Casting the Runes: Difference between revisions

"Casting the Runes"
"Casting the Runes"
Short story by M.R. James
Land	England
Sprache	Englisch
Genre(s)	Horror
Publication
Publication date	1911

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"Casting the Runes" is a short story written by the English writer M.R. James. It was first published in 1911 as the fourth story in More Ghost Stories, which was James' second collection of ghost stories.

Plot summary

Mr. Edward Dunning is a researcher for the British Museum. At the beginning of the story he has recently reviewed The Truth of Alchemy by Mr. Karswell, an alchemist and occultist. Afterwards, he begins seeing the name John Harrington displayed wherever he goes. He learns that Harrington also reviewed Karswell's work and died in a freak accident not long after.

Harrington's brother helps Dunning discover that Karswell cursed both men by slipping them a piece of paper with some runes on it. They deduce that the curse, once cast, will cause the bearer to die in three months. They track down Karswell a day before the curse is set to kill Dunning and manage to return the runes to him. Karswell dies the next day, killed by a stone that falls from scaffolding around St. Wulfram's Church in Abbeville.^[1]

Adaptations

The 1957 film Night of the Demon (directed by Jacques Tourneur) is an adaption of this story.^[2] In this version, the central character is called Dr John Holden (played by Dana Andrews). Holden is an American psychologist who plans to expose occultist Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) as a charlatan, only to discover that Karswell's powers are real and that he has put a curse on Holden.

The story has been adapted twice for British television. The first was in 1968 as an episode of the anthology series Mystery and Imagination (Season 3, episode 1, 1968) with John Fraser as Dunning and Robert Eddison as Karswell. In 1979, the story was adapted again as Casting the Runes, an episode of ITV Playhouse (Season 11, episode 9). In the 1979 version, the central protagonist is a woman, Prudence Dunning (played by Jan Francis), the producer of an investigative television programme which is critical of an occultist named Karswell (played by Iain Cuthbertson), and soon finds that Karswell has a curse put upon her. No complete copies of the 1968 version are known to exist, but the 1979 version has been released on DVD.

"Casting the Runes" has also been adapted several times for radio. The first was in 1947 by CBS for their radio series Escape. CBS produced a second version in 1974 for their CBS Radio Mystery Theater show. In 1981, BBC Radio 4 produced a loose adaptation called "The Hex".

References

^ James, M.R. (1993). Collected ghost stories (Repr. ed.). Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth. pp. 128–145. ISBN 1853260533.
^ Stafford, Jeff. "Curse of the Demon (1957)". TCM. Retrieved 2015-02-19.

External links

The full text of Casting the Runes at Wikisource
An omnibus collection of James's short fiction at Standard Ebooks
Full text of "Casting the Runes"
Casting the Runes public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- Alternative LibriVox reading of the story
A Podcast to the Curious: Episode 12a - Casting the Runes

[1] James, M.R. (1993). Collected ghost stories (Repr. ed.). Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth. pp. 128–145. ISBN 1853260533.

[2] Stafford, Jeff. "Curse of the Demon (1957)". TCM. Retrieved 2015-02-19.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Infobox short story <!--See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]]-->
+{{More citations needed|date=February 2024}}{{Infobox short story <!--See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]]-->
 | name              = Casting the Runes
 | image             = [[File:More Ghost Stories - MR James.jpg|200x285px]]
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 | language          = [[English language|English]]
 | series            =
-| genre             = [[Horror fiction|Horror]] [[short story]]
+| genre             = [[Horror fiction|Horror]]
 | published_in      =
 | publication_type  =
 | publisher         =
 | media_type        =
-| pub_date          =
+| pub_date          = 1911
 | preceded_by       =
 | followed_by       =
 }}
-[[File:Église Saint-Vulfran d'Abbeville-3339.jpg|thumb|The Abbeville church where the story's antagonist met his justice.]]
+[[File:Église Saint-Vulfran d'Abbeville-3339.jpg|thumb|The Abbeville church where the story's antagonist met his justice]]
 "'''Casting the Runes'''" is a short story written by the English writer [[M.R. James]]. It was first published in 1911 as the fourth story in ''[[More Ghost Stories]]'', which was James' second collection of [[ghost story|ghost stories]].
-==Synopsis==
+==Plot summary==
-Mr. Edward Dunning is a researcher for the British Museum. At the beginning of the story he has recently reviewed ''The Truth of Alchemy'' by a Mr. Karswell, an alchemist and occultist. Afterwards he begins seeing the name John Harrington displayed wherever he goes. He learns that Harrington also reviewed Karswell's work and died in a freak accident not long after. He soon learns that he has been cursed by Karswell and must find a way to reverse it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=M.R.|title=Collected ghost stories|date=1993|publisher=Wordsworth|location=Ware, Hertfordshire|isbn=1853260533|pages=128–145|edition=Repr.}}</ref>
+Mr. Edward Dunning is a researcher for the British Museum. At the beginning of the story he has recently reviewed ''The Truth of Alchemy'' by Mr. Karswell, an alchemist and occultist. Afterwards, he begins seeing the name John Harrington displayed wherever he goes. He learns that Harrington also reviewed Karswell's work and died in a freak accident not long after.
+Harrington's brother helps Dunning discover that Karswell [[curse]]d both men by slipping them a piece of paper with some runes on it. They deduce that the curse, once cast, will cause the bearer to die in three months. They track down Karswell a day before the curse is set to kill Dunning and manage to return the runes to him. Karswell dies the next day, killed by a stone that falls from scaffolding around St. Wulfram's Church in [[Abbeville]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=M.R.|title=Collected ghost stories|date=1993|publisher=Wordsworth|location=Ware, Hertfordshire|isbn=1853260533|pages=128–145|edition=Repr.}}</ref>
 ==Adaptations==
-The 1957 film ''[[Night of the Demon]]'' (directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]]) is an adaption of this story.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stafford|first1=Jeff|title=Curse of the Demon (1957)|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/72018/Curse-of-the-Demon/|website=TCM|accessdate=2015-02-19}}</ref> In this version, the central character is called Dr John Holden (played by [[Dana Andrews]]) and he is an American [[parapsychology|parapsychologist]] who travels to England to attend a conference where he plans to expose the occultist Julian Karswell (played by [[Niall MacGinnis]]) as a [[charlatan]], only to discover Karswell's powers are real and that he has put a curse on Holden.
+The 1957 film ''[[Night of the Demon]]'' (directed by [[Jacques Tourneur]]) is an adaption of this story.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stafford|first1=Jeff|title=Curse of the Demon (1957)|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/72018/Curse-of-the-Demon/|website=TCM|accessdate=2015-02-19}}</ref> In this version, the central character is called Dr John Holden (played by [[Dana Andrews]]). Holden is an American [[psychologist]] who plans to expose occultist Julian Karswell ([[Niall MacGinnis]]) as a [[charlatan]], only to discover that Karswell's powers are real and that he has put a curse on Holden.
-The story has been adapted twice for British television. The first was in 1968 as an episode of the anthology series ''[[Mystery and Imagination]]'' (Season 3, episode 1, 1968) with [[John Fraser (actor)|John Fraser]] as Dunning and [[Robert Eddison]] as Karswell. In 1979, the story was adapted again as an episode of ''[[ITV Playhouse]]'' (Season 11, episode 9). In the 1979 version, the central protagonist is a woman, Prudence Dunning (played by [[Jan Francis]]), the producer of an investigative television programme which is critical of an occultist named Karswell (played by [[Iain Cuthbertson]]), and soon finds that Karswell has a curse put upon her. No complete copies of the 1968 version are known to exist, but the 1979 version has been released on DVD.
+The story has been adapted twice for British television. The first was in 1968 as an episode of the anthology series ''[[Mystery and Imagination]]'' (Season 3, episode 1, 1968) with [[John Fraser (actor)|John Fraser]] as Dunning and [[Robert Eddison]] as Karswell. In 1979, the story was adapted again as ''[[Casting the Runes (1979 film)|Casting the Runes]]'', an episode of ''[[ITV Playhouse]]'' (Season 11, episode 9). In the 1979 version, the central protagonist is a woman, Prudence Dunning (played by [[Jan Francis]]), the producer of an investigative television programme which is critical of an occultist named Karswell (played by [[Iain Cuthbertson]]), and soon finds that Karswell has a curse put upon her. No complete copies of the 1968 version are known to exist, but the 1979 version has been released on DVD.
-''Casting The Runes'' has also been adapted several times for radio. The first was in 1947 by [[CBS]] for their radio series ''[[Escape (radio program)|Escape]]''. CBS produced a second version in 1974 for their ''[[CBS Radio Mystery Theater]]'' show. In 1981, [[BBC Radio 4]] produced a loose adaptation called "The Hex" which starred ''[[Peter Cushing]]''
+"Casting the Runes" has also been adapted several times for radio. The first was in 1947 by [[CBS]] for their radio series ''[[Escape (radio program)|Escape]]''. CBS produced a second version in 1974 for their ''[[CBS Radio Mystery Theater]]'' show. In 1981, [[BBC Radio 4]] produced a loose adaptation called "The Hex".
 ==References==
@@ Line 34: / Line 36: @@
 ==External links==
 *{{Wikisource-inline|single=true}}
+* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/m-r-james/short-fiction|Display Name=An omnibus collection of James's short fiction|noitalics=true}}
 *[http://www.thin-ghost.org/items/show/134 Full text of "Casting the Runes"]
 *{{librivox book|title=Casting the Runes|author=M. R. James}}
@@ Line 41: / Line 44: @@
 {{Works of M.R. James}}
+[[Category:1911 short stories]]
+[[Category:Short stories adapted into films]]
 [[Category:Short stories by M. R. James]]
+[[Category:Horror short stories]]
+[[Category:Fiction about alchemy]]
+[[Category:Fiction about curses]]
+[[Category:1979 British television episodes]]
+[[Category:1981 radio dramas]]
+[[Category:1974 radio dramas]]

v t e Works by M. R. James
Short stories	"Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book" "Lost Hearts" "The Mezzotint" "The Ash-tree" "Number 13" "Count Magnus" "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" "A School Story" "The Rose Garden" "The Tractate Middoth" "Casting the Runes" "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral" "Martin's Close" "Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance" "The Haunted Dolls' House" "A Warning to the Curious" "A Vignette"
Collections	Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904) More Ghost Stories (1911) A Thin Ghost and Others (1919) A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories (1925) The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James (1931)
Adaptations	Night of the Demon (1957) Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968) A Ghost Story for Christmas (1971-present)