Journal Articles and Reviews

Allison, William.  "Ringing the Changes:  Notes on Collecting Robert Aickman." All Hallows 18 (June 1998): 22-25.

An essay on the first editions of Aickman's books, their going prices, and availability.

Anderson, Douglas.  "Report on the Aickman Archives."  All Hallows 20 (Feb. 1999): 15-16.

A description of the Aickman papers at Bowling Green State University.  Interesting remarks gathered from his visit.

Anon.  "Good Old Days." Rev. of The Attempted Rescue.  Times Literary Supplement, 2 June 1966.

Notes the inherent comedy of Aickman's life with his father.

Anon. "Parable: The Shades of Robert Aickman."  Mythologies 9 (June 1976): 10-12.

Anon.  Rev. of The Model.  Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review Annual.  Meckler, 1988: 80-81.

Anon. "Robert Aickman (Obituary)."  Science Fiction Chronicle 28 (May 1981): 5.

Anon. "Robert Fordyce Aickman (Obituary)." Locus 14.4 (May 1981): 18.

Ashley, Mike.  "It's Alive:  The Re-Birth of Horror Fiction in Britain, 1960-1979."  The Scream Factory, 17 (1996): 31-41.

Aickman figures here both as editor of eight volumes in the Fontana Ghost Stories series and as a writer who drew his aesthetic of horror from his own life and childhood experiences.

Ashley, Mike.  "The Strange World of Robert Aickman:  A Retrospective."  Horrorstruck 2.2 (1988): 33-36.

A fairly solid appreciation aimed at the general reader.

Baker, Phil.  "Degrees of Deviation." Times Literary Supplement, 4 Aug. 2000, p. 23.

A good review of the Tartarus Press edition of the collected stories that relates Aickman's work to the muted surrealism of other British writers.

Barker, Christopher.  "The Stains--Robert Aickman's Swansong."  Supernatural Tales 7 (Spring 2004): 71-82.

A biographical reading of one of Aickman's last tales that reflects his experience of cancer, the long lost love of Elizabeth Jane Howard, and Aickman's possible alcoholism.

Bell, Peter.  "The Void Behind the Face of Order:  Robert Aickman, Anthologist of the Ghost Story."  Wormwood No. 10 (Spring 2008): 1-15.

A superb study of the ghost story collections from Fontana that he edited.  Studies Aickman's views on the ghost story one finds in them, and regards Aickman's views like no other in the history of spectral fiction.  These books are indispensable to the student of Aickman's work.

Binyon, T.J.  "Criminal Proceedings." Times Literary Supplement, 23 Dec. 1977.

A brief, favorable notice of Tales of Love and Death. 

Bousfield, Wendy.  Rev. of Painted Devils.  Library Journal 104.6 (15 March 1979): 748-49.

A brief notice.

Briggs, Julia.  "Brief Hauntings." Times Literary Supplement, 2 Jan. 1982, p.19.

A brief, highly complimentary review of Aickman's Intrusions that regards him as a leading writer of ghost stories.

Briggs, Scott D.  "Robert Aickman: Sojourns into the Unknown."  Studies in Weird Fiction, 12 (1993): 7-12.

Explores Aickman's strange journeys to realms of the unconscious.

Brophy, Brigid.  "Great Man."  New Statesman, 29 Jan. 1965, p. 170.

A rather negative review of Dark Entries.

Campbell, Ramsey.  "Ramsey Campbell, Probably."  Necrofile 30 (Fall 1998): 14-15.

Recounts Campbell's first visit with Aickman. Speaks highly of  "the great man."

Challinor, Philip.  "A Walk in the Woods: On Robert Aickman's 'Bind Your Hair.'"  Worwood 13 (Autumn 2009):  15-27.

Challinor's usual excellent work.  Studies closely the ambiguities of the tale and notes the possible influence of Freud's Totem and Taboo on Aickman's writing of the tale.  Notes the influence of the character of Mrs. Pagani on the protagonist, Clarissa Hartley.

Challinor, Philip.  "Frustrated Love, Restless Death:  On Robert Aickman's 'The Unsettled Dust.'"  Studies in the Fantastic 2 (Winter 2008/Spring2009):  80-91.

"The dust seems to represent a psychological rather than a social decay, the kind of rot that sets in when needs and desires are chronically denied self-expression."

Challinor Philip.  "The Icy Depths of Robert Aickman's 'Niemandswasser.'"  Studies in the Fantastic 1 (Summer 2008): 45-58.

A close reading of the imagery of life and death in this tale.  All of the sad events indicate that Aickman's character Elmo was already dead before he committed suicide.

Challinor, Philip. "Lost in the Dark:  On Robert Aickman's 'The Hospice.'"  All Hallows 43 (Summer 2007): 55-64.

A excellent and close reading of the tale that asserts it can be regarded as presenting poetic variations on the theme of being lost.  Studies the allusions and name meanings to show that all the characters, like Lucus (a name meaning "light") Maybury are "lost in the dark."

Challinor, Philip.  "Ravishing Art:  On Robert Aickman's 'Ravissante.'"  Studies in Weird Fiction 27 (Spring 2005): 1-9.

The quality of Challinor's readings of Aickman comes through with this essay.  A long and detailed discussion of the story concludes with the idea that the story is about rape, and metaphorically the rape of art.  Brings into the discussion a consideration of Aickman's ideas about the arts, which lead Challinor's comclusion.

Crawford, Gary William.  "Love and Death in the Tales of Robert Aickman."  Nyctalops 18 (1983): 51-53.

The two are counterpoised in "Bind Your Hair," "Ravissante," and "Choice of Weapons."

Crawford, Gary William.  "Robert Aickman:  Notes for a Biography."  Fantasy Commentator 5.4 (1986):  225-27, 257.

A brief essay that presents the basic facts of Aickman's life.

Cutler, Calin.  "Late Night Horror: 'Ringing the Changes.'"  All Hallows 20 (Feb. 1999): 23-25.

A good critique of the television play "The Bells of Hell" based on Aickman's story "Ringing the Changes."  Says that while some scenes from the Aickman original are omitted, adapts the themes and feelings of the story well.

Dalby, Richard.  "The 'Strange' World of Robert Aickman."  Book and Magazine Collector 190 (Jan. 2000): 50-62.

A solid overview from a bibliographic standpoint.

Damon, Gene.  Rev. of The Late Breakfasters.  The Ladder 9.10-11 (Jul.-Aug. 1965): 13-14.

Dirda, Michael.  "Crossing into Darkness: Robert Aickman's 'Strange Stories.'"  Washington Post Book World, 11 Dec. 1988, p. 9.

This review contains Dirda's oft-quoted comment on Aickman--that he wrote "enigmatic, disorienting spiritual journeys."

Eatman, John.  "Aickman's 'Those Same Bears': The Phenomenology of Contranatural Selection."  All Hallows 20 (Feb.1999): 21-22.

A spoof critical essay on Suggs's spoof Aickman story "Those Same Bears."  See below.

Freeman, Nick.  "A Country for the Savant:  Paganism, Popular Fiction and the Invention of Greece, 1914-1966."  Pomegranate 10.1 (May 2008): 21-40.

Explores the ways in which certain British writers re-imagined Greece in the period 1914-66.  It is especially concerned with the ways in which Greece represents a "pagan" space in which characters encounter modes of living and belief far removed from those they are used to.  With particular reference to John  Buchan, Sarban, and Robert Aickman, the essay argues that the disparity between "real" and "imagined" Greece led writers into the deliberate  fictionalisation of Mediterranean islands in search of "paganism" that may or may not actually exist.  Considers Aickman's story "The Wine-Dark Sea" in this respect.

Greenland, Colin. "Invitations of the Intimate Stranger."  Rev. of Night Voices.  Times Literary Supplement, 6 Dec. 1985, p. 1407.

Expresses the horrors of Aickman's tales in almost existential terms.  These people are "stuck in the nightmare, telling their stories over and over."

Greenspan, Miriam.  Rev. of Cold Hand in Mine.  School Library Journal 24.7 (March 1978): 140.

Notes the subtlety and gradual buildup.  "A compelling collection."

Hartwell, David G.  "Readers' Advising for the Young SF, Fantasy and Horror Reader."  Reference and User Services Quarterly 42.2 (Winter 2002): 183-38.

A brief mention of the Aickman collection The Wine-Dark Sea.

Jackson, Lorne.  "Books: Fact is Far Better than Fiction."  Sunday Mercury 20 Feb. 2005): 41.

A review of Aickman's The Attempted Rescue.  Remarks that it gives some insight into the mind that produced his strange stories.

Joshi, S.T.  "So Little Is Definite."  Milion 12 (Nov.-Dec., 1992): 15-22.

Looks at Aickman through the glasses of H.P. Lovecrat, from whose point of view Aickman would seem a little strange.

Joshi, S.T. "'So Little is Definite."  Studies in Weird Fiction 18 (1996): 22-23.

A revised version of the above.

Klein, T.E.D.  "An Afternoon with Aickman."  Weirdly Supernatural 1(Winter 2001-2002): 4-7.

Recounts Klein's visit to Aickman at his home in London.  Regards Aickman as "sad and touching."

Lane, Joel.  "The Double Edge:  Robert Aickman's Supernatural Stories."  All Hallows 2 (1990): 21-27.

"The horror in Aickman's most negative stories is determinism--people are shown as coerced, manipulated, trapped in the machine."

Latham, Rob.  "History, Mystery."  Rev. of The Model, by Robert Aickman.  Fantasy Review 10.3 (April 1987): 31, 48.

Notes Aickman's "cool, ambiguous voice."  The novel "can be read as, variously, a quasi-feminist rite of passage, a parable of the fallacies of Romanticism, or an absurdist allegory of the modern world.  But, however it is interpreted, it shines throughout with Aickman's fiendish wit and dizzying irony."

Longhorn, David.  "'Big Bad Baffling Bob.'" All Hallows 20 (Feb. 1999): 17-19.

An excellent response to the negative criticism of Aickman from Barbara Roden.  Asserts that Aickman's allusions are a part of its value.  A true believer in the supernatural, in his own unique way, he was trying to show us that this world exists.  Remarks that Aickman always ran counter to the predominant politics of his day, and was very much an elitist in a world that was vastly changing.

Longhorn, David.  Rev. of The Collected Strange Stories.  All Hallows 23 (Feb. 2000): 87-88.

A mixed review that reveals what Longhorn sees as Aickman's strengths and weaknesses. He is generally pleased with the Tartarus two volume edition and remarks that it will sell out rapidly.  I am somewhat disappointed with this review that appears in such an important place as the pages of All Hallows.

Morgan, Chris.  "Subtle Supernatural Stories."  Rev. of Night Voices.  Fantasy Review (June 1985): 14.

Remarks about this posthumous collection that it maintains the steady quality of all of Aickman's work.  Points out the similarity to the ghost stories of Walter de la Mare.

Morris, Christine Pasanen.  "The Female 'Outsider' in the Short Fiction of Robert Aickman."  Nyctalops 18 (1983): 55-58.

A good approach to Aickman from a feminist perspective.

Russ, Joanna.  Rev. of Painted Devils. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Feb. 1980).

A rather negative review.

Shea, J. Vernon.  "H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Aickman."  Outre  (The Twenty-Seventh Mailing of the Esoteric Order of Dagon).

A general, personal appreciation of Aickman, whose work was introduced to Shea by Kirby McCauley.  The essay consists of a study of Aickman's settings and props.

Shea, J. Vernon.  Rev. of Cold Hand in Mine.  Outre:  The 28th mailing of the Esoteric Order of Dagon. (31 Oct. 1979.): 55.

Says "It would probably have been wiser to have printed for American readers some of Aickman's earlier, more accessibly stories first, for Aickman takes a bit of getting used to.  He writes always in defiance of pulp magazine rules."

Streitfeld, David.  "On the Cutting  Edge."  Rev. of Mrs. God, by Peter Straub.  Washington Post, 28 April 1991.

A review of Straub's novella, Mrs. God, which he says is, in its style and theme, an homage to Aickman.

Suggs, Rob.  "Those Same Bears."  All Hallows 20 (Feb. 1999): 20-21.

A very amusing spoof of Aickman's content and style.

Tem, Steve Rasnic.  "A Preference for Strange Stories."  Bloomsbury Review 8.5 (Sept.-Oct. 1988): 13, 18, 22.

Highly favorable review of this collection, which comments on the power and scope of the tales.  Also notes the transforming landscapes in many of Aickman's tales.

Williams, David.  "Papa, You're Impossible." Rev. of The Attempted Rescue.  Punch, 13 June 1966, p. 893.

An omnibus review about books about fathers.  Discusses briefly Aickman's father.  Praises the autobiography for capturing England in the 1920's and 1930's.