Review: 'Thirty Hours with a Corpse: and Other Tales of the Grand Guignol' by Maurice Level, ed. by S.T. Joshi

October truly is the month for horrifying reads and scaring yourself out of your wits. And so I found myself, at midnight, still reading Thirty Hours with a Corpse. Every time I said to myself, just one more story, and each time we hit the end I wanted one more. That's when I knew this was one excellent collection of stories. Thanks to Dover Publications and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My apologies for the delay.

Pub. Date: 3/15/2016
Publisher: Dover Publications

Characterized by gratuitous acts of brutality and surprise endings, these tales of obsession and violence are the creations of a twentieth-century French writer whose works were staged by the legendary Théâtre du Grand-Guignol of Paris. The precursors of modern thrillers and slasher films, these stories have been specially selected for this edition and introduced by horror specialist S. T. Joshi.

Thirty-nine conte cruel ("cruel tales") include "In the Light of the Red Lamp," in which a husband's photographs of his dead wife reveal a deeper tragedy; "Fascination," the tale of a morbid passion that develops when the narrator, determined to stay at home, shoots his mistress for the sake of peace and quiet; and "The Bastard," concerning a father's suspicions about his son's paternity. Other stories include "The Taint," a view of infanticide as mercy-killing; "The Test," in which an accused murderer is forced to reenact his crime; and "A Maniac," recounting a thrill-seeker's ghoulish impulse to witness death-defying stunts gone wrong.

The Grand Guignol, that theatre of horrors, feels so familiar and yet one of its greatest contributors has sunk into utter obscurity. The Grand Guignol was a famous theatre in Paris, opened from 1897 to 1962 and during these seventy-odd years it built up  a reputation for naturalistic horror shows. Since then, the name itself has come to stand for a kind of delightful, amoral horror we still find in modern-day slasher films. Some of the Grand Guignol's most famous plays, specifically Le Baiser dans le Nuit, were written by Maurice Level. The man is hardly known now, despite his immense output. While some authors and works are (occasionally rightfully) forgotten by time, others deserve to be rescued. And so I do want to once again thank Dover Publications for continuing to rescue works like these from obscurity and make them available to a new and wider audience. It absolutely enriches the horror and thriller genres to have Level's stories published in English.

This collection features 39 stories. Yes, you heard that right, 39 STORIES. And yet Thirty Hours with a Corpse flies by. Each of the stories are short and to the point, or, as Joshi describes it in his introduction, they are perfectly fine-tuned with not a word too much or too little. Each story is a perfect little world in and of itself and with each I could imagine it as a one-scene act on stage. They are very well-crafted, even if they are all very dramatic. What I enjoyed about these stories is that while they play with the supernatural, they are all fully human. Level's stories explore the depths of the human psyche, the way our own mind works against us. No matter how well-prepared his characters are, eventually they are confronted with themselves and their own actions. In that sense, his stories struck me as tragic in the Greek way. There is no way of avoiding your fate, or the consequences of your actions. While there are gruesome details in his stories, none of it is gratuitous because none of it is celebrated or avoided. Not each of the stories deals with death or murder, however. 

A story that particularly stayed with me was about a beggar who spends his last money giving another blind beggar a sumptuous meal. It makes him feel like a rich and good person. Having experienced that, however, and then confronting the fact he has no way to feed himself, he jumps to his death. His act of largesse is  not recognised or noted by anyone except the reader, and there is a real tragedy to that. It is goodness in the face of no reward, kindness without a secondary motive. There is such beauty and sadness in this story and it is only one of many in Thirty Hours with a Corpse that struck me that way. But then there are also stories like the one returning to the doctor who diagnosed him with tuberculosis. His diagnosis changes his life and led him to some horrifying actions, only to realise it was a misdiagnosis and the doctor didn't really care. It is a stunning story told in a single scene that had me on the edge of my seat. Each story in Thirty Hours with a Corpse is singular like this, revelatory in its own way. The stories written during or about WWI are also very poignant in its take on nationalism and prejudices. 

I can't believe I had never heard of Maurice Level before considering the excellence of these stories. Level had an incredibly eye for the terror of a human mind, the way a single piece of knowledge can change everything. He skillfully knows how to have consequences catch up with a person gently but determinedly, in such a way that the end is both surprising and inevitable. The inspiration by Edgar Allen Poe is clear in the Gothic atmosphere that overhangs everything, but the distinct French setting and the crisp writing prevents it from sinking into the same sumptuous lethargy as some of Poe's tales do. And I am still stunned at how tightly plotted they are! So many thriller authors hunt after that perfect twist ending, often undermining their own novels in the process, yet Level manages to end each story on a twist, often in the last sentence. And each of these twists or reveals is earned by the previous pages. It is honestly miraculous. Joshi also does an excellent job in his introduction and editing. While many of these stories have appeared in French, not all had been translated or made available to an English audience before. Level has completely sunk into obscurity but Joshi's dedicated attention gives him a chance to rise again. 

I give this collection...

4 Universes!

Thirty Hours with a Corpse is a stunning collection of tales that kept me fascinated throughout the night. While there is horror here, yes, there is also everything else humanity has to offer, from love to indifference to hatred. Level's stories are perfectly plotted and are bound to excite all Horror-fans.