Montague Rhodes James, (August 1, 1862, Goodnestone Parsonage, Kent, England –June 12, 1936). A noted medieval scholar and Provost of King's College, Cambridge, he is best remembered today for his ghost stories. These were published in a series of collections: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), A Warning to the Curious and other Ghost Stories (1925). Following an English tradition, many of the thirty or so tales were penned as Christmas Eve entertainments and read aloud to gatherings of friends. August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Parsonage According to [The Oxford English Reference Dictionary], a parsonage is a church house provided for a parson. Sometime it refers specifically to the house where a university or college chaplain lives, as well. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK... June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Full name The Kings College of Our Lady and St Nicholas Motto Veritas Et Utilitas Truth and usefulness Named after Henry VI Previous names - Established 1441 Sister College(s) New College Acting Provost Dr Tess Adkins Location Kings Parade Undergraduates 397 Postgraduates 239 Homepage Boatclub The Gatehouse, built... Ghost Stories (Japanese: 学校の怪談, Gakkō no Kaidan, School Ghost Stories) is a twenty-one-episode anime series created in 2000 by animation studio Aniplex for Fuji Television, based on a manga series by Yosuke Takahashi. ...

The stories perfected several key elements of the classical ghost story. These include plot elements: a bucolic setting in a small village, rural community or venerable university; a nondescript and rather naive gentleman scholar as protagonist; and the discovery of an old book or other antiquarian object that somehow calls down the wrath, or at least unwelcome attention, of a supernatural menace, usually from beyond the grave. James also perfected the literary technique of the genre: narrating supernatural events principally through inference and suggestion and letting his reader fill in the blanks; and focusing on the quotidian details of his settings and characters in order to throw the horrific and bizarre elements into greater relief. H. P. Lovecraft was a great enthusiast, extolling the stories as the peak of the ghost story form in his definitive essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1925-27). Another relatively well-known fan of James in the horror and fantasy genre was Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote an essay on him. Author John Bellairs paid homage to James by incorporating plot elements borrowed from James' ghost stories into several of his own juvenile mysteries. H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy and horror fiction, noted for giving horror stories a science fiction framework. ... Image:Front-4. ... Image:Notre Dame years. ...

There have been numerous radio and television adaptations of James stories, mostly in Britain. Two of the best-known and most highly reputed of these TV dramas, "Whistle and I'll Come to You" (1968) and "A Warning to the Curious" (1972), are available on DVD from the British Film Institute. The BBC, in a long-standing tradition, used to broadcast a reading of an M. R. James story each Christmas. This tradition was resurrected in December 2005 when BBC4 broadcast a new dramatised version of James's story A View From a Hill. DVD-R writing/reading side DVD-R with purple dye, 4. ... The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and... Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... BBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital TV (Freeview, satellite and UK. Contents // Categories: Stub | BBC television channels | British TV channels ...

The only notable film version to date has been a British adaptation by Jacques Tourneur of "Casting the Runes," under the rather more attention-catching title of Night of the Demon (1957; U.S. title: Curse of the Demon). While somewhat more literal than the original story, which was loosely based on the foul reputation of Aleister Crowley, the film is generally considered one of the high points of the horror film. Opinion is, however, divided on the merits of the rather un-Jamesian decision (allegedly against Tourneur's wishes) to explicitly show a special effects demon with a bulb-fingered design inspired by medieval woodcuts. Jacques Tourneur, born November 12, 1904 – died December 19, 1977, was a French film director. ... Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (12 October 1875 - 1 December 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug user (especially morphine). ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... St. ... Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer. ...

Whilst M. R. James is best remembered for his ghost stories, his output of medieval scholarship was phenomenal. He catalogued many of the manuscript libraries of the Cambridge and Oxford colleges. Among his other scholarly works, he wrote The Apocalypse in Art, which placed illuminated Apocalypse manuscripts into families. He also translated the New Testament Apocrypha. Illustrated Apocalypse manuscripts are manuscripts that contain the text of Revelation and/or a commentary on Revelation and also illustrations. ...

The stories of M.R. James have influenced many of todays great supernatural writers, including Stephen King (The Shining etc), Ramsey Campbell (Ancient Images) and Stuart Neild (A Haunted Man). Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author best known for his highly successful horror novels. ... John Ramsey Campbell (born January 4, 1946 in Liverpool) is a British writer, who is considered by many literary critics to be one of the greatest masters of horror fiction. ... Stuart Neild (born 1970) is an English supernatural and horror author. ...

There is an extensive critical analysis of James's work in Jack Sullivan's book Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story From Le Fanu to Blackwood (1978). Jack Sullivan (born 1946) is an American literary scholar, essayist, author, editor, musicologist, and short story writer. ...

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Montague Rhodes James

• A complete chronological bibliography of all of his writings hosted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences
• Night of the Demon at The Internet Movie Database
• Ghosts & Scholars - exhaustive online magazine devoted to James and related literature and writers
• Works by M. R. James at Project Gutenberg