I originally found this from the library because it includes Machen's The Great God Pan, which is on my to read -list. It's great though that I also get to read other gothic tales, too. Perfect Christmas read in my opinion (alongside Dickens, of course). There's usually two words anyway that make me want to read the book immediately: Victorian and gothic. Not sure about late Victorian though.

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Ok, I somehow got confused with the term late Victorian. Of course I've read stuff related to this area of literary history (Dracula, Picture of Dorian Gray etc.) and have loved almost every single one of them. I just didn't realise that they can be classified as something so particular. This collection is brilliant, including well-known authors and authors who at least I have never heard about. Among the weakest stories was Dionea, it was excruciatingly boring and uninteresting. Among the best was Lot No. 249, The Dâk Bungalow at Dakor and Pallinghurst Barrow.

All those I liked were simple and traditional ghost stories with a creepy atmosphere. By outlining the basic themes of the Gothic revival, the introduction made me understand that the themes in particular are the reason why I love this branch of literature. Decadence, imperialism, Spiritualism, fascination with ancient Egypt, naturalizing the supernatural (Frankenstein), supernatural creatures (mummies, ghosts, vampires, monsters), emergence of new sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology), theory of degeneration (explaining the animalism of the criminal classes, female hysterics and the insane, and the new art forms like Impressionism, Symbolism and Naturalism), and the overall atmosphere of dark opium and absinthe-fumed brothels with lace curtains.

Now the only thing left for me to do, is to write down the select bibliography and all the authors that I'm interested in reading more from. That should grow my to read -list relatively well. Maybe too well...