Part of Series
For many people, Walter de la Mare is as great a writer of fiction as of poetry. But the majority of his short stories have long been unavailable. "Short Stories for Children "starts with "Broomsticks and Other Tales" of 1925, with its 12 stories, and continues with "The Lord Fish" of 1933 with 7 stories. Quirky, disparate, unpredictable, acutely observed, sometimes frightening, and often preoccupied with states of mind and personal identity, these stories have much in common with the adult stories. We find ourselves in railway trains, a mansion in the City of London, a remote farm house near the sea, and a drawing-room being watched by a fly; and among other things, we encounter a wise monkey, a haunted cat, a fish magician, a man who believes he has a wax nose, and a godmother celebrating her 350th birthday. As in de la Mare's poems, everyday reality may at any time become undercut by disturbing uncertainty and dark, though not always malign, forces. <>Contents of Short Stories for Children: (1) Broomsticks and Other Tales (1925): Pigtails, Ltd; The Dutch Cheese; Miss Jemima; The Thief; Broomsticks; Lucy; A Nose; The Three Sleeping Boys of Warwickshire; The Lovely Myfanwy; Alice's Godmother; Maria-Fly; Visitors. (2) The Lord Fish (1933): The Lord Fish; A Penny a Day; The Magic Jacket; Dick and the Beanstalk; The Scarecrow; The Old Lion; Sambo and the Snow Mountains.
Author
Walter John de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer and novelist, probably best remembered for his works for children and The Listeners. He was descended from a family of French Huguenots, and was educated at St Paul's School. His first book, Songs of Childhood, was published under the name Walter Ramal. He worked in the statistics department of the London office of Standard Oil for eighteen years while struggling to bring up a family, but nevertheless found enough time to write, and, in 1908, through the efforts of Sir Henry Newbolt he received a Civil List pension which enabled him to concentrate on writing; One of de la Mare's special interests was the imagination, and this contributed both to the popularity of his children's writing and to his other work occasionally being taken less seriously than it deserved. De la Mare also wrote some subtle psychological horror stories; "Seaton's Aunt" and "Out of the Deep" are noteworthy examples. His 1921 novel, Memoirs of a Midget, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.
