“Campbell, fortunately, seems to have mastered that trick of dancing just beyond our reach. Most of his stories have a hazy, dreamlike quality in which events are comprehensible when taken by themselves as discreet units, but in which they are piled upon one another so frantically that one gets lost in the swirl.” - T.E.D Klein
Ramsey Campell has been writing for over fifty years. Demons by Daylight is his second collection of horror short stories. His first collection, The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, is a collection of Cthulhu Mythos stories. He was eighteen when it was published. Four years later he moved away from Cthulhu stories with Demons By Daylight. Instead of cosmic horror, the stories in this collection are often about relationships, repression, and anxiety. They sometimes take place in the brightness of day.
After reading the first couple of stories I started thinking I wouldn’t be liking this collection. Although the writing flowed and the stories were atmospheric and creepy, the endings were mystifying. I’d get to the end of a story and think, “What just happened?!” But as I kept reading I got to some stories where the endings, while still a little mystifying, made more sense and were interesting.
The writing in all the stories is amazing, unlike anything I’ve ever read before. They have a dreamlike quality to them. For example “The Enchanted Fruit” has some of the most beautiful descriptions of a forest that I’ve ever read. Unfortunately after an interesting buildup the story just ends. The stories I didn’t care for all have the same thing in common, I have no idea what happened or the story feels incomplete. I liked about half of the stories.
The author often tries to create paranoia and a dream-like atmosphere by describing distorted images, including bits of overheard conversations, and jumping from one paragraph to the next without transitions. It all seems very experimental and can be confusing. While I feel it didn’t work in every story, it really worked for me in “Concussion,” my favorite story. It’s about an old man struggling to remember past events and the woman he fell in love with. The story has a science fiction twist as past and present become a blur.
The stories that I liked left a strong impression on me. Until now I’ve never encountered an author where a number of stories are confusing, but the writing grabs me so much that I want to read more.
After the first few stories I started wondering if I was the only one that didn’t get what was going on. I decided to look up what other people had to say before reading any further. I found an essay titled “Ramsey Campbell: An Appreciation” by horror author T.E.D. Klein which first appeared in the H. P. Lovecraft fanzine Nyctalops. That’s where the quote above comes from. I found this next quote referring to Demons by Daylight really interesting.
“One of the first things that strikes one about Campbell's stories in this new collection is that—following the trend of his earlier pieces—they are extremely difficult. . . . Still, being "difficult" is not necessarily a fault; and for horror, in fact, it is almost always a great virtue. Several years ago, when I was teaching school, a fellow teacher was charged with being "too difficult" for the students; the material he presented was, it was argued, "over their heads." I recall his reply: "I think it's important to give them a little more than they can handle," he said. "I like to remain a little beyond them."”
Having worked as an English teacher in Japan for years, teaching students and training teachers, that got my attention. This next part even more so.
“For an English instructor this may or may not be true; but for a horror writer, it should probably be the rule. Writing horror stories must be rather like playing the Pied Piper; if the tune one pipes is too fast or difficult or subtle, the reader grows bored and drops out of the dance. If, on the other hand, the tune is too plodding and predictable, the reaction is the same: boredom, loss of attention. The trick, apparently, is to dance just a little ahead of the reader, teasing him, leading him on.”
I feel it’s absolutely true for an English instructor! The interaction between a reader and an author is similar in some ways to a student and a teacher. One of the things that I learned in studying language acquisition is the formula “i + 1” which is input + 1. It’s part of Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Language Acquisition which consists of five hypotheses. One of them is the Input hypothesis. Here’s the definition from Krashen’s website:
“According to this hypothesis, the learner improves and progresses along the 'natural order' when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i + 1'.”
A lesson is a balancing act. If it’s too easy students get bored, if it’s too challenging students get frustrated. In both cases they don’t move forward. A good lesson challenges students without frustrating them. It’s not easy, it’s actually challenging. But a good teacher is aware of this and will adjust the level of the lesson when they find themselves teaching at the “i + 10” level or something. Striking the right balance motivates students to not only push themselves in class but to also put in the effort to prepare for the next class.
I feel that what Mr. Klein is saying not only applies to language teaching and horror books, but to all types of writing. It’s all about balance. Bore or frustrate the reader and the reader will put the book down.
I liked what Mr. Campbell had to say about language and writing in an article in Publisher’s Weekly:
“Early on, I became aware that good horror fiction achieves its effects through the selection of language and the timing of prose. I’m also convinced that the genre is an eloquent medium for discussing the world we make and how we live in it, not to say die. I’ve no plans to leave the field: it’s where I live. I’d call much of what I write, comedy of paranoia.”
When I started this book I felt some frustration and was wondering whether I should continue. But as I read further I found stories that although they challenged me they also intrigued me quite a bit. I’ll definitely be seeking out more of Mr. Ramsey’s work.
Story Ratings:
Potential (3/5)
The End of a Summer’s Day (2/5)
At First Sight (2/5)
The Franklyn Paragraphs (2.5/5)
The Interloper (3/5)
Sentinels (2.5/5)
The Guy (4/5)
The Old Horns (3/5)
The Lost (3/5)
The Stocking (3/5)
The Second Staircase (2/5)
Concussion (5/5)
The Enchanted Fruit (2/5)
Addendum:
T.E.D. Klein’s essay can be found here:
Ramsey Campbell Criticism - Essay - eNotes.com
T.E.D. stands for Theodore “Eibon” Donald. He gave himself the nickname Eibon, a character from Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborean Cycle.
A video explaining Comprehensible Input can be found here on Stephen Krashen’s website:
Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition (sk.com.br)
Mr. Campbell’s article from Publisher's Weekly can be found here:
Why I Write...Ramsey Campbell (publishersweekly.com)
