Medusa (Paperback)

E.H. Visiak

ISBN 10: 0712355723 / ISBN 13: 9780712355728

Published by British Library Publishing, London, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. 'Something moved along upon the verge with a sliding, writhing motion, seeming like the body of a huge serpent.Drawn by horror's fearful traction, I moved to the verge of the parapet and looked down.'Bristol, the early eighteenth century. On the run following a fatal accident at school, the orphan Will Harvell joins a voyage setting sail in search of a mariner's missing son. But the mystery of his disappearance harbours a deeper secret; a dark current pulling the crew ever closer to an ancient Gorgonian terror of the ocean.Combining elements of Conradian sea adventure, Atlantean mythology and sublime horror, Medusa was first published in 1929 and achieved cult classic status in the late twentieth century as a neglected masterpiece of weird fiction.'Visiak achieved the terror and wonder, the sense of awe, that Lovecraft could only grasp at.' R. S. Hadji, 1983 A new edition of an important novel which is now extremely scarce, its only recent edition having been a short-run collector's item. This novel is regularly listed as one of the twentieth-century's best horror novels in reviews throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780712355728

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Medusa (Paperback)
• Publisher: British Library Publishing, London
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0712355723
• ISBN 13: 9780712355728
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

...a little on one side of me, I spied something that moved along upon the verge with a sliding writhing motion, seeming like the extremity of a sort of trunk; like the body of a huge serpent… Drawn by horror's fearful traction, I moved to the verge of the parapet and looked down…

Somewhere around the early eighteenth century, young Will Harvell joins a sea voyage in search of a mariner’s missing son which gradually finds itself drawn towards an ancient and indescribable terror of the ocean in E. H. Visiak’s classic novel, which returns to print featuring a new introduction by horror expert Aaron Worth.  

Combining elements of Conradian sea adventure with Atlantean mythology and a uniquely unsettling brand of metaphysical, sublime horror—all delivered in Visiak's high literary style—Medusa remains a distinctive, influential and still exciting work in the history of early twentieth-century weird writing.

About the Author

E. H. Visiak was the pen name of the British writer and critic Edward Harold Physick, an expert on Milton and celebrated Edwardian poet best known for Buccaneer Ballads (1910) and a handful of strange short stories. His novel Medusa (1929) is heralded as an important contribution to weird fiction.