John Meade Falkner
The Lost Stradivarius
While studying at Oxford, John Maltravers, a talented musician, notices a strange phenomenon: his playing a certain air on his violin brings an invisible guest to his room. The ghostly visits become more frequent, until he eventually sees the figure of a man sitting and listening to his playing. His subsequent discovery of an old Stradivarius violin hidden in a secret cupboard in his room, while improving his skill as a musician, seems to cause a change in his character. As his violin playing becomes an obsession he is drawn away from his old values, his family and even his faith, towards more sinister interests. The tale of the possession of a young man by the restless spirit of an eighteenth century necromancer, "The Lost Stradivarius" is a classic work of supernatural literature.
“The Lost Stradivarius is sometimes described as the novel that MR James never wrote. There are similarities, but to make such a comparison diminishes Falkner's achievement. It is, in fact, a good deal better than James (who I greatly admire). The characters are more rounded, the set pieces more frightening, and the principal themes more ambitious. Much of the narrative is underpinned by Neo-Platonist mystical philosophy and Falkner explores late 19th-century preoccupations such as the relationship between beauty and morality. Music is crucial to the plot, treated not merely as organised sound but as a means of opening channels between our world and the supernatural.” -F R Tallis, The Independent, July 12, 2013
“Mr. Falkner is a master of the art of suspense, and relies for his most impressive effects on the exercise of a discreet reticence. If, however, he stimulates the imagination by his artistic omissions, he is indefatigable in the patient elaboration of details which go to the creation of the environment and atmosphere by which his dramatis personae are affected. “ -The Spectator, Volume 91, July 4, 1903
“A downright mystical story, ingeniously constructed, cleverly written, and liberally permeated by the supernatural element” – Daily Telegraph
“Narrated with much literary skill, and in a vein that has not been worked so well since ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ thrilled us so delightfully.” -Illustrated London News
- ISBN
- 1491243554 / 9781491243558
- Weight
- 11.7 oz.
- Dimensions
- 6.0 x 0.4 in.
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Paperback (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Sept. 14, 2016)
