{"id":91442,"date":"2015-10-30T17:38:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T21:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=91442"},"modified":"2015-10-30T17:53:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T21:53:00","slug":"ringing-the-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/30\/ringing-the-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringing the Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always the temptation, when recommending anything, to go only for the deep cuts. It\u2019s true that Robert Aickman wrote several volumes\u2019 worth of \u201cstrange stories,\u201d many of them very good. It\u2019s also true that \u201cRinging the Changes,\u201d from 1964\u2019s\u00a0Dark Entries: Curious and Macabre Ghost Stories<\/a><\/em>, is probably the best known, or the \u201cmost anthologized,\u201d or however people like to subtly dismiss anything with a certain profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But \u201cRinging the Changes\u201d is probably so popular because it\u2019s one of his best. It contains all the basic elements that make night\u2014and indeed, the ancient, instinctive terrors of Halloween\u2014most frightening. The story\u2019s about worlds and time and reality and the ancient and modern colliding. But the premise is simple: a man and his much younger wife honeymoon in a dreary resort town where the church bells literally never stop ringing. In short, it\u2019s a pretty perfect ghost story. Read it, of course\u2014and then read more of Aickman\u2019s work\u2014but if you are tempted to move into other media, I\u2019m afraid I must be very firm with you:\u00a0this<\/a>\u00a0is the only version allowed. While it\u2019s goofy enough, there are several others out there that are frankly ludicrous. And not in the good way. Think smacking kisses. Did I mention it\u2019s also sort of a love story? Well, maybe that goes without saying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s always the temptation, when recommending anything, to go only for the deep cuts. It\u2019s true that Robert Aickman wrote several volumes\u2019 worth of \u201cstrange stories,\u201d many of them very good. 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