SOURCE: Herron, Don. “Russell Kirk: Ghost Master of Mecosta.” In Discovering Modern Horror Fiction, edited by Darrell Schweitzer, pp. 21-47. Mercer Island: Starmont House, 1986.

In the following essay, originally published in 1985, Herron examines the elements of Gothic horror in Kirk's fiction, noting Kirk's skill at grappling with serious themes in both his fiction and nonfiction.

“For the sake of his art, the author of ghostly narrations ought never to enjoy freedom from fear … so the ‘invisible prince,’ Sheridan Le Fanu, archetype of ghost-story writers, is believed to have died literally of fright. He knew that his creations were not his creations merely, but glimpses of the abyss.”

So wrote Russell Kirk in his essay “A Cautionary Note on the Ghostly Tale,” whose knell brings to an end his first collection of supernatural tales, The Surly Sullen Bell (1962). In the intervening two decades, Kirk, an author haunted by his...