THE OUTCAST SPIRIT

There is nothing else quite like the short stories of Lady Dilke in the annals of English literature, and even readers who have little sympathy with their stylistic affectations, allegorical pretensions and harrowing conclusions are likely to admit that they have a peculiar fascination. Those who find some resonance in their psychological ambience might easily think them touched with genius. The simple fact that they are so unusual is a great asset in itself, from the viewpoint of lovers of exotica, but they are not peculiar merely for the sake of cultivating unconventionality. Seen as an assembly, in fact, their visionary element acquires an extra dimension of coherency, and also manifests a marked evolution, from the slightly tentative experimental ventures of the stories in The Shrine of Death to the triptych of masterpieces constituted by ",The Hangman&rsquo,s Daughter,", ",The Triumph of the Cross", and ",The Mirror of the Soul,", which are truly remarkable works considered individually, but gain even more from being placed in the broad frame provided by this, the first comprehensive collection of the author&rsquo,s fiction._,