Episode 17: 'Negotium Perambulans' by E.F. Benson
Another E.F. Benson story turns up for episode 17 of the podcast, and, while this has long been a favourite of mine, reading it for the podcast heightened my appreciation of Benson as a writer. Some of the writing in Negotium Perambulans is so evocative and beautiful. Evocative of a place - Benson's descriptions of the fictional Cornish fishing village of Polearn are obviously drawn from actual visits to the area and fully capture the beauty and, yes, the strangeness of out-of-the-way places. And, horror fans rest assured, this is essentially a short story about a giant slug monster, but it is also a story about what it is to grow up somewhere and collect memories, and to return, after having moved away. About this, Benson writes quite movingly.
As for the giant slug business, one wonders whether H.P. Lovecraft (a Benson admirer, as well as an admirer of this particular story) drew inspiration on Negotium Perambulans for his own stories. Is Benson's drunken, corrupted artist (John Evans), daubing canvases with horrific blasphemies, a proto-Pickman?
For further reading/listening (I'm too busy recording to do all the work for you!) try:
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Something-or-other - a commentary by
Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
And why not listen to this episode of a fine podcast (A Podcast to the Curious) devoted to this very story:
Episode 70 - Negotium Perambulans by E.F. Benson
Finally, I very much enjoyed recording this classic story but felt myself in the shadow of the wonderful Mark Gatiss who has foreworded and compiled a collection of E.F. Benson and recorded an audiobook of the same. It was very hard to perform the characters of Aunt Hester and John Evans with his delivery still in my ears, so I urge any fans of Benson, Gatiss or audiobooks in general to seek it out.
As they say in Cornwall, dha weles skon.
Jasper
******
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https://linktr.ee/encryptedpodAbout the episode
"Negotium Perambulans" by E.F.Benson was first published in the magazine Hutchinson's Magazine in November 1922. It was collected in the anthology Visible and Invisible (1923).
End theme music:
The Black Waltz by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Incidental music:
An Culyek Hos performed by Nacnud 1122.
Giant Wyrm by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3807-giant-wyrm
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Road to Hell by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4297-road-to-hell
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sound effect attributions:
https://freesound.org/people/Bosk1/sounds/217186/*
https://freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/178410/*
https://freesound.org/people/GeorgeHopkins/sounds/537197/*
https://freesound.org/people/caustic0801/sounds/67127/*
https://freesound.org/people/Owl/sounds/318070/*
https://freesound.org/people/kernowrules/sounds/400814/*
*All used with the following licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
All other sound effects sourced at Freesound.org
The recording was created using Audacity and BandLab. Podcast hosted by Anchor.
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