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Rating: Jean Ray has been described by Malcolm Skey (famous English writer, literary critic, and expert on the Gothic novel who died under mysterious circumstances in Turin in 1998) as the European Lovecraft, even though it is a comparison that, while fascinating, is not entirely fitting. Ray is deeply rooted in European and Flemish culture and places great importance, in his narratives, on the weaknesses and miseries of man, an aspect absent in Lovecraft. Perhaps it is also for this reason that, surprisingly, S.T. Joshi (the world's foremost expert on Lovecraft) did not pay much attention to the author from Ghent in his critical studies on weird literature, downplaying his significance. Jean Ray was a great admirer of Dickens and certainly appreciated the narratives of William Hope Hodgson. It is precisely with the latter author that a connection with Lovecraft can be made, as noted by Jacques Van Herpe in the monumental volume of the Cahiers de l'Herne published in France in 1969. In any case, his output was vast (he also wrote under the pseudonym John Flanders, the first European author to be published in Weird Tales) and includes many adventures dedicated to the detective Harry Dickson, today considered cult in France but almost unknown to us (with some exceptions found in the stories published in the volume edited by Profondo Rosso The Haunted House of Fulham Road). Until now, one of his novels, The City of Unspeakable Fear, remained unpublished in Italy but is finally being published by Agenzia Alcatraz, which continues to offer, following the 2 volumes dedicated to Gérard Prévot, works of Belgian fantasy (still not widely known to us) while preserving the graphic style of the legendary Marabout and also reintroducing the original illustrations by Henri Lievens. Originally published in 1943, The City of Unspeakable Fear is considered by some, along with Malpertuis, to be the masterpiece of Jean Ray. In reality, although it contains some good ideas, especially in the first part, it is not a fantastic novel but leans more towards the detective genre.
The introductory chapter of The City of Unspeakable Fear titled Them is very powerful and evocative, and it tells of the presence, in English history over the last 5 centuries, of inconceivable beings responsible for the Great Fear. The beginning has everything needed to foreshadow an excellent supernatural story, but we'll see that it doesn't quite turn out that way. The story is set in Ingersham, a remote English town that resembles one of the Flemish locales very well known and described by Jean Ray. Here, Sigma Triggs, a mediocre retired policeman who inherits a house in this small village, arrives. In Ingersham, Sigma Triggs meets Ebenezer Doove, an official who enjoys telling ghost stories. In particular, Doove tells him about the ghost that haunts the town hall. Following Triggs' arrival in Ingersham, strange events begin to occur: a merchant dies of fright after seeing a mannequin brandishing an axe, the three Pumpkins sisters disappear, and a creature resembling a bull spreads panic among the populace. The first part of the book is, in my opinion, very good and is structured like a series of ghost stories narrated by some protagonists like Triggs himself and the aforementioned Doove. Although they are fairly conventional ghost stories, nonetheless the setting created by Jean Ray manages to be effective and unsettling. Ingersham seems like an outpost where a malevolence of unknown origin takes root. The novel works, and we find Jean Ray's particular style. But the final explanation of a detective nature, in my view, ends up spoiling at least in part the genuine disturbing atmosphere. On the other hand, this was one of the flaws that Lovecraft attributed to the Gothic novel, that of providing rational explanations that ruined the mysteries created. But Jean Ray was an author who also loved the detective genre (look at Harry Dickson), so it is not surprising that he wanted to write a novel of this type.
To avoid misunderstandings The City of Unspeakable Fear, while not reaching the peaks of Malpertuis, is still of a good level and the evocation of the mists enveloping Ingersham will not fail to satisfy the lover of the weird. Available on the Agenzia Alcatraz website: https://www.agenziaalcatraz.it/.
Jean Ray “The City of Unspeakable Fear” – Agenzia Alcatraz – 214 pages – Euro 14 – 2021
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