Reading activity

The reading aloud of ghost stories to others is a crucial part of their enjoyment. This was the key motivation behind M R James' producing his tales: he wanted to share them with members of the Chit Chat Club in Cambridge and then read them as a Christmas ritual in his rooms with friends and students and thus wrote them 'at red hot speed'. Publication was never his original motivation and he remained dismissive of the stories:

If any of them succeed in causing their readers to feel pleasantly uncomfortable when walking along a solitary road at nightfall, or sitting over a dying fire in the small hours, my purpose in writing them will have been attained.

Preface to Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, 1904

Activity 1 - reading aloud

Taking this quote as a lead, choose a spooky passage from one of the stories - perhaps the moment when Professor Parkins has just picked up the whistle in Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad, and turns to see a distant figure pursuing him without making headway. Ask students to prepare it as part of a selection of readings of spooky stories and poems.

Activity 2 - discussion

James talks of wanting his readers to feel 'pleasantly uncomfortable'. It might be interesting to invite students to 'unpack' this paradoxical phrase.

• Why do human beings enjoy being scared by reading scary stories or seeing scary films? Is it a sign of the relative safety of our lives that we need such thrills?
• And what about the enduring interest in ghosts? Is this a sign of a need for some kind of reassurance that there may be an afterlife after all?

Activity 3

Use this sample from 'Oh, Whistle' or any other incident from the stories and invite students to adapt it for the radio. There are some things to consider:

• Record some radio drama relating, if possible, to a piece of literature - a Sherlock Holmes tale, for example. Listen to it and compare it to the prose version - in what way is it different?
• Ask students to work out how many sounds they are going to need to convey location. They do not need to come up with sophisticated sound clips.
• Avoid expositional writing to describe a setting or incident, or obvious scene setting, such as 'Look, I'm standing on the sand,' which can sound rather crude. Instead consider how it would be better conveyed by the use of sound effects.
• Consider whether the speeches need adapting to be less literary?
• Consider whether a narrative voice recorded over the top would be an effective way of conveying a lot of information or suggest a character's thoughts.
• Are there words or phrases that will make the scene more visual for a radio audience, such as 'Good God man - you've gone as pale as a goat!'
• Think about the use of atmospheric music that's either intrinsic to the scene or not.
• How do you indicate whether people are speaking indoors or out of doors.