The Altar of the Dead (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry James
- First Published: 1895
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The late Victorian period
- Setting: London
- Principal Characters: George Stransom, The young lady, Mary Antrim, Acton Hague
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Emotions, Obsession, Death or dying, Funeral rites or ceremonies
- Locales: London, England
The Story
Fifty-five-year-old George Stransom is obsessed with observing the anniversary of his fiancee Mary Antrim's death, a fact that leads him to expand his commemorative pantheon to include all the other departed friends who live on in his memory. Imbued from an early age with what he terms “the religion of the Dead,” he decides to provide a material sign of his remembrance in the form of a private altar in a church, which he endows on the condition that he be allowed to stipulate the number of candles to be lit there.
Stransom, after a time of worshiping...
[The entire page is 1398 words long]
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