{"product_id":"circles-of-dread-paperback","title":"Circles of Dread - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJean Ray\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eScott Nicolay\u003c\/b\u003e (Afterword by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWartime tales of disquiet and dread from Jean Ray, author of \u003ci\u003eCruise of Shadows\u003c\/i\u003e and progenitor of the \"Belgian School of the Strange\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the Occupation, severed from contact with France and other countries, Belgian publishing turned inward, and forgotten authors such as Jean Ray were given new leases on literary life. Embracing the influence of American pulp fiction, Ray's short stories found a new audience during World War II, and gave voice to a realm of fear and unease that blended fantasy with a Catholic heritage and a distinctly bourgeois everyday. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eCircles of Dread\u003c\/i\u003e, Ray's fourth short-story collection, was first published in 1943, the same year that saw the appearance of his best-known work, the novel \u003ci\u003eMalpertuis\u003c\/i\u003e. This collection's portholes onto sinister fantasy include such stories as \"The Marlyweck Cemetery,\" \"The Inn of the Specters\" and \"The Story of the W lkh.\" Ray takes the reader from the quiet streets of Ghent to the scrambled streets of London to the Flinders river in Australia, with tales spun from such materials as the iron hand of G tz von Berlichingen, the black mirror of John Dee, a Moustiers ceramic plate and the shifting, extradimensional menace of a predatory cemetery. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlternately referred to as the \"Belgian Poe\" and the \"Flemish Jack London,\" \u003cb\u003eJean Ray\u003c\/b\u003e (1887-1964) delivered tales and novels of horror under the stylistic influence of Dickens and Chaucer. His alleged lives as an alcohol smuggler on Rum Row in the Prohibition Era, an executioner in Venice and a Chicago gangster in fact covered over a more prosaic existence as a manager of a literary magazine that led to a prison sentence, during which he wrote some of his most memorable tales.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 8 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 24, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51768783044896,"sku":"9781939663528","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/5caf4a19c4a351efe8cb82a608dc0b90.webp?v=1780337197","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/circles-of-dread-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}