![]() Like the man himself, Westall was a master of what James referred to as ‘a pleasing terror’. Westall’s 1989 collection of supernatural short fiction Antique Dust was dedicated “To M R James, most economical of writers, who could coax horror out of a ragged blanket.” It was the infinite strangeness of the supernatural that fascinated Robert Westall, not the horror, and in the opinion of some he remains one of the best and most undersung practitioners of the genre, and an obvious successor to that godfather of the English ghost story, M R James. Westall’s most famous work is probably The Machine Gunners – for which he won the Carnegie Medal in 1975 – but he also produced a substantial body of ‘ghostly’ tales throughout his life, starting with his third novel The Watch House. He was only the second author ever to win the medal twice, and no one has ever won a third. ![]() He was twice honoured with the Carnegie Medal, the foremost British award for children’s literature. ![]() Robert Westall (1929-1993) was best known as a writer of books for children and young adults, often involving cats and themes surrounding his experiences growing up during World War II. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |