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Edited Volume: Rethinking M.R. James: Antiquarianism, Horror, and the Supernatural

Editor: Dr. Sakti Sekhar Dash, Fellow of Social Science Research Council

Introduction

M. R. James (1862–1936) occupies a singular position in the history of supernatural fiction, not merely as a practitioner of the ghost story but as one of its most influential formal innovators. A distinguished medievalist, provost of King’s College, Cambridge, and later of Eton, James brought to his fiction a rigorously trained antiquarian sensibility that profoundly shaped both the content and the narrative mechanics of his tales. His stories are typically anchored in the scholarly worlds he knew intimately—cathedrals, libraries, archives, and cloistered academic settings—where the pursuit of knowledge becomes the very conduit through which the supernatural intrudes. This fusion of intellectual inquiry and latent terror produces a distinctive aesthetic in which horror emerges not from overt spectacle but from the gradual destabilization of epistemic certainty. James’s oft-cited principles for the ghost story—articulated in essays such as “Some Remarks on Ghost Stories”—emphasize restraint, suggestion, and the careful calibration of atmosphere, privileging what is glimpsed or inferred over what is explicitly revealed.

Central to James’s fiction is the motif of the “antiquarian protagonist,” typically a learned but incurious scholar whose rational confidence renders him vulnerable to forces he neither anticipates nor comprehends. These figures—cataloguers, manuscript experts, and amateur historians—encounter uncanny objects such as cursed texts, talismanic artifacts, or inscribed relics that function as mediating devices between past and present. In stories like “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” and “Casting the Runes,” the past is never inert; rather, it is charged with a residual agency that resists containment within archival or scholarly frameworks. James’s ghosts are thus not merely revenants but embodiments of a temporal collapse, wherein suppressed histories erupt into the present with unsettling force. This dynamic has invited readings that situate his work within broader discourses of historiography, memory, and the ethics of scholarly engagement, particularly in relation to the colonial and ecclesiastical contexts that inform his antiquarian interests.

Equally significant is James’s negotiation of the sacred and the profane, a tension that reflects both his theological background and his acute sensitivity to the boundaries of religious experience. Unlike the moralizing spectres of earlier Victorian ghost stories, Jamesian entities often operate according to obscure or non-human logics, eluding easy categorization within frameworks of divine justice or moral retribution. The presence of demonological elements, apotropaic rituals, and forbidden knowledge suggests an underlying cosmology in which the sacred is neither wholly benevolent nor fully accessible to human understanding. This ambiguity contributes to what critics have identified as a “learned horror,” where fear arises from the recognition that the structures—intellectual, theological, or institutional—that ostensibly organize reality are themselves precarious.

In contemporary criticism, James’s work has proven remarkably adaptable to a range of theoretical approaches. Ecocritical readings, for instance, have drawn attention to the way landscapes in his stories—windswept coastlines, desolate ruins, and overgrown sites—act as active participants in the production of the uncanny, challenging anthropocentric assumptions about agency and environment. Similarly, postcolonial critiques have begun to interrogate the imperial undercurrents of his antiquarian pursuits, particularly the extraction and circulation of artifacts imbued with cultural and spiritual significance. Media studies perspectives, meanwhile, have explored the enduring afterlives of James’s stories in radio broadcasts, television adaptations (notably the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas series), and contemporary horror fiction, underscoring his lasting influence on the genre’s evolution.

Taken together, these dimensions underscore the continued relevance of M. R. James as a writer whose work not only codified the conventions of the modern ghost story but also anticipated many of the critical concerns that animate current scholarship. His fiction remains a fertile site for interdisciplinary inquiry, offering rich possibilities for examining the intersections of knowledge, belief, history, and the uncanny.

Background and Rationale

The ghost stories of M. R. James have been frequently regarded as definitive models of the “classic” English ghost story. Emerging at the intersection of late Victorian and Edwardian intellectual cultures, James’s work reflects a distinctive convergence of antiquarian scholarship, Anglican theology, and narrative minimalism. His stories, often first delivered as Christmas entertainments in academic settings, established a paradigm in which understated prose, carefully modulated suspense, and the strategic withholding of information generate a uniquely unsettling effect. While earlier criticism tended to treat James primarily as a consummate craftsman of atmosphere and form, more recent scholarship has begun to recognize the deeper cultural and epistemological stakes embedded in his fiction—particularly the tension between rational inquiry and the irruption of the inexplicable.

Despite this growing critical interest, studies on M. R. James remain relatively fragmented, often confined to author-centric analyses or genre-based overviews that do not fully engage with the interdisciplinary potential of his work. There exists a clear need for a consolidated volume that both synthesizes existing scholarship and advances new theoretical interventions. James’s recurring focus on manuscripts, artifacts, and archival spaces invites sustained engagement with questions of textuality, materiality, and historiography, while his nuanced handling of the supernatural opens avenues for dialogue with the study of religion, folklore, and the anthropology of belief. Furthermore, the implicit hierarchies of knowledge, class, and empire that inform his antiquarian pursuits call for renewed scrutiny through postcolonial and historicist lenses.

The rationale for this volume, therefore, lies in addressing these critical gaps by assembling a collection that foregrounds methodological plurality and thematic depth. By bringing together contributions that engage with contemporary theoretical frameworks—ranging from ecocriticism and new materialism to affect theory and media studies—the volume seeks to reposition M. R. James as a writer whose work resonates with pressing concerns in current humanities research. In addition, the project responds to the enduring cultural presence of James’s stories, as evidenced by their continued adaptation and circulation across media and global contexts. This dual focus on historical grounding and contemporary relevance underpins the volume’s broader aim: to establish a more comprehensive and critically nuanced understanding of James’s literary and cultural legacy.Top of FormBottom of Form

Aims and Objectives of the Proposed Volume

The proposed edited volume seeks to offer a sustained and methodologically diverse reappraisal of M. R. James, situating his ghost stories within both their immediate intellectual milieu and broader transhistorical debates in literary and cultural studies. While James has long been recognized as a foundational figure in the development of the modern ghost story, this collection aims to move beyond purely canonical or author-centric readings by foregrounding the complex intersections of antiquarian scholarship, theology, material culture, and narrative form that structure his work. The volume will interrogate how James’s fiction negotiates questions of knowledge, belief, and authority, particularly in relation to the archival impulse and the epistemological limits of scholarly inquiry. In doing so, it seeks to position his stories not merely as exemplary works of supernatural fiction, but as critical engagements with the cultural anxieties of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain.

A key objective of the volume is to bring M. R. James into dialogue with contemporary theoretical frameworks, thereby expanding the scope of Jamesian criticism. Contributors are encouraged to mobilize approaches drawn from ecocriticism, postcolonial theory, new materialism, affect theory, and the study of religion, among others, in order to illuminate underexplored dimensions of his work. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which James’s narratives encode tensions between the sacred and the profane, the visible and the unseen, and the rational and the irrational. By fostering interdisciplinary engagement, the volume aims to demonstrate the continued analytical relevance of James’s fiction in addressing enduring questions about temporality, memory, embodiment, and the ontology of the supernatural.

Finally, the collection intends to map the reception, adaptation, and afterlives of M. R. James across different media and cultural contexts. By including essays on film, television, radio, and literary adaptations, as well as on global readership and circulation, the volume will trace how James’s work has been reinterpreted and recontextualized over time. In this respect, the project not only consolidates existing scholarship but also opens new avenues for research, establishing a platform for future studies on James and the evolving traditions of supernatural fiction.

Suggested Themes
Contributions may address (but are not limited to) the following areas:

• Antiquarianism, archives, and the materiality of knowledge
• Ghosts, hauntings, and spectral epistemologies
• Theology, demonology, and the sacred/profane divide
• Space and place: cathedrals, libraries, and liminal geographies
• Colonial and imperial subtexts in James’s fiction
• Gender, embodiment, and the absence/presence of the feminine
• Narrative form, temporality, and the aesthetics of suggestion
• Intersections with folklore and oral traditions
• Adaptations and afterlives in film, television, and radio
• Ecocritical and posthuman readings of the supernatural
• M.R. James in relation to contemporaries and successors in horror fiction
• Reception history and global circulation of James’s works

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts of 300–500 words, along with a brief bio (100–150 words), should be submitted by 31st July, 2026 through email.

Email: cfp.editedvolume@gmail.com

Important Dates

Submission of Abstract: 31.07.2026

Notification of Acceptance: 20.08.2026

Full chapters within 6000 to 8000 words (MLA 9th edition) will be due for submission by 31st January, 2027.

The edited volume will be submitted to a publisher of international repute.

About the Editor: Dr. Sakti Sekhar Dash is a Fellow of Social Science Research Council, USA. An Honorary Member of Illinois Medieval Association, he holds a PhD from Ravenshaw University, India and has served as the editor in chief of a journal of international repute. With a profound interest in literature, history, and culture, he has extensively studied the myths, legends, and folklore of ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, and India. As a researcher he loves to revisit and re-examine ancient texts from multiple perspectives. He has extensively written and published on a diverse range of topics, including, modernism, Greek drama, environmental studies, Theatre of the Absurd, and Shakespearean drama. His writings have been published by acclaimed publishing houses such as Bloomsbury Academic, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Vernon Press and Salem Press, USA.