The Surly Sullen Bell: Ten Stories and Sketches, Uncanny or Uncomfortable, with a note on The Ghostly Tale by Russell Kirk
$50.00
The Surly Sullen Bell: Ten Stories and Sketches, Uncanny or Uncomfortable, with a note on The Ghostly Tale by Russell Kirk, published in 1962. First edition. A distinguished collection of supernatural fiction in which Kirk revives the classical ghost story through atmosphere, moral depth, and psychological unease rather than overt shock. The volume includes memorable tales such as Off the Sand Road, Ex Tenebris, The Surly Sullen Bell, The Cellar of Little Egypt, Skyberia, Sorworth Place, and What Shadows We Pursue, each blending the uncanny with everyday settings and ethical consequence. Kirk’s ghosts are subtle and suggestive, often serving as manifestations of memory, guilt, and metaphysical disturbance rather than simple apparitions. The collection is complemented by Kirk’s reflective note on the nature of the ghostly tale, in which he defends the genre as a serious literary form capable of conveying moral imagination and spiritual insight. An important work in twentieth-century supernatural literature and a key example of Kirk’s contribution to the modern revival of the literary ghost story. Hardcover with the original dust jacket, showing light shelfwear to corners and ends of the jacket.
