M. R. James

Montague Rhodes James, (August 1, 1862–June 12, 1936). A noted medieval scholar and Provost of King's College, Cambridge, he is best remembered today for his ghost stories. These were published in a series of collections - Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others< (1919), A Warning to the Curious and other Ghost Stories (1925). H. P. Lovecraft was a great enthusiast for James' stories, rightly regarding them as classics.

The BBC, in a long-standing tradition, used to broadcast a reading of an M. R. James story each Christmas.

At least one of his stories, The Casting of the Runes, has been filmed, with the rather more attention-catching title of Night of the Demon (1957); though this was marred by actually showing the dreadful fate of one of the characters, at the hands of a somewhat rubbery demon.

Whilst M. R. James is remembered by most people for his ghost stories, his output of medieval scholarship was phenomenal.

External links

A complete chronological bibliography of all of his writings (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/publics/mrjames/MRJBIBL.htm) hosted by the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences
Night of the Demon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt/) at the Internet Movie Database

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