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"I know you're only guying me," I said angrily, "but why is the house full of--what you say? Why do you hear--what you do hear? Tell me that, you silly fool!" Seaton sat down on a chair and rested his candlestick on his knee. He blinked at me calmly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

In a League of Her Own: Thou God, Seest Me
Walter de la Mare's short story, "Seaton's Aunt" was written about 1909, and first published in a larger edition of DLM's work in 1922 or so, I believe.It was widely anthologized thereafter. In any case, like many others I have for years found it among the most engaging, beautifully-written, and baffling short stories produced by any English author in the 20th century, and a true minor-key masterpiece.

It is--among much else--a tale of an England long-since disappeared, even then...An England in which moral righteousness was as natural and encompassing as the verdant English countryside.This also means it describes a culture in which reflexive moral indignation and glib racial intolerance were the flipside to this very thin, yet sturdy, coin of righteousness.

In the unforgettable aunt of the unfortunate Arthur Seaton we find the embodiment of these archaic British imperialist virtues:she is an arch-believer of the "muscular" species, if anything (although this may not be orthodox Christian belief, one should note)--hardly the 'spider' or 'cannibal' alluded to by her unnerved, and rather spineless 'nephew'--and she clearly has little hope for Seaton or his frightened, rodent-like soul.Indeed both boys are described in terms that suggest mousiness ("Don't scurry..." etc.)

The narrator, as is often the case in De la Mare's tales, is a bit stodgy & unimaginative, and no real friend to Seaton at all. (This structural & dramatic device--the youthful, unexceptional narrator caught up in the coils of a devolving domestic tragedy--brings to mind L. P. Hartley's masterpiece THE GO-BETWEEN, and this is a compliment to both authors.)

The Rabelaisean aunt, meanwhile, is rough, old worldenergy personified; first she provides an enormous meal, fit for men not children, which is described in vivid, distinctive language by de la Mare, as she eats like a horse, then destroys the immature narrator in a game of chess, engages in verbal skirmishing that unnerves them even further, and in general intimidates the overmanned youngsters like a good Victorian virago...but she is hardly a real Monster.And, while she is never truly malicious, she IS snobbish, smarmy, & authoritarian in an oblique, wonderfully droll manner.(Think of a female Uncle Monty in "Withnail & I" with a streak of religious fanaticism, in other words...)

She might also be read as an early proto-feminist of the particularly English, and soul-destroying variety, at worst, but she's not a murderess or an ogress.Terrible for Arthur, but one suspects a healthy Englishman of the period would have avoided her "love" like, well...the Devil...
Whether she is in fact "in league in the devil" has seemed less & less plausible the more I've reread de la Mare's tale over the years.I cannot & do not view her as a Satanist or a witch.But, she DOES seem more like an eccentric religious fanatic of the gloomier variety ("I don't look to flesh and blood for my company..."), which might well account for Arthur's paranoid fears.
On the other hand, Seaton might have been wiser in the end to have paid closer attention to his overbearing aunt's strictures.

Rereading this story gradually removes the false patina of supernaturalism, which is quite thin to begin with, and reveals a much more naturalistic, if far sadder, picture.
Saddest of all is the path down which the forlorn Seaton appears driven, incapable of saving himself (as he sees with as much clarity as ineffectualness), before dying prematurely on the verge of marriage...a marriage which seems unassured of success, one feels. His dismal little fiancee is as much a hapless milquetoast as he is...

And yet, his early death deprives his formidable Aunt of the object not only of her contempt, scorn & ridicule, but also of her mercilessly real affection. (I believe this reading may have been inadequately addressed.) The entire tale is permeated by a a lugubrious, nocturnal ambience that is not easily described or analyzed.[One thinks, for example, of a scene in "Don't Look Now" by Agatha Christie (or Nicolas Roeg's superlative film adaptation), in which one of the two eccentric sisters refers to Venice as "a city in aspic"...So, too, the atmosphere in Seaton's home and the personality of his massive, oppressive aunt.]
That she herself becomes haunted by the ghost of the wretched Arthur in the end gives the tale a somber, almost tragic finality & painful irony that is as hard to shake off as clinical depression.


Without expending more time & words on a review here, let me say that (for me) the story continues to elicit layers of interpretations; it is THAT well-wrought & durable...In fact, one might read the tale as an updated species of the old domestic tragedies much loved & produced by Elizabethan & Jacobean playwrights some three centuries before.Seaton's old aunt, as one should at last realize & appreciate--for she surely does--is cut very much from that weightier and deeper 17th century cloth; and the values she embodies are lost altogether on her 'modern' young charges, to their (& our) lasting dimunition.

"malignant vampirism"
HP Lovecraft admired this chilling story for its "noxious background of malignant vampirism." This is de la Mare's most famous story and rightly so. We can't fully grasp who or what Seaton's aunt is, but she is drawn with consummate skill in all her prehistoric grandeur. Her conversations with her nephew and his classmate are elliptical and bizarre. I wish my high school English teachers wouldve included this gem in their lessons instead of duds like "The Crucible." Seaton's Aunt will haunt me for a long time. ... Read more

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Collected Poems 1901-1918
Volume I
Volume II
Henry Brocken
The Listeners and Other Poems
Peacock Pie, A Book of Rhymes
The Return
Songs of Childhood ... Read more

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The Listeners and Other Poems is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Walter De la Mare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Walter De la Mare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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A kind but poor farmer gains a fortune and his rich brother's envy when he grows an enormous turnip. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Highly recommended!
How many adults like Grimm brothers fairy tales?I got great enjoyment out of this retelling of an old favorite.This is the story of two brothers, one greedy and sneaky, and the other kind and penniless. As always in fairy tales, good triumphs over evil. Ages 8 and up.

Great story - great illustrations!
The story of The Turnip , or Giant Turnip, is a fun, classic fairytale.

This version, as told by the poet Walter De la Mare, has an entertaining use of language.The story is about two brothers, one a "mean and merciless greedyguts" the other "as different from this as chalk from cheese."The two brothers, each in their own way, present a gift to the king.What shall be the outcome?

Kevin Hawkes illustrations are humorous and cheerfully colorful.Thethe expressions on the faces of the brothers capture their personalites completely.The text is also interspersed with small pen and ink drawings.

This book deserves a place in the library of every children's book reader and collector.

... Read more

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This is a haunting story, told in the first-person, of a Victorian gentlewoman of diminutive size.In the Introductorian gentlewoman of diminutive size.In the Introduction, Angela Carter calls it "an authentic masterpiece. Lucid, enigmatic, and violent with the terrible violence that leaves behind no physical trace." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

This Kindle version is UNREADABLE!
"Memoirs of a Midget" is a beautiful masterpiece by Walter de la Mare (free pdf versions are available online, check it out). I wanted to get the Kindle version and was glad to find it at Amazon. However it is an ILLEGIBLE version, completely destroying de la Mare's poetic style, and impossible to follow. The title of the book pops up randomly throughout, and punctuation is sketchy, lines are not justified and therefore you have to literally search for the next word. In short, there is no flow of sentences at all and therefore no flow of thought. Very painful experience. I gave up after a few pages.
VERY DISAPPOINTING! And whoever is charging money for it should be skewered. I would highly recommend that Amazon remove this item altogether. It is not a valid book.

Much ado about very little
I so wanted to enjoy this book, Walter de la Mare is truly a great poet and author of some gems in the short story genre.But I felt the steam went out of this novel approximately 100 pages into it, there was simply not enough plot development to sustain an entire novel.This is a character study that simply got out of hand.There is great poetry in the prose but I found that once the heroine of the title moves to the boarding house from her family home the book becomes a muddled mess with little rhyme or reason.The sense of whimsy and pathos that enriches the beginning quickly becomes a plodding dose of endless pathos without sympathy or motivation to attract the reader.I see that there is an appeal to this work according to other reviewers, but I simply offer my assessment as a counter-point.

Well, I'll take my time to do this...
...though few enough people will ever read it, because this book languishes in undeserved obscurity.This novelis a fascinating look into a life which is unimaginable to most of us--this life of a tiny, delicate midget,
whose heart and soul are as large as she is small.This is not a book to be picked up for an idle afternoon's
reading (though it is not difficult to read), because it is truly like entering...well, a fairyland.If you are a
reader of high fiction, you will love it.

And, though I'm evidently the only person in the world who knows this, it would make a world-beating
animated film.

The most enchanting and bizarre tale you'll ever encounter
De La Mare's little gem, Memoirs of a Midget has to be one of my favourite novels of all time; an uncanny situation, richly developed personalities and the ever present philisophical questions of identity, place and sexuality are all addressed in the most quizzical and charming ways. A must have for those who consider themselves lovers of fairytales as well as philosophers.

short peoples unite!
I thought that this book was excellent! As a fellow short person, I could relate to the story wonderfully! I have felt the same feelings that she felt, it was almost like a mirror was held up to my life. Well except for the when the book took place I can't believe how awesome this book was! Now perhaps people will look at the midgets and think that they are real people too, not just disformed humans. you should read this book. It was the best book I ever read. I hope that everyone reads this book so that people everywhere can get to know the hardships that we face in our day to day lives. This book really educated my friends on how hard life can be. I can only hope that others will do the same thing. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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A Book Of Drawings By Bianco With Illustrative Poems By De La Mare. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more