Any Jamesian will be surprised at how much new light Murphy casts on these eerie tales of revenants and demons.
Michael Dirda Washington Post
Demonstrates a kind of scholarly curiosity that one hopes M. R. James himself would have approved.
A. S. G. Edwards Times Literary Supplement
Murphy's interesting book shows that perhaps M.R. James stories were more than just idle pieces of entertainment.
John DeNardo Kirkus Reviews
For anyone interested in James, the scholar, this book is an essential read; it presents much that is new, is fascinating throughout, and offers perceptive analysis of Jamess unparalleled wisdom in the field.
Peter Bell Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter
This book is a pleasure to read: beautifully written and presented. It is never less than thoroughly eloquent.
David Matthews Review of English Studies
In this thorough, eloquent, and convincing study, Patrick Murphy sheds important new light on one of the most renowned medievalists of the early twentieth century and on the means by which the Middle Ages continue to remake, and be remade by, popular culture.
Karl Fugelso,editor of the journal Studies in Medievalism
This book goes further than any other in making sense of M. R. Jamess dual identity as a medieval scholar and a ghost-story writer. In elucidating some of the hidden meanings in Jamess classic ghost stories, Patrick Murphy makes ingenious connections between antiquarian fiction and the emergence of medieval studies in the early twentieth century.
Shane McCorristine,author of The Hand of Glory: Folklore, Crime, and Fiction
The very best part of this book is the way in which both authorsPatrick Murphy and M. R. Jamesunravel puzzles that others have avoided or perhaps not even recognized as significant. Readers will admire the scholarship behind the solving of these puzzles and will also take great pleasure in following Murphys line of reasoning, which reveals what the subtle scholar-storyteller James is after. Reading this book is like following the adventures of those on a quest, or the unraveling of clues in a really good mystery novel.
Marijane Osborn,coauthor of Beowulf: A Likeness
There are some seminal studies that have shed light on the genesis and development of medieval studies: Ulrich Wysss work on Jacob Grimm, Tom Shippeys on J. R. R. Tolkien, and Michelle Warrens on Joseph Bedier. Patrick Murphys book completes these other studies by telling the story of M. R. James, a fascinating medievalist forefather working at the exact moment of transition from English antiquarianism and extra-academic medievalist enthusiasms to a medieval studies almost entirely exclusive of writers, artists, and musicians. Murphys meticulously researched narrative provides ample proof that both enterprises, the creative and the scholarly reception of medieval culture, should not be viewed as mutually exclusive but richly symbiotic.
Richard Utz,president, International Society for the Study of the History of Medievalism
Patrick Murphys deeply researched and wittily written book puts Jamess work in the context of the development of medieval studies and, more broadly, an academic culture in transition and the great loss and unimaginable changes wrought by the Great War. By delineating the entanglement of various competing timelinesantiquarian, professional, and institutional, for examplein Jamess endeavors, Murphy compellingly illuminates a profound disquiet haunting this liminal figure and his famous ghostly tales.
Carolyn Dinshaw,author of How Soon Is Now?: Medieval Texts, Amateur Readers, and the Queerness of Time
Until comparatively recently, the prevailing critical consensus on Jamess fiction could be characterised by Julia Briggss insistence that, though masterfully entertaining and obviously the work of a learned scholar, his tales were superficial edifices with little to offer the serious literary critic. Perhaps paradoxically, in resolutely laying bare the sheer elusiveness of Jamess fictionstheir absolute refusal to settle into one final meaningMurphy has fashioned a rich, allusive study, which demonstrates just how fertile a field for theoretical and historical enquiry these endlessly fascinating tales can be.
Dewi Evans Irish Journal of Gothic & Horror Studies