Disappearance II by Jeanette Winterson (1998): A Review
Book: The World and Other Places
Author: Jeanette Winterson
Publication Year: 1998
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Short story, Gothic, Psychological Thriller
This is my favourite story in the collection, or possibly the only one I can call a genuine favourite without immediately adding qualifications, footnotes, and a minor complaint.
I was hooked from the very first sentence and happily followed the story into every dark corridor it offered. A Dracula-like protagonist? Yes. A sinister mansion that feels less like the setting and more like the dominant character? Absolutely. Psychological tension, oppressive atmosphere, and the constant suspicion that either the house or its owner is preparing to consume someone? Sign me up.
It reminded me how much I miss classic Gothic fiction, especially the Poe-style variety: decaying buildings, questionable narrators, suffocating rooms, beautiful sentences, and people making increasingly terrible decisions by candlelight.
I cannot stand horror, and most modern Gothic fiction leaves me emotionally filing for evacuation. But give me a short, atmospheric story in which a haunted-looking mansion appears to possess more authority than its residents, and suddenly I am delighted.
Apparently, I do not dislike being frightened. I simply require the terror to be elegant, literary, and preferably housed in nineteenth-century architecture.
That is all I can say without ruining the story.
Finally, Winterson gave me exactly the kind of darkness I ordered.
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