The Striding Place, Gertrude Atherton
The Striding Place, Gertrude Atherton
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The Striding Place
A Victorian Ghost Story

Author: Gertrude Atherton

Narrator: Katy Maw

Unabridged: 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: B7 Media

Published: 11/10/2020

Synopsis

In Gertrude Atherton’s The Striding Place, the concept of identity and a lonely death are addressed. Weigall remembers talking with Wyatt about the soul and afterlife. Wyatt states, “If I had my way, I should stay inside my bones until the coffin had gone into its niche, that I might obviate for my poor old comrade the tragic impersonality of death.” The characters wonder about death and the destination of the human soul when it occurs. Weigall does not believe that the marshy bog, The Strid, has taken his friend, but when he sees a hand raised above the surface of the water, he knows it must be him and he desperately and quickly saves him. When he tries to resuscitate Wyatt, he sees that there is no face on the body. This is an extreme metaphor for the loneliness and/or mystery of death.

About Gertrude Atherton

Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) was an American writer whose novels and short stories are often compared to Henry James and Edith Wharton. Born in San Francisco, she eloped at the age of nineteen. Though her husband disapproved of her writing, she continued, and with his death in 1887, she pursued her writing career full time under the guidance of Ambrose Bierce. Considered one of the early feminists, she wrote sixty books and numerous short works.

Reviews

Goodreads review by October

I like the atmosphere and the build-up, the little details of the characters' backgrounds and relationship, and the particular style of queer subtext that tends to pop up in literature from this time period. What I liked most, though, is that this story centers around the Strid. I find the real-life......more

Goodreads review by Jess

Follow me on the interwebs: Blog + Twitter + Facebook + Instagram “I cherish the theory that the soul sometimes lingers in the body after death. During madness, of course, it is an impotent prisoner, albeit a conscious one. Fancy its agony, and its horror!" Interesting ending! Not sure I'd......more

Goodreads review by Lane

I have to disagree with virtually all of the reviews. The ending may have been a tad bit abrupt, but did send a horrifying thrill up my spine. Generally speaking (but especially in a story this short and trim) exposition is never for nothing. When Giffords was talking about his spirit residing in hi......more

Goodreads review by Riju

This work is regularly cited as a 'great' 'gothic' horror. Perhaps in 1896, when the story had been written, it might have been fear-inducing. Now it is a drag, with lots of momentum building up towards nothing. Only reason for giving one extra star: the unabashed homoerotic tone in the thoughts of o......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth

Ooh, oh, ack! This awful, horrifying, dreadful, wonderful ghost story is sure to delight and torment in equal measure. It's horrifying, but I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to look away but could not. That's part of the story's power: it gripped me and wouldn't let go. I had to keep reading to the......more

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