"Afterwards" - a Review

I'm writing this more as a memo to myself than any other reason. We will get to why in just a bit. First, a word on our subject.

Afterwards is a short story written by Edith Wharton that deals with a house that is so subtly haunted that even if you see a ghost, “[y]ou won't know till long, long afterward.” Its owners, Ned and Mary Boyne, are initially put out by this. You see, they would have preferred a more active ghost. Unfortunately for them, however, the spirit interfering in their lives is just active enough.

Which is all you'll get out of me on the subject. Good or bad, a ghost story must tell itself, after all.

Now for why this is a memo. I saw this story on television once. Twenty four years ago, in fact. I didn't need to reread the story, as I remember the plot vividly. Especially Mary Boyne's final words. All I couldn't remember was the title and the author.

Two decades and change I searched. Countless anthologies I read, hoping in vain to stumble across it. I became well versed in ghost stories, but none the wiser to my goal.

On learning of the research powers of the Internet, I pursued the tale by other means. I remembered it was on Mystery! Surely I'd find it there.

Well, they give all the titles, but not any synopsis before 1998. Not very helpful in my quest. But in the end I triumphed. Found the name, reread the story, and promptly forgot name and author.

Ugh.

So, after yet another search, I've found it again. Thus this review.

Was it worth all this hassle? Was it worth twentysome years of hunting?

Oh yeah. Afterwards is classic. You can judge for yourself, as the story is on-line. You can go here, where it is a part of a whole collection of Wharton's ghost stories. Or you can go to Wikisource and read it there. That copy, sadly, gets a bit hard to read in places.

And I thought this blog needed an editor... That one makes me look pro in places.