A mirror of Shalott: Being a collection of tales told at an unprofessional symposium: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
A mirror of Shalott: Being a collection of tales told at an unprofessional symposium: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
A mirror of Shalott: Being a collection of tales told at an unprofessional symposium is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Benson, Robert Hugh (1871–1914).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
A Mirror of Shalott by Robert Hugh Benson is a collection of supernatural tales written in the early 20th century. Framed as an informal symposium in Rome, a circle of Catholic clergy and a lay narrator exchange first‑person accounts of miracles, hauntings, exorcisms, and other uncanny experiences, constantly weighing skepticism against faith; recurring voices include Monsignor Maxwell, Father Meuron, Father Brent, and the Father Rector. The opening of the collection gathers seven priests and a layman around a Roman fireside, where Monsignor Maxwell argues for intellectual caution about the supernatural before the group agrees to tell one story each night. Monsignor’s first tale follows a devout layman who offers himself to bear his brother’s loss of faith, descends into harrowing spiritual darkness marked by an oppressive, almost tangible presence, and dies after a grim struggle, while the brother’s crisis passes and the widow embraces religious life. Father Meuron then recounts an exorcism on a Caribbean island in which the possessed woman violently reacts to holy water and, at the climactic command, food on the table visibly corrupts—after which she is freed. Father Brent tells of a Cornish estuary where an unseen surge drenches the sea-wall and a sleepwalking boy “sees” three blazing‑prowed ships glide past in the night. Next, the Father Rector relates how a notorious artist returns to the sacraments and, as evil influence lifts, abruptly loses taste, talent, and even youth, surviving for a time with faith alone. Finally, Father Girdlestone begins his account of a young Welsh priest dreaming of a moorland basilica when he is seized by an interior certainty that a non‑human presence is watching him from beyond a rock.
Book and edition facts
- Title: A mirror of Shalott: Being a collection of tales told at an unprofessional symposium
- Author credits: Benson, Robert Hugh (1871–1914)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Catholic Church -- Clergy -- Fiction
- Christian life -- Fiction
- Paranormal fiction
- Short stories, English
- Storytelling -- Fiction
Read this edition
View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.
Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
Sources
More in Books & Authors
Keep reading
