Casting the Runes (Annotated)

"Casting the Runes" is one of M. R. James's most accomplished supernatural tales, a finely engineered story of occult malice, scholarly rivalry, and mounting dread. Centered on the vindictive alchemist-scholar Karswell and his victim, the tale transforms antiquarian learning into a source of terror. James's style is characteristically restrained: plain surfaces, documentary hints, and urbane conve...