day handled themes of the War - we have Conan Doyle's patriotic Bruce-Partington intrigue, of course, and HG Wells going off in quite a different direction.
No diggin'....No diggin' 'ere.....
😂
Very interesting talk as always Tony(such an interesting chap) speaking of your Great Grandfather,I'm so intrigued as to the "old soldiers" views(in the main)as to going through the whole disaster of European+ eventually world war once again after being fed the lie they fought "the war to end all wars" very heavy hearts i would imagine especially considering it was their children who would be "footing this bill" but also the feeling of national patriotism,which i imagine will always be prevalent+a very useful emotion for governments to twist+play on(that+ the often delusion we all as nations are fighting for freedom) "War is a very human disease" but I'm also fascinated while sickened about the "history of warfare" which as Private Joker references in the film "Full Metal Jacket" shows the "duality" in mankind, when questioned why he has "born to kill" wrote on his helmet, while wearing the "anti-war, peace badge" on his lapel.I love these stories with the "quintessential Englishmen" i feel myself almost longing for such times(rose tinted specs-no doubt)sorry for droning but like i say "you are an interesting man"+you get "the auld noodle ticking" take care Tony+family(hope your internet woes have lessened of lately)
I enjoyed your thoughts about the other top-tier horror channels on YT and why you avoid certain tales or authors - This channel easily fits into that "top-tier" description as well IMO.
I greatly enjoy your thoughts after the stories, they add a bit more food for thought and give your channel its own unique character.
HorrorBabble has sadly gone almost completely Cthulu and Lovecraft. I would hate to see much of that on your channel.
More Gothic, Victorian, and authors like Edith Wharton and Shirley Jackson, please! And your M.R.James stories are certainly welcome, i don't care if I've heard them elsewhere.
What is the picture on the title page?
Am I First?!😅❤
Looks like it, dear😂as I seem to be the second 😊😂
@@Keira88😊👍👍
Thank you so Much!!
For letting me claim 1st ,Lol! 😁
Great Narration by Tony, as usual, I enjoyed this very much indeed!! 🙂❤
@@AndreaDingbatt you're the winner, no doubt about it, my friend:)
"Martin's Close"...a lesser known M.R. James story..About a record of a murder trial. A caddish fellow in search of a fortunate marriage. A simple young woman who is 'a natural'. And a terrible outcome.
Thank you for the suggestion
The idea of a connection between this story and the war seems a bit ironic, in light of the preface to James's earlier collection 'A Thin Ghost and Other Stories' (published in 1919) which emphasised the stories' escapist quality, and mentioned that there was only one reference to 'the war' in the entire collection. But now that you mention it, there is a distinct whiff of the trenches in this story, with the prominent role of digging and the implicit anxiety about the safety of home and country.
In a way, Ager himself can be seen as a soldier of his country because, as he understands it, the fate of Britain depends on his protecting the crown. ('England is my nation' is a part of the family creed, after all.) Does that make Paxton a traitor, then, because he puts his country's talisman at risk by taking it out of hiding? In Ager's eyes, it certainly does, but I'm not so sure about the author. James tells us little about Paxton's motives-apart from the obvious one, curiosity-but I don't think he gives us any cause to suspect treasonous intent behind Paxton's desire to bring the crown to light.
This is a story that has been recorded often by many worthy readers, but I'm glad to see it in your library of work now. It's one of the stories that belongs in any good collection of James. I doubt if any reader really grudges the author his 'word-painting' in the beginning. His personal connection to the setting adds a special poignancy to the narrator's friend's remark that he has not wanted to go back to 'Seaburgh' since the events of the story.
HUZZAH HUZZAH
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I love contrasting your accent / voice to that of Simon Stanhope (Bitesized Audio Classics). For some stories, yours works better. For others, his works better. Sometimes I will listen to the same story, back to back, read by both of you, and appreciate the subtle difference in mood, tone, and texture that you each bring to the text.
that is very interesting. I suppose it’s inevitable. i’m desperately curious about which :))
@@ClassicGhost Generally, I think your voice / accent works better for stories that are bleak and grim, and Simon's works better for stories that have an upbeat or lighthearted setting. Also, yours works better when the characters in the story are not Edwardian toffs, while Simon's works better when they are. Your 'Sandwalker', for example, was perfect - Simon wouldn't have been able to do that with the right tone; but he is the master of A J Alan stories. You can both do M R James well, but you each give to the stories a different tone.
that is fascinating. I take some pride in the fact I can do bleak stories. That made me smile.
@@ClassicGhost Did you do the one where a car breaks down and they go to an old house and things become quite werewolfy? I can't find it. But I think it was one of yours.
All wars follow the same pattern. Cannon fodder used to satisfy the power games of oligarchic elites.
Speaking of the present being haunted by the past’s promises of the future, it is the theme of a couple of my favorite songs ever. I'll link Aimee Mann’s “Fifty Years After the Fair,” but I'll also recommend revisiting Donald Fagen’s “I.G.Y.”
czcams.com/video/tdnO-kV8h3s/video.htmlsi=boLDXfHyn6JpOI1a
Thinking about the human costs of WW1 and lessons learned, there is this beautiful take on the Christmas truces of 1914 by John McCutcheon…
czcams.com/video/5JwXfdz2C7Q/video.htmlsi=0XFfDTMEGrq2jk1y
I really liked that song:)
The notion of 'curiosity' as an inherent flaw in human nature, within this context, strikes me as a very conservative almost patriarchal notion. Abrahamic religion Christianity refers to the fall as a result of the archetypal woman, Eves curiosity to eat the apple as encouraged by the snake. Pandoras curiosity to open the box of ills leaving only hope. The bride of bluebeard discovering the corpses? of his former wives?
The notion of 'leaving well alone' is possibly an admonition not to challenge the status quo, into the spiritual darkness of past/present ages/evils. Superstition. A type of infantilisation of the psyche. A grown up version of dont go down to the local pond or the monster at the bottom of the pond may jump up and drag you down. In reality curiosity is one pathway through many pathways to opening up the mind and experience.
This is just another one of these infuriating circumstances that Americans are now dealing with on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the people we have elected to represent our interests in Congress will do absolutely nothing to address. They are busy making up problems and dealing in worthless distraction. We must vote Dems back into the Majority in the House and Senate. ✊
Great voice and great selection. I enjoy falling asleep to these turn of the century horror stories. But you've tacked on your personal opinions at the end? It's like I'm looking at a Rembrandt painting and then someone doodled their name and a cartoon character on the frame. It was shocking the first time I heard it and I hoped that maybe you only did that every once in a while. But it appears you do that in every story. No matter how many comments tell you how great it is that you insert your own ego into these carefully crafted stories, it's the wrong thing to do and it's ruined the channel for me. I do really like your voice though.
+@MuzzyGoldblatt Muzzy mate. Just don’t listen to that bit and understand that lots of people like those bits . if they didn’t I wouldn’t do it . live and let live . walk away from what you dislike . Rest easy