Ringing The Changes by Robert Aickman
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- Опубліковано 25 тра 2023
- Robert Aickman was a British author best known for his highly influential and distinctive contributions to the genre of supernatural fiction. Born on June 27, 1914, in London, England, Aickman spent much of his life exploring his passion for writing and exploring the depths of the human psyche through his unique brand of storytelling.
Aickman's early life was marked by a fascination with the strange and macabre. As a child, he developed an interest in ghost stories and the supernatural, which would later become significant themes in his works. He attended Highgate School in London and went on to study law at Cambridge University, although he eventually chose not to pursue a legal career.
Instead, Aickman became deeply involved in various literary endeavors. He co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, an organization dedicated to preserving Britain's canal systems, and served as its chairman for many years. This passion for the waterways and their mysteries would find its way into some of his stories, where canals often serve as eerie and unsettling settings.
Aickman's writing career began in the late 1940s, and he initially focused on non-fiction. He worked as a critic, reviewer, and editor, writing for magazines such as the London Mercury and the Times Literary Supplement. During this time, he became acquainted with many prominent literary figures, including J.R.R. Tolkien, who became a friend and a source of inspiration.
However, it was in the realm of short stories that Aickman truly made his mark. His first collection, "We Are for the Dark," was published in 1951, followed by several other collections over the years. Aickman's stories are characterized by their atmospheric prose, subtle psychological horror, and an emphasis on the uncanny and the unknown. His tales often feature ordinary characters thrust into extraordinary and unsettling situations, where the line between reality and the supernatural becomes blurred.
Aickman's writing gained critical acclaim and a devoted following, particularly among fellow authors and aficionados of weird fiction. His unique style and narrative approach set him apart from other writers of his time. His works have been praised for their ability to evoke a sense of unease and disquietude, exploring the hidden fears and desires lurking beneath the surface of everyday life.
Although Aickman's writing career was relatively short-lived, spanning roughly three decades, his impact on the genre cannot be overstated. He received numerous accolades for his contributions, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1981. Despite this recognition, Aickman's work remained somewhat underappreciated during his lifetime, but his reputation has grown steadily in the years since his death.
Robert Aickman passed away on February 26, 1981, in London, leaving behind a rich legacy of unsettling and enigmatic tales. His stories continue to captivate readers with their haunting atmosphere, intricate subtleties, and exploration of the strange and inexplicable. Aickman's unique vision and distinctive voice ensure his enduring place as one of the most original and influential authors in the realm of supernatural fiction.
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This one is deeply unsettling. I’m glad you include Aickman in your podcast, despite his stories lack of actual “ghosts.”
I really like Aickman
Absolutely love this story. The way it’s written and narrated, is extremely unsettling and you can literally smell the odour described in this.
I think this is my favourite yet 👍
I don’t think anyone appreciates the now until you hit 50. Now is everything. You can’t relive the past and hoping for a better future is futile. Just live now and enjoy the moment and be present.
Thank you for introducing me to an unfamiliar author. If this is at all typical of the quality of his work, I'll be eager to read/hear more.
I enjoy the way the ringing bells ratchet up the tension with their maddening cacophony, but their sudden silence signifies something even worse.
As always, your narration is exceptional. Well done, Tony!
I imagined every moment of your story telling here and especially the pub hotel which was so exactly as you describe them in those post 1950 years. I will never forget the dingy carpet in a Bodmin hotel over forty years ago or my mother's description of an unhappy forty year old couple running a seaside hotel in the seventies. A wonderful analysis/rumination at the end.
If you ever read W G Sebald's Rings of Saturn he talks about a meal he had in grim Suffolk seaside hotel. I remember that kind of place too.
This is one of the few ghost stories that I return to again and again with the same fascination I felt the very first time I heard you read it. It brought me to Robert Aickman. Thank you for making it possible for me to hear it read to me, as many times as I like. There is a charm to someone reading me ghost stories that no other genre can evoke for me. No other type of audible book or short story can make me feel as much a child as a deep, reassuring voice reading me ghost stories. It really transports me and for that you have my gratitude.
I am very honoured that I brought you to Robert Aickman.
This is one of my favorite stories. Now. This was good. It held my attention and suspense in my breath. I really appreciate it. I hope you do more. Hope I can find More of his Stories. Thank you❤
I’ve done e any 3 Aickman stories . maybe more
Thanks so much for this! I love Robert Aickman -- he has such a gift for taking the most mundane situations and somehow making them subtly, but deeply, disturbing.
Wow! One of my very favorites, and a fantastic reading at that. How I love Aikman. And I agree with all you said about him and his works as well. One of my favorites of your post-story analyses here.
Also, I hope you were able to pass on to Mr. Critchly how much some of us appreciate his patronage and the excellent readings it facilitates.
I too shall join the ranks of your patrons as soon as I am in a position to do so.
As ever, thank you so much for all you do, good sir. I appreciate you very much.
Lastly, wishing you a wonderful holiday journey!
It’s a pleasure!
Thank you Tony, brilliantly done. You're right, unsettling is the word for it. Your explanations afterwards really made me think.
I'm too poor to be a patron, but I'd like to suggest a story. It might not be to your taste, or you might not feel that it fits in with the other stories on the channel, that you were mentioned of reading a story by someone better known as a poet made me think of "The Tree" by Dylan Thomas. Not a ghost story, but a very unsettling story that you might at least enjoy yourself even if you never read it for us listeners.
i actually don’t know that one . i’ll take a look
😮
Ooh I’ll definitely check that out Beyond Bodywork. Thank you x
I agree.... Thomas's THE TREE.. wood be an extraordinary listen
Unintended pun. Wood for would 😊
Lovely narration as always Tony; when i hear of a town where " time" matters less, it puts me in mind of Negotium Perambulans and John Silence in Ancient Sorceries by Blackwood.
I read your sentence referring to 'time matters less' at the exact moment when Tony's narration read 'time matters less'! That felt a bit uncanny!
@@suecondon1685 That is odd.
❤I
Excellent timing; I'm going for a nap 😊
Nice one! Glad to see some more Aikman content, and great narration. Really interesting analysis at the end as well, and I'm glad you mentioned Kafka. I could talk for ages about them both, but if nothing else something I've always appreciated about Aikman is him bringing some of the dreamlike, "unease of small differences" kind of feeling that runs through Kafka into a British, post-war context.
I think Aikman was a master at identifying those sort of queasy undercurrents of anxiety in day to day life and interpersonal relationships, and using literary sleight of hand to intensify them to the point of unreality and the uncanny, but without it ever feeling like there's been much of a suspension of disbelief required at any one step (there's exceptions of course). You end up with this dreamlike mix of archetype and mundane reality, which I think is so unsettling because you can't quite put your finger on what, if anything has happened at the end. Hopefully I can afford to subscribe to the Patreon soon, it sounds great.
One of my favorite short stories of all time! Excellent work
I enjoy your story’s and your voice is excellent.
One of my favourites! Excellent work
Enjoyed this faintly unsettling story. Thank you, Tony.
What a wonderful start to the Bank holiday weekend thank you Tony
Thank you for this, I love Aikman.
Still a favorite, vivid narration. Thank you.
Thank you Tony, always enjoy listening to the stories you narrate 💙💛💚
thank you Lynda
Gripping, surreal horror, also this time around--will listen again and again. Thank you, Tony, Masterful as always
I’m so excited to listen to this, I’ve been hoping you’d do this one for ages!
Fantastic Reading as well as thoughtful Ramble afterwards! Really loved it, never read or heard of this story before, thank you so much.
Thank you for reminding me to appreciate the "now". I've gotten more conscious lately of being present with my husband or other loved ones when they want to engage. Just put down the phone or pause to reflect on what I'm experiencing. Best wishes, as always.
this is my lesson in my current Ridgeway walk
I love this narrator and unusual stories .I’ve listened to a few, a particular one was set in Ireland which centred round a house party in the 1800s called something like all the dead. Excellent.
Thank you, Tony! Excellent story, well narrated. Enjoyed the end ramble, as always. Wishing you a pleasant holiday.
hello M :)
Lovely! I enjoy all your work. Thank you and God bless! 😊
The narrative once again captivates with its charming and delightful storytelling. It truly transports the reader to a world of imagination and wonder.
+Grumpy Scotsman you don’t sound so grumpy
@@ClassicGhost Back in the day, my folks used to call me "That" since I was always nose-deep in a book and totally oblivious to everything else.
I LOVE this story and it's made all the more wonderful by your superb narration ❤
Just as disturbing this time around. Thank you for all you do.
Very welcome
Wow, very unique. Really liked it. Thank you Tony.
This is one of my favorite stories.
Glad ya got your wallet back, Tony!
Always loved this story, and Aickman. BTW, I just watched the film, for the first time, where your opening lines come from. A real happy surprise when I heard the actors voice these lines.
Excellent story and excellent commentary. Thank you so much, I will seek more of his work out.
Just in time to wind down tonight! Thank you Tony for the new recording! New subscriber and I love your content, the narration is second to none. Awesome job!😊
I love the stories you choose.. but more than that, I love your philosophical meanderings post-story. I enjoy each story at face value but I particularly enjoy your deeper explorations /history of both story and author. Please keep up the good work .
Thanks Tony
I was able to read along in my Pan, The Third Ghost Book, 1955
that makes me nervous :)
@@ClassicGhost Don't worry you read it beautifully and really brought it to life. You did accidentally miss one short line and an s ending on a word but it didn't affect the narrative at all. Great work, love your stuff 👍❤️
Brilliant thank you
Just stumbled across this story. Brilliant stuff, happy to give you your 1000th like for this story!
I didn’t realise it had got so many! thank you :)
You have a great voice,very nice to listen to
I really loved this story!!! They were such a sweet young couple caught up in a nightmarish situation… the bells were so menacing… and where was the sea???? Deliciously creepy ❤
Really excellent stuff Tony! This is a genuinely disturbing tale, and it had me recounting The Wicker Man, Midsommar, even Day of the Dead!!
Just when it seemed the girl had been sacrificed, the creepy old Commandant emerged as the hero of the piece.
I'm wondering if this story was influential to a host of 20th century film makers.
I am going to do another one of his soon
Thanks for posting. In some was it is similar to listening to the British news, lots of bizarre, scary and evil events, but at least this is fiction, not reality!
Stumbled across your channel, wonderful thank you!!!
You are so welcome! Glad you did.
Ripping yarn! Your delivery as ever, is impeccable - I remember pubs like this!!
+Small Wonda me too :)
I ❤ your NEW merch ARTWORK!
It really reflects the spooky stories! 🪭📚🗣️📖
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I enjoy the stories, but really, I could just listen to your voice all day.
+@BostonBaby1000 i have hundreds of hours of me droning on now !
That was fun! Love the commentary. Sometimes that's the best part.
Re "this is now" -- best place for me to learn this was in the shower. Figured that, more so than any other place, there was absolutely no reason for my mind to be anywhere else. Started there, practiced it regularly, and then it became easier for me to find other 'now' moments wherever I am. No matter how it's achieved, I think it's well worth learning. Good for you!
+lzeph there a guy called Ed Muzika who also relates to the shower awakening. you can get his story for free if you google
Hey Tony, ever considered doing a reading of Thomas Ligotti’s short story, Conversations in a Dead Language? I think you’d do it proud!
i’d probably have to have his permission and though he may give me his position ( or he might not) his agent probably wouldn’t allow me as someone will have the contract to produce his audiobooks
YES; always more Aickman, please! (Also: Is there a reading of yours of 'The Hospice' available to us regular, non-Subscription, viewers yet? If it has previously been put on YT, it doesn't seem to be easy to find...) Thanks for posting this, and do keep up the good work!
no that’s still members only . i love got to keep sone stuff to tempt people to sign up :)
Wonderful thankyou. I was suitably unsettled yes!😊 Enjoy your ramble. It sounds very folktale. The places you mentioned brought to mind Ray Feist's Fairy Tale. I hope you get to spot some fey folk❤
me too!
Very nice. Had me to the end . Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
Glad you enjoyed it
"Phryne", I have always been taught to pronounce it 'Fry nee'.
As it is in Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher murder mysteries series of books and television series.
I agree with you wholeheartedly on Wodehouse but absolutely must disagree on this one. I have known of the ancient courtesan Phryne for man years.
Thanks for the story and the ramble , loved it. You never disappoint.
👍
+April Wakefield i think you’re probably right about Phrynne
OK soooo, I watched Jeepers Creepers b4 coming to bed (bad idea #1.) Then got under the covers with lights out and listened to this (not for the 1st time, but I must say wayyyy creepier than I remembered.) So thanks for the chills Tony...awesome narration. And I wholeheartedly agree with your take on Aikman...dude FREAKS me out 😮😳💀💜 Nightmare fuel for sure.
You want to hear something creepy? 2 weeks or so ago, I woke up at 3am because my dog was growling behind the pink arm chair in my room; hobbled over there with my cane to find a huge solid black 4 foot long snake about 3 inches in diameter, head raised ready to strike. I don't live in snake country ( NJ) and also there is a 15 foot staircase just to get up to my apt. ( the only apt. In town because this is farm country). Suffice it to say I was sufficiently freaked@@@@@😢
@WisdomoftheEarlyChristians Wow...sounds like a Corn Snake. They're completely harmless. I've always had a thing for reptiles so snakes don't scare me (but most people do have a phobia so that must have been terrifying for you) 🫨🫢🫣 It would most likely eat any creepy crawlies, mosquitoes and other pests. But again I understand the phobia. For me it's spiders...arrrrghhhh.
@@violetfemme411 well, then you would have freaked if you had seen the huge wolf spider I found on my chest in the middle of the night. I instinctively swatted it with my hand sideways (not really knowing what it was) and heard it hit the wall with a " thwack " sound. This was scarier than having the thing crawling on me, because I realized how big it had to be to make a noise like that. So, I had to turn on the lights and go looking for it. It was a huge Wolf spider the size of a tarantula.
Now, I unashamedly sleep with the light on. I don't really have a snake or spider phobia, but it's one thing to have these things as pets living in terrariums or cages or whatever (where you know where they are), and quite another to wake up in the dark and find them crawling on you in your bed.
Between all of the in-house livestock I've encountered in the past year: huge queen bees in the spring ( carpenter bees), spiders, cave crickets, snakes and mice, I don't think I'll ever sleep in the dark again, lol.
@WisdomoftheEarlyChristians lol...most definitely would have packed up and moved if I'd encountered the Wolf Spider 🕷 I even had a problem inserting that tiny icon taking care not to touch it. I think you need to move to a sky rise apartment. 😵💫🤯 Or start sleeping in a hazmat suit.
@@violetfemme411 lol, not a bad idea. I moved out of the city a long time ago, because I grew up in an urban area, and i absolutely CANNOT deal with roaches; and despite how hard you try, depending on your neighbors, roaches just play Whack a mole when you live in a city, while the exterminators chase them back and forth from one house to another. I still have PTSD from stepping on a palmetto bug with my bare foot during a Florida vacation; I am also freaked out by snakes, scorpions, rats, etc. So this is why I pay the exorbitant rates of living in NJ; because this state isn't high on the list of vermin, or of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and all that.
I'm only staying until my husband retires, and then I'll look for the most vermin free area I can find, lol. In the meantime, hazmat suit with the lights on will have to do (or maybe I should just buy some kind of weasel/ferret). Don't they attack snakes and all of that? i'll call him the Snakinator; because I don't know that my heart could withstand another snake ; or I could just ship the snake to you, and you can keep him for a pet, lol. Actually, the snake might have eaten the mouse my dog caught; literally right by my bare feet!
I have a Sheltie and I saw him put one paw out very quickly right by my feet; I looked down and saw he had a mouse pinned there (what are the odds). (He was born and raised on an Amish farm, but has PTSD when it comes to turkeys, horses, roosters, etc. so farm life was not for him. He failed "farm dog 101", lol, but I guess he passed mouse catching. )So, I reached down, grabbed the mouse by the tail and brought him outside. You can't avoid mice in the country; but I can deal with a mouse better than roaches. I am with roaches the way you are with spiders. I'd have to move.
I think my favorite part is the analysis and biograph at the end. Oh, and your plummy voice.
I have heard the locked drawer before and wants to hear it again but I can't find it. Can you share the link?
+mary mcswain i don’t have a link but it’s from Psychomania
Thanks!
Thank you very much
@@ClassicGhost you’re welcome, Tony. You do the best readings.
Am in flat East Anglia. Looking forward to this. Also would love to walk deliciously 😃👻♥️
A new find for me, Classic GHOST STORIES - dead and lovin' it, as Dracula would say.
+kennyglesga i think he did say that
👏🏻👏🏻
You do a really good creepy voice! lol I am listening to this and I am about to go to sleep! lol Not the best thing to listen to before bed! Well done, Tony! Seems like everybody capitalized on Edgar Allan Poe's bells!
+sugarfalls1 it’s an eerily disturbing story
@@ClassicGhost I'm happy to say I had no nightmares! lol Enjoy your trip, btw! See how long I listen? lol It's all worth it. Reminds me of my rambling Aquarian self. 😋
👍
**Spoilers** don't read until after the story
I had great curiosity about what would happen. The author lets you in on the town secret about a third of the way; you know what's in the air (pun intended). But, what would they do? We have our late modern preconception from "Night of the Living Dead", which was released in 1965, the same year as this story, but very different actions. Here, we are presented with singing and dancing, two normally joyous activities that you need breath and physical vigor for, two qualities that are not enjoyed by the dead. There is much noisy breakage and vandalism, also the battering and bruising of our major character. How could a rotted body possibly accomplish this? Hmmmmm. The major does "what had to be done". No idea what that was. I don't think it is the dead that comes to life once a year in this town.
...and similar to Shirly Jackson
Thank you for this story Tony, and what an ending (looks like something got into the wife in the end…)
Please explain the ending
Poor old Gerald, married to a girl who is plainly too young for him, and who finds himself cuckolded by very lusty, but dead Seamen, an experience which she appears to have relished….
Certainly not the sort of experience that Gerald would like to think about too much.
Aickman was so good at that kind of unease.
Yes, interesting. It’s disturbing in that way but also because of the almost childlike characteristics of Frin.
The two women were interesting to me. The landlady wore a literal mask of makeup. Kept herself drunk was tied an awful husband and job. Frin ran to the sea, stayed the night, opened her legs to the fire. I don't think the landlady was jealous of her pretty body so much as frin's freedom
I just finished listening to the story. It is an interesting contrast between the two female characters. I also enjoyed the not-so-happy ending…seems that the young wife found something new in herself on the night of the “dance”, and things will never be the same between her and the husband again.
@@jeank.7527explain please?
A eye?
Tony, the name 'Phryne' is pronounced 'Fry-nee'.
Thank you
Hearing that Peterson wrote academically about the discomfort of the perceived violation of expectations before he torched his academic career because he couldn't handle singular "they" is a hell of a thing. That he compared it to a wolf pack is already foreshadowing how his brain would rot, because wolf packs in the wild aren't socially complex hierarchies, they're a mated pair, their unmated offspring, and sometimes an auntie or uncle who is more distantly related to one of the parents, and the rules about who eats first are dead simple: the youngest, smallest members of the pack are prioritized. There's no such thing as an alpha wolf in the wild; the wolves that this model was based on were in captivity and were highly stressed because they were essentially a bunch of random strangers forced to live together. It was like if you based all your psychological models of humans from the population of a single overcrowded prison.
Also, singular "they" has been in English since before Chaucer - it was borrowed from Old Norse, in fact, which is a *really weird* thing to do for an Indo-European language, especially one in the European group, because they tend to be *really* conservative with pronouns. As in, English has had mostly the same pronouns, allowing for sound changes, since its earliest attested forms, except that the original singular epicene (i.e. not marked as masculine or feminine but still high enough in the animacy hierarchy to not be an "it") third person pronoun, along with the plural third person pronoun, was deprecated in favor of that borrowed one, presumably because the originals sounded too similar to other third-person pronouns, causing too much ambiguity in ordinary use. Depending on the declension, for example, the singular epicene sounded exactly like the singular feminine. If you're not quite following, think about it kinda like words like "y'all": because we stopped using "thou," which was informal and singular ("you" was originally a plural and formal second person, like "tu" vs "vous" in French), we started coming up with ways to pluralize "you" to disambiguate singular vs plural second person.
You're arguing about simple Syntax and wrong Metaphores to construct an Ad Hominem fallacy, but not the argument itself.
The point that Peterson is arguing is about politics and presnt idealogue that totally disregard Empirical Science. Studies about gender have been totally misconstrued by the government and self-serving organization when there are thousands of studies and research, whether by biology, psychology, physichiatry, sociology, genetics, history... all point to the opposite. This is absolute fact. No amount of modern pseudo-science can change that. Years from now these zeitgeist ideas will be quickly be dispensed as another historical absurdity.
He's concerned, and every sane person must be, that present governments are making laws that crimilizes people that question or opposes a government sanctioned thought, specially a thought that is scientifically flawed. It similar how past government and monarchies would advocate a state-sponsored religion. Now it's a new kind of religion, better embrace it or else. It's regressive and tyrannical. Everything must be up for debate no matter what, in democratic country (or something trying to be one)
Peterson specifically say that in regard to gender identity, he totally support it if it's a personal thing, he has no right to impose upon on how you should live your life and on how you want to be treated, free from any abuse or indignity... but, such beliefs must not be imposed on others to nor force them to agree with it. The Feminist movement have fought long and hard to win their battle just to see it crumble with inerudite modernity. This is a problem with most schools and universities, even if they choose to ignore true objective science with more present theoretical science, they must always open for objection and debate from students, teacher and professors without them fearing any censure or injunction. In fact schools must welcome all kinds debate. That is how real Science is formed, with constant appraisal, deliberation and questioning. The fact that most universities refuse to debate on certain thought, shows how little their confidence on such thought would survived a thorough scientific, practical and logical deliberation.
People have always said “they” when they don’t know the gender.
Yeah, whilst you,re probably right about most of this. Nobody likes a pedantic know all….keep it short mate, you haven’t said anything I did,nt already know. I think you should bear in mind that this is a story not a documentary about wolves or grammar.
@@inisipisTV This is so long l can’t be bothered to read it, this is a story ,we don’t need a lecture on gender in language.
Gerald seems a bit of a chauvinist doofus. Let me deny my significant other information extremely important to their survival.....
In a lot of ways he’s very controlling & condescending with Frin, who seems almost childlike. Typical for the 1950s perhaps, but it’s interesting that Frin seems to obtain a bit of internal independence after her “dance with the dead.” Also interesting that the marriage never is consummated on that wedding night but there is a question as to what Frin did when she was taken out to dance with the dead (were there any living among them- it’s unclear). It seems at the end that she has some familiarity with the grave diggers, as she gazes at them seductively.
Boring and ridiculous story