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Benighted, by J. B. Priestley
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'Priestley is one of the finest and most popular storytellers of the last hundred years.' - Dame Margaret Drabble
'Abundant life flows through J.B. Priestley's books. He was the last of his kind.' - Stan Barstow
'J.B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th century. And it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius.' - Dame Judi Dench
Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel are driving through the mountains of Wales when a torrential downpour washes away the road and forces them to seek shelter for the night. They take refuge in an ancient, crumbling mansion inhabited by the strange and sinister Femm family and their brutish servant Morgan. Determined to make the best of the circumstances, the benighted travellers drink, talk, and play games to pass the time while the storm rages outside. But as the night progresses and tensions rise, dangerous and unexpected secrets emerge. On the house's top floor are two locked doors; behind one of them lies the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, and behind the other lurks an unspeakable terror. Which is more deadly: the apocalyptic storm outside the house or the unknown horrors that await within? And will any of them survive the night?
Benighted (1927), a classic 'old dark house' novel of psychological terror, was the second novel by J. B. Priestley (1894-1984), better known for his classics The Good Companions (1929), Angel Pavement (1930) and Bright Day (1946). The basis for James Whale's 1932 film The Old Dark House, Benighted returns to print for the first time in fifty years. This edition includes the unabridged text of the first British edition, a new introduction by Orrin Grey, and a reproduction of the rare jacket art of the 1927 Heinemann edition.
- Sales Rank: #141874 in Books
- Published on: 2013-05-21
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .38" w x 5.51" l, .47 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 164 pages
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
"A Strain of Madness"
By Eclectic Reader
Poor Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873). In spite of a prolific output as a writer, he is probably most known today for the frequently ridiculed and copied beginning of one of his novels, Paul Clifford (1830), in which Bulwer-Lytton writes: "It was a dark and stormy night." Annual literary contests have people writing what they hope will be award-winning worst first sentences to imaginary novels in honor of Bulwer-Lytton's sentence. However, "It was a dark and stormy night" pretty well sums up the opening of J. B. Priestly's second novel, Benighted (1927) which places a number of strangers in danger upon a washed out road with nowhere to go to seek shelter but from the one isolated, accessible house: the home of the Femm family--a group of unwelcoming, peculiar, and possibly baleful recluses who "seemed to have gone queer, all maggot-brained" and who are attended to by a mute butler, Morgan, "an uncivilised brute" who "occasionally drinks heavily... and once he is drunk he is very dangerous." For the strangers taking refuge from the storm, it soon becomes a contest as to which is the most dangerous: being out in the unmerciful on-going storm or being sheltered overnight, benighted, with the Femms.
Priestly (1894-1984) begins Benighted with a vividly depicted storm that has Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel nearly plunging off the road several times to their death on a washed out road susceptible to landslides "in a remote part of Wales." Unable to go further or back to some form of civilization, they shelter at the only visible house where they are greeted by a brutish manservant and meet Horace Femm and his nearly deaf sister, Rebecca. Another Femm, Sir Roderick, the master of the house "is confined to his bed upstairs, very old, very weak" with possibly little time to live. Although the Femms are less than welcoming and assure the travelers there are no beds for them in the crumbling old house with decayed and closed-off rooms, they allow the strangers to stay and share in "the coldest of cold suppers." Their dinner is interrupted by the arrival of two other trapped travelers, Miss Gladys Du Cane, a less than second-class stage performer, and Sir William Porterhouse. With his cast of characters assembled, Priestly wastes no time in creating an ominous atmosphere and chucking his characters into the middle of an awkward and very possibly pernicious environment.
Readers expecting a supernatural element to Benighted will be disappointed since the novel is not about a house haunted by ghosts, but a house haunted with despair and abnormality. In a scene early in the novel, Priestly has Roger Penderel propose they all play a game of "Truth" during which "We just go on talking but we stop lying." The exchange among the characters who participate brings the novel's plot to a grinding halt, but with the lengthy answers given by most of the characters to the questions asked of them, Priestly does much to advance the reader's knowledge of the characters' true inner selves.
There are times when Priestly's dialogue is almost as creaky as the floorboards and rotting timbers of the old dark house as characters continue to reveal themselves and bond throughout the novel. The author's use of suspense, however, is admirable. Just how much danger are the travelers actually in within the confines of the Femm estate? Is there more than deafness and a zealous belief in her rigid version of God to Rebecca Femm? What of the unseen "master of the house"? Is the house firmly established on rock and able to weather the storm as the Femms say it has before or is it more "an eggshell perched on the hillside"?
As the storm continues to rage and the weary inhabitants of the old dark house can hear water washing rapidly by far too close to the house, Morgan, already "gigantic but as brainless as a prehistoric monster," becomes more threatening. But there is something far worse than a drunken brute awaiting everyone in the house and as Benighted moves to its climax, life trembles "on the edge of a pit."
Priestly does not give the novel a rose-tinted conclusion and the ending of Benighted is surprisingly realistic given the eccentricity of the characters and the oddness of events throughout. Although dated in parts, the novel remains a compelling read. [NOTE: Orrin Grey provides an informative and enthusiastic Introduction to the Valancourt edition of Benighted referencing both the novel and the original film production, The Old Dark House (1932).]
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Dark and Stormy Benighted
By TimothyMayer
The Old Dark House is one novel any horror literature fan should take the time to read. It's not that long and takes place in the course of one evening. Written by J.P. Priestly in 1927, it was published in the United States as The Old Dark House, but originally as Benighted (the title you can find it at through Valancourt Books). It was filmed as The Old Dark House in 1932 and can be purchased on Blu-Ray.
Philip Waverton, his wife Margaret and their friend Roger Penderel are traveling across Wales in by car when they are beset by a thunderstorm. As the roads become impassable, their spot a house in the hillside and decide to make for it when a landslide buries the roads . They're greeted at the door by a huge, mute butler, whom we soon learn is named Morgan. Inside the house, which turns out to be a 16th century manor, they are greeted by two of the other inhabitants of it: Horace Femm and his sister Rebecca. They soon learn there is another member of the family, Sir Roderick Femm, who is too ill to leave his room. Later that evening, Sir William Porterhouse and his chorus girlfriend Gladys make an appearance, as they too are seeking shelter from the storm.
As the night drags on, strange things begin to happen. Morgan the butler starts drinking in the kitchen and becomes a very mean drunk. Rebecca Femm begins preaching hell-fire and damnation to anyone who bothers to listen, Horace Femm reveals he's wanted by the police and the travelers reveal interesting bits about their own backgrounds. Eventually the power fails and the Old Dark House is lit by candle lights and lamps. Then things become very strange.
The book is written in a very continental style. Long expository sentences and observations very typical of literature of this period. But the conversations are riveting in what you learn about the characters. At one point someone suggests they play Truth (as in Truth or Dare). Horace Femm mocking comments "Oh, its' a game now. About time". Sir Porterhouse who makes his stage entrance as a glad-handling money bags soon reveals he's not to the manor born. And Penderel, a veteran, is still suffering from seeing his comrades mowed down in WWI.
Here's a good example of how Priestly manages to take a character who might be a boob in any other story and give him depth:
`Unless you're very lucky,' he began, `you only make money by wanting to make it, wanting hard all the time, not bothering about a lot of other things. And there's usually got to be something to start you off, to give you the first sharp kick. After you've got really started, brought off a few deals and begun to live in the atmosphere of big money, the game gets hold of you and you don't want any inducement to go on playing--d'you follow me? It's the first push that's so hard, when you're still going round with your cap in your hand. It's my experience there's always something keeps a man going through that, puts an edge on him and starts him cutting, and it may be some quite little thing. A man I knew, a Lancashire man too, was an easy-going youngster, thought more about cricket than his business, until one day, having to see the head of a firm, he was kept waiting two hours, sitting there in the general office with the clerks cocking an eye at him every ten minutes. He's told me this himself. "All right," he said to himself, "I'll show you." He walked out when the two hours were up, and that turned him, gave him an edge. He did show 'em, too. I don't say, of course, that every man who says something like that to himself brings it off, but some do. Well, it was the same with me.'
Of course, you can't discuss the book without mentioning the movie version which came out a few years later. An early talkie, it suffers a bit from sound recording and the problems of preservation. It was only through the efforts of filmmaker Curtis Harrington that a decent copy was found. Following the heels of director James Whales' Frankenstein it was the ignored by the public, who didn't seem to understand the mix of horror and comedy. But the movie is an excellent adaptation of the book with whole dialogue being taken from the original source. Although the upbeat "cold light of day" ending is absent in the book, I still highly recommend the film version. I've watched it many times. When I read the book I can't help but hearing Ernest Thesiger's voice every time Horace Femm speaks.
I must give a shout-out to Pretty Sinister Books for bringing this brilliant classic to my attention. Also to Valancourt Books who made an electronic version available.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Darkness and Dread in Wales
By Pretty Sinister
Philip and Margaret Waverton, along with their ne'er-do-well friend Roger Penderel are on their way to Shrewsbury when they are forced to seek shelter due to a storm of apocalyptic proportions. Huge chinks of the hillside come tumbling into the roadway, the earth literally trembles and shakes, torrents of water are flooding the roads and nearly wash their car off a cliffside. The opening scene is every bit of what classic film fans may recall of James Whale's screen version of the book. But after meeting the brutish and mute manservant Morgan and the eccentric Femm family the travellers settle in for a long night by discussing the meaning of a life and sharing stories from their past. The bickering Wavertons and cynical Penderal are later joined by Sir William Porterhouse and his companion Gladys Du Cane, an ex-showgirl.
But there's more to this story than just a group of stranded strangers forced to stay in a spooky house assailed by the elements and lorded over by creepy occupants. The bulk of the novel is devoted to existential and philosophical conversations, something most readers will not be prepared for. By the end the entire novel seems to be a kind of strange and eerie allegory about facing one's fears and finding purpose in life.
Oddly, for three quarters of the story it seems as if nothing really happens but bad weather and lots of talk. The dialogue is a mix of Gothic intimations and highbrow philosophizing. Horace and Rebecca Femm, a very creepy couple of siblings, drop hints about their invalid brother confined to an upstairs bedroom and refer to another area off limits in the house. They warn the guests to steer clear of Morgan, keep him away from the alcohol lest he get into one of his frequent drunken rages. With these comforting thoughts they exit and allow their guests to settle in until the storm abates. It's no wonder Penderel starts a conversation game along the lines of "Truth or Dare "to keep everyone distracted and their minds off the possible dangers that lie in wait in the house. With the storm so relentless in its onslaught, it's as if they are waiting for the end of the world. Why not talk, smoke and drink if the end is nigh anyway?
Then the electricity fails and the guests are plunged into a darkness that is both literal and figurative. Simple tasks take on extraordinary dimension. The importance of keeping candles lit and rationing out matches are like acts of survival. A scene in which characters must decide who will make a dreaded journey to the top of a staircase to retrieve a lantern becomes an arduous and frightful odyssey.
BENIGHTED reaches a fever pitch of fearfulness and utter doom when the Wavertons are confronted with the requisite terrible secret found in similar Gothic tales. The mood increases in intensity, the surreal and is often terrifying. The search for light, the obsession of locked rooms and keeping track of who has which key, the repeated talk of the dark are not just used as tropes of the Gothic genre but rather become transcendent metaphors. The climax delivers a few unexpected shocks and moments of true terror fairly free of excessive melodrama or histrionics. After all the anticipation of hidden danger and potential violence Priestley unleashes the beasts and gets his desired effect.
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