SHORT STORIES 1927-1956

Best known for his poetry, British author de la Mare (1873–1956), widely admired in his own day, had largely dropped from view until the publication last year of the first of three volumes currently reprinting his prose, Short Stories: 1895–1926. This new gathering reprints his last three story collections, along with a handful of remaining uncollected and unpublished stories. (A third volume, collecting his stories for children, will follow.) Here, again, de la Mare’s affinity for fantasy and ghost stories is on display, as is his skill at summoning moods and mastery of atmospherics, whether supernatural, dreamlike, or disconcertingly real.

Unjustly forgotten, de la Mare is well-served by the series, and the prospect of a deserved revival becomes that much more likely.