Robert Aickman

1.1. Childhood and Background

Robert Fordyce Aickman was born in London, England, on 27 June 1914. His father, William Arthur Aickman, was an architect, and his mother was Mabel Violet Marsh. Aickman would later describe his father in his autobiography, The Attempted Rescue, as "the oddest man I have ever known." On his maternal side, Aickman was the grandson of Richard Marsh (1857-1915), a prolific Victorian novelist renowned for his occult thriller The Beetle (1897), which achieved a popularity comparable to Bram Stoker's Dracula in its time.

Aickman attended Highgate School from January 1928 until July 1931. His early professional life included clerical work in his father's architectural office. From a young age, Aickman developed a keen interest in the supernatural, which persisted throughout his life. This was evidenced by his involvement in an investigation into the well-known haunting of Borley Rectory and his long-standing membership in The Ghost Club. He indicated in a letter to Mike Ashley that his early life, including certain supernatural experiences, was detailed in his autobiography, The Attempted Rescue (1966). Accounts from those who knew him, such as Elizabeth Jane Howard, suggest a complex character; she noted he "hated children" and that his childhood, despite attending "very good schools," was likely "fairly lonely" due to his mother's absence. Howard also described him as capable of being "very prickly and difficult," but equally "very charming" with a "gift of the gab."

1.2. Personal Life and Interests

Aickman married Edith Ray Gregorson (1914-1983), a literary agent and children's book author known as 'Ray', in 1941; their marriage lasted until 1957. Edith Ray Gregorson authored books such as Lemuel and Timothy Tramcar. Aickman also had an affair with Elizabeth Jane Howard, the wife of Sir Peter Scott, which she documented in her autobiography Slipstream (2002).

Beyond his literary pursuits and conservation work, Aickman possessed a profound interest in various cultural and artistic fields. He was deeply passionate about theatre, ballet, and music. This passion translated into active involvement in several cultural organizations: he served as chairman of the London Opera Society from 1954 to 1969 and was an active member of the London Opera Club, Ballet Minerva, and the Mikron Theatre Company. The Mikron Theatre Company is notable for performing via touring the canal waterways of Britain, reflecting Aickman's dual interests. His organizational skills were also evident in his direction of major public events, such as the highly successful Market Harborough Festival of Boats and Yachts, which attracted over 50,000 visitors, and the Waterborne concert at the City of London Festival in 1962, which drew an audience of 100,000 visitors. For a period, he also served as a theatre critic for The Nineteenth Century and After.

1.3. Later Years and Death

In the mid-1970s, Aickman resided in a flat in Willoughby House within the Barbican Estate. In 1977, he moved to a flat in Gledhow Gardens, Earl's Court, where he remained until his death.

In the winter of 1979, Aickman was diagnosed with cancer. He made the personal choice to refuse conventional medical treatment, instead opting to consult a homoeopath. Despite a rally in his health during the summer of 1980, he was too ill to travel to the United States that autumn to receive a fantasy award he had been planning to accept. Robert Aickman died on 26 February 1981, at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. His obituary was published in The Times on 28 February 1981. Following his passing, a memorial concert was held at the Royal Society of Arts, where various prominent individuals, including the naturalist Sir Peter Scott, paid tribute to his life and work.

In 2015, R. B. Russell and Rosalie Parker of Tartarus Press released a feature-length documentary exploring Robert Aickman's life and work. This film premiered at the World Fantasy Convention and included interviews with friends of Aickman and authors such as Reggie Oliver and Jeremy Dyson.

2.1. Founding the Inland Waterways Association

Aickman is widely recognized for his role as a co-founder of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA), an organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of England's internal canal system, which was largely neglected and derelict at the time. The impetus for the association arose from a letter Aickman sent to L. T. C. Rolt following the publication of Rolt's influential 1944 book, Narrow Boat. This book vividly depicted the declining and largely forgotten world of British canals.

The inaugural meeting of the IWA took place on 15 February 1946 in London. At this foundational gathering, Aickman assumed the role of chairman, while Rolt was appointed honorary secretary. The IWA quickly garnered support from notable figures, including the writer and parliamentarian Sir A. P. Herbert, who served as president, and the naturalist Sir Peter Scott, who held the position of vice-president. Elizabeth Jane Howard, Peter Scott's wife, worked part-time as the association's secretary from Aickman's flat in Gower Street, a period during which she had an affair with Aickman.

2.2. Contributions and Internal Conflicts

Under Aickman's early leadership, the IWA organized successful campaigns and played a crucial role in raising public awareness and support for waterway preservation. The association has since become one of the most successful conservation organizations in British history, succeeding in restoring and reopening much of the original canal network.

Despite their initial collaboration, Aickman and Rolt developed significant policy disagreements. Aickman advocated for a comprehensive approach, campaigning to keep all of the waterways open. This policy was formally affirmed by the IWA council in November 1950, stating that the association's goal was to "advocate the restoration to good order and maintenance in good order of every navigable waterway by both commercial and pleasure traffic." In contrast, Rolt, who sympathized with traditional canal workers, believed it was more practical to prioritize which canals could be realistically kept open.

These disagreements became public. Aickman organized the IWA's first boat rally and festival in August 1950 and attempted to prevent Rolt from attending and promoting his own book, The Inland Waterways of England. Nevertheless, Rolt attended, accompanied by his publisher, Philip Unwin. Aickman subsequently engineered a change to the IWA's rules, requiring all members to conform to agreed organizational principles, which led to the exclusion of Rolt and several others from membership in early 1951.

Parallel to his conservation efforts, Aickman authored two non-fiction books on waterways, Know Your Waterways and The Story of Our Inland Waterways, both published in 1955. Additionally, L. T. C. Rolt, his former collaborator, also ventured into supernatural fiction, publishing a collection of twelve stories titled Sleep No More (1948). The struggle to save the waterways is extensively documented in David Bolton's book Race Against Time: How Britain's Waterways Were Saved (1990).

3.1. Characteristics and Themes

Aickman is most celebrated for his 48 "strange stories," which were collected in eight volumes, one of which was published posthumously. These stories are noted for their unique blend of the supernatural, psychological depth, and a rich tapestry of settings and characters. Critics often compare his work to that of M. R. James and Walter de la Mare due to its subtle and unsettling atmosphere rather than overt horror.

Aickman's writing style is often described as an "acquired taste," akin to "fine wines." He wrote for expression and not for commercial popularity, often facing challenges in getting his work published. In an essay written after receiving a World Fantasy Award, Aickman articulated a core philosophical tenet guiding his work: "I believe in what the Germans term Ehrfurcht_reverence^German: reverence for things one cannot understand." He posited that Faust's error was an aspiration to understand and master concepts that are inherently beyond human comprehension, a mistake he saw echoed in modern society. He also expressed a belief in "life after death," refusing to define it further, and stated that most of his stories aimed at exploring "universal themes."

The American collection Painted Devils consists of revised versions of stories previously published. Several of Aickman's collections, including Cold Hand in Mine and Painted Devils, featured distinctive dust jacket drawings by the acclaimed gothic illustrator Edward Gorey. While August Derleth of Arkham House had proposed publishing a collection of Aickman's best stories, the project did not materialize due to Aickman's demands. Original editions of Aickman's short story collections are quite scarce today, though the U.S. edition of Cold Hand in Mine is more readily available.

3.2. Fiction

Aickman's career as a fiction writer gained momentum after three of his stories appeared in We Are for the Dark (1954). Throughout the remainder of the 1950s, occasional short stories were published in magazines and anthologies, though his extensive involvement with various societies limited his ability to write at length. The year 1964 marked a significant turning point, seeing the publication of his novel The Late Breakfasters, his story collection Dark Entries, and the first volume of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, which he edited for eight subsequent volumes. Aickman himself suggested that those seeking to understand him should "plunge beneath the frivolous surface of The Late Breakfasters." The novel begins as a comedy of manners but gradually evolves into an "elegiac variation on the great Greek myth of thwarted love."

His subsequent collections included Powers of Darkness (1966), Sub Rosa (1968), Cold Hand in Mine (1976), Tales of Love and Death (1977), and Intrusions (1980). A novella titled The Model: A Novel of the Fantastic (1987) remained unpublished during his lifetime, despite Aickman's desire for Edward Gorey to illustrate it and his lament regarding the lack of publisher interest in the approximately 35,000 words work. In 2015, Tartarus Press published The Strangers and Other Writings, a new collection of previously unpublished and uncollected fiction and non-fiction. In 2018, NYRB Classics released Compulsory Games: And Other Stories, edited and with an introduction by Victoria Nelson, primarily compiling stories from 1977's Tales of Love and Death.

3.3. Nonfiction and Autobiography

Aickman's non-fiction works primarily relate to his conservation activities and include:

• Know Your Waterways (London: Coram, 1955)
• The Story of Our Inland Waterways (London: Pitman, 1955)

He also served as a theatre critic for The Nineteenth Century and After; his reviews from this period remain uncollected in book form.

His autobiographical writings comprise two memoirs:

• The Attempted Rescue (London: Victor Gollancz, 1966) - later reissued by Tartarus Press in 2001 with a new foreword by Jeremy Dyson.
• The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure (Burton-on-Trent: Pearson, 1986) - also reprinted by Tartarus Press with additional text.

3.4. As Editor

Beyond his own writing, Aickman made significant contributions as an editor. He edited the first eight volumes of the Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories series, published between 1964 and 1972. He was assisted in this endeavor by Christine Bernard, an editor at Collins. Aickman personally selected six of his own stories for inclusion within the series, with volumes four and six being the exceptions. Furthermore, he provided an insightful introduction for every volume in the series, except for the sixth.

3.5. Unpublished Works

Throughout his career, Aickman produced a number of works that, as of yet, remain unpublished. These include several plays: Allowance for Error, Duty, and The Golden Round. He also wrote a voluminous philosophical treatise titled Panacea: The Synthesis of an Attitude, which spans over 1,000 pages in manuscript form. Copies of these and other papers, including Aickman's manuscripts, are preserved in the Robert Aickman Collection at the British Library, with additional papers deposited at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

3.6. Awards and Recognition

Robert Aickman received significant literary accolades during and shortly after his lifetime:

• In 1975, he was honored with the World Fantasy Award for short fiction for his story "Pages from a Young Girl's Journal." This story had initially appeared in the February 1973 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction before being reprinted in his collection Cold Hand in Mine. Aickman himself considered this to be his finest story at the time, and its recognition pleased him immensely.
• In 1981, the year of his death, Aickman was posthumously awarded the British Fantasy Award for his story "The Stains." This work first appeared in New Terrors (London: Pan, 1980), an anthology edited by his friend and literary disciple, Ramsey Campbell, and was later included posthumously in Aickman's collection Night Voices.
• In 2000, Tartarus Press's publication of The Collected Strange Stories earned the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story Collection, further cementing Aickman's enduring literary legacy.

3.7. Adaptations

Aickman's distinct narratives have been adapted into various media:

• "Ringing the Changes"**:
  • In 1968, a television adaptation, retitled "The Bells of Hell," aired on BBC Two's Late Night Horror program.
  • A radio play version was broadcast on the CBC Radio drama series Nightfall on 31 October 1980.
  • Precisely twenty years later, on Halloween 2000, Jeremy Dyson and his League of Gentlemen collaborator Mark Gatiss adapted the story into a BBC Radio Four radio play.
• Night Voices**: In 1987, HTV West produced a six-episode television anthology series titled Night Voices. Four of these episodes were based on Aickman's stories: "The Hospice," "The Inner Room," "Hand In Glove," and "The Trains."
• "The Swords"**: A 1997 adaptation by Howard A. Rodman, directed by Tony Scott, premiered as the first episode of the cable original horror anthology series The Hunger.
• "The Same Dog"**: Jeremy Dyson co-wrote the libretto with Joby Talbot for a musical staging of this short story, which premiered in 2000 at the Barbican Concert Hall.
• "The Cicerones"**: In 2002, Dyson also directed a short film based on this story, with Mark Gatiss in the principal acting role.
• BBC Radio 4 Extra**: In August 2019, five of Aickman's short stories were broadcast as part of its Short Works series. These included "Just a Song at Twilight," "Le Miroir," "Raising the Wind," "The Coffin House," and "The Fully-Conducted Tour," all read by Tim McInnerny.

5.1. Fiction

5.2. Nonfiction

• Know Your Waterways. London: Coram, 1955.
• The Story of Our Inland Waterways. London: Pitman, 1955.

5.3. Autobiography

• The Attempted Rescue. London: Victor Gollancz, 1966.
• The River Runs Uphill: A Story of Success and Failure. Burton on Trent: Pearson, 1986.

5.4. Letters

• Robert Aickman: Selected Letters to Kirby McCauley, April 1967 - December 1980. Yorkshire: Tartarus Press, 2024.