The End of Innocence' was a work in progress for over twenty years. One section ('The End of the Affair'), one of the most famous pieces of fiction to emerge from post-war Europe, was written in 1949–50 in a concentration camp in Italy. There are two parts of the work still not included. 'A Single Spy' (1960) is a sequel to 'A Dead Man in Deptford'. The other work left unfinished was, for a long time, believed to be 'The Hanging Man' which, as the short story 'The Gentleman Burner', appeared in 1972. 'The Hanging Man' was turned into the film of the same title (1959) with James Mason in the lead and in fact is a far more substantial work of fiction than the film. The first two parts of the work were filmed, and a first volume of three-to-four hundred pages of this unpublished work has been privately printed. It deals with similar material to the later work on Aickman, including his fears of growing old. A number of short stories and novellas are also still unpublished. There are six major works from his early career: two novellas, 'The Unnamable', a fantasy, 'Mr Godley's Occurrence Book', and a novella for children, 'The Dancing Men' are all written in a clotted, labyrinthine style that is extremely difficult to read, in contrast to his more polished short stories. 'A Dream' is a strange and unsettling work, more a nightmare than a story. 'The Dæmon' is also one of his great works: a story of strange happenings in a house on a deserted beach, it was written in the manner of 'The Unnamable' but with the sense of order and resolution at the end of that book, not of horror. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for 1961. 'The Man and the Bottle' is set on a sailing boat on the River Seine, and has its roots in Aickman's own experience as a boater. 'On the Air', 'Jill the Reaper' and 'Cormorant' are short stories that were gathered in _The Dark Country_ (1971), an anthology of twenty-five stories. Two recent films have used some of Aickman's stories: _The Company of Wolves_ (1984) by Neil Jordan and _Ghost Story_ (1981) by John Irvin. Aickman's other works include an essay on Dickens for the Pelican series (1967), the short story collection _Cold Hand in Mine_ (1969) and a new collected edition of the same name, all available from Penguin, as well as three volumes of poetry (1970, 1972, 1975). A new Penguin edition of his short stories was published in 1990, together with an introduction by Graham Joyce. _The Concise Companion to the Fantastic Film_ , ed. Edward Buscombe (London: B.T. Batsford, 1981). Aickman's collection _Cold Hand in Mine_ was made up of three parts – 'The Night of the Fairies', 'Death Draws Near' and 'The Conversion of the Sticks'. For example, Christopher Dawes (ed.), _Locus Solus_ , 9 (1976), pp. 45–46. The story is mentioned in the letter to R. A. Scott-James in _Dear_ _Darling Corin_ (1973), Penguin, 1991, pp. 9–10. ## **Further reading** ### Biographies and criticism I would like to thank those who have helped me in the writing of this book: Peter Straub, Michael Dirda, William Gillespie, Andrew Biswell and Martin Edwards, as well as my parents and brother. I am indebted to Anthony Houlihan's _The Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Alan Wilson, 'English Ghost-story Writer'_ (Wyndham Books, 1988) and the obituary in the _Guardian_ by Michael Dirda, published in _The New York Times_ , 22 January 1999. The most important works on Aickman are Christopher Dawes' _Aickman: A Critical Biography_ (B.T. Batsford, 1998), based on interviews and correspondence, and Peter Straub's _Alan_ _Aickman: An Unofficial Biography_ (Gollancz, 1990). Both are detailed, reliable and full of wonderful detail and anecdote. I would also recommend John Haycraft's _Horror_ _Writers: An A-Z of the Masters of the Macabre_ (1992) for a very general introduction to the field of supernatural fiction. The fullest listing of Aickman's short stories is Aickman's own: see Richard Dalby, _Alan Aickman's Library: An Annotated Checklist_ (B.T. Batsford, 1986). An invaluable source is Richard Dalby, _Night-Side: The Secret Life of Walter de la Mare_ (Peter Owen, 1989), which gives detailed bibliographies of Aickman's publications and many important bibliographical references. Andrew Lycett, _Alan Aickman: The Man Who Gave_ _Ghosts to the World_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996) is the most recent biography and I would highly recommend it. Some of the general comments in this section are taken from Peter Straub's interview with the author and were first published in the _Times Literary Supplement_ , 2 September 2000. See 'Stories from the Shades', _New York Review of Books_ , 4 December 1966, pp. 20–21. ### On Aickman's life Some facts and dates for Aickman's life are taken from Andrew Biswell's notes from interviews with Aickman and from _The Great Ghost Stories_ by Simon Brett, with contributions by Nicholas Bentley, Gillian Bennett, Alan Garner, Peter Haining, Peter Straub, David Tait, John Wain and Alain-Philippe Malagnac (London: B.T. Batsford, 1991). See letter to Richard Aickman, _Private Eye_ , 22 April 1953. His earliest surviving published work is a story in a Christmas edition of _Mandrake_ in 1935. Peter Straub, interview with the author. See letter to Richard Aickman, 28 March 1947, _Private_ _Eye_. The best source on Aickman's reading habits and literary tastes is his letters to Richard Aickman in the Alan Ross Archives at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre at the University of Texas at Austin. I would recommend them as a marvellous resource. _The Secret Life of Walter de la Mare_ by Richard Dalby, a fascinating, detailed and entertaining book on Aickman's interest in the stories of the poet. ### On the short story as a genre See Stephen King, 'A Dark Laughter', _Grimscribe: Notes from the_ _Home_ _Desk_ (New York: Tor, 1998) and 'Stephen King on Horror Writing', in Richard Dalby (ed.), _The Encyclopaedia of the Horror Film_ , vol. 2 (London: Routledge, 1990), pp. 1168–69. See the foreword to John Dickson Carr's _Dull_ _Town_ (1971) by Robert Adey (London: Faber, 1971). See _Aickman's_ _Private Mythos_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987) by Matthew J. Bruccoli. ### Aickman's short stories These twenty-six short stories can be found in _The_ _Secret Life of Walter de la Mare_ by Richard Dalby (London: W.H. Allen, 1983). All are reprinted here in chronological order. 'My Funny Body' 'The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown' 'Crow Hill' 'Thirteen at Dinner' 'The Stains' 'The Night of the Fairies' 'The Scars' 'The Man Who Loved the Dead' 'An Awful Mess' 'A Kind of Purgatory' 'The Reconcilers' 'Strange Happenings in Small Corners' 'Nancy Blackett' 'A Conversation Piece' 'The Hanging Man' 'The Other Foot' 'The End of the Affair' 'Cazelle' 'The Unnamable' ### Works of related interest Robert Aickman, _A Handbook for Ghost Seers_ (London: Faber, 1961) Jack Adrian, _Poe's Children_ (London: Faber, 2000) Michael Bakewell, _Nabokov's Novel: 'Laughter in the Dark' (_ London: Faber, 1999) Julian Beck, _Twilight of the Superheroes_ (London: Faber, 1999) Peter Berresford Ellis, _The Early Work of Stephen_ _King_ (St Albans: Panther, 1970) John J. Joudrey and William J. Wilson (eds),