Mr Jones by Edith Wharton
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- Edith Wharton's masterful ghost story about a strange servant and a haunted Manor House.
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Those people who tell you they fall asleep to your stories: yes, it can seem mildly insulting, I really understand. But sometimes (it does happen to me) your beautiful voice, your lovely sentences, are the best things to hear as one drifts off... and then, the joy of waking up, and knowing that you've missed some of the story, and getting to start again from the beginning. I am appreciating your artistry more and more every day.
Well that makes me feel better. I suppose when someone puts a lot of work into writing a story and then someone puts a lot of work into reading it, editing it, polishing it, doing the thumbnail and any videos they might feel (as I did) that someone falling asleep to it was like them turning the channel or leaving the cinema. But the way you put it, it feels that it's not that. It's like ushering them into a dreamland of monsters and nightmare. I suppose I didn't understand why someone would want to fall asleep to a disturbing horror story! Funnily enough, I found a massively subscribed channel with playlists called "Scary Stories to Relax To" Imagine! But the narrator's voice is so soothing and there is rain noise in the background so that the foreground of a terrifying story and frequent expletives and gory details is weirdly lulling. The human mind is a strange thing and endlessly fascinating. Thank you for your kind words and your kind intentions. I sincerely appreciate this comment.
@@ClassicGhost Yes, oddly, the genre of horror - not the gory, bloody kind, which provide AWFUL sets of images for dreams - but the beautifully structured, atmospheric, deeper-dimensions-in-the-seeming-everday, is a very nice way to enter the world of sleep, Lafcadio Hearn (who wrote up Japanese quiet-horror, I'm sure you know him, 1800s) said that the only true inspiration for horror is dreams. His translations of Japanese "quiet horror" are full of footnotes detailing his own dreams...have you tried the three-volume collection of Japanese quiet horror, "Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan"? To have you read one of these aloud.... now, that would be an amazing experience...Kurodahan Press. Gorgeous book covers, too, you'd appreciate that!
I absolutely second your sentiment 👏👏
@@ClassicGhost Exactly.
Oh yes! Your voice and recordings are lovely and I use them to fall asleep. And actually have used ghost stories to fall asleep for years before I came upon your channel and I keep coming back to it because it is really lovely. It's definitely a compliment coming from me. And as another poster said it's not that we don't listen to the whole thing, because we do it every night we listen over and over and eventually fully consume many stories. There are stories, mostly from librivox, that I've listen to dozens of times.
These stories are a treasure.....and so are your presentations, Mr. Walker!
Thankfully came across your reading s.
The voice is perfect. I find a lot of narrators too shrill or just irritating.
Thanks for the uploads.
Total immersion--- grippingly intense.
Choice stories. Top notch, timeless, and richly resonant narration with a contemporary cadence and accent, delivered moodily enough to be evocative of period... all followed by astute commentary.
Unbeatable.
Thank you
Awesome
Eloquently said 😀
Agree 100%. This is why I keep coming back here, every day.
Very vivid, atmospheric and excellently narrated.
The end was surprisingly abrupt and caught me by surprise.
I was growing kind of fond of the practical Lady Jane and Stramer and wanted to know what laid behind the plastered up door.
I love these Victorian ghost stories. Huge old mansions full of secrets and this is a beauty. Thank you Tony. I’m listening for the second time as I tend to fall asleep so have to go back during daylight hours.
Sleep all you will. Have you heard my sleep stories podcast?
@@ClassicGhost I have. I find myself starting all over again!
Same for me.
You are an absolutely wonderful story teller, actor. Thank you for these gems!
Wow, thank you!
I listened to your reading of Bewitched, by Edith Wharton. Loved it so much that I'm back.
Edith Wharton was not from Massachusetts. She was from New York - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wharton. The narrator says she's from Massachusetts at the end of the video. That's wrong. Great narration though.
Thanks so much for correcting it so bluntly. We all needed that
@@rickyhurtt5568 Yes, I could have said it more delicately. Sorry 'bout that. Look at what the person said about her estate in Massachusetts in the next post - it was called The Mount. She actually had that house custom built and her husband I think took it over unfortunately when she went to Paris or England. I forget the details. It's in the wikipedia bio. I think you'll find it interesting if you haven't already read it.
Beautifully done, ......both of you...Edith, Belles and yourself !! Thank you !
Excellently narrated, great, classic ghost story👍 I am SO happy I found this channel!😊
Thanks and welcome
Wonderful, I found another one by you!! Really looking forward to your commentary afterwards. Thank you!!
Thank you
Exceptional story! You just know this is the answer all the way through, but it still comes as a shock. Excellent narration, too!
Excellent thank you.
Listening as my husband drives me and 2 hyper minpins to White Lake NC. Great story. I was hoping it would develop more, but sometimes the abrupt ending without answers are more intriguing.
So Wonderful Tony your narrations.
Hurrah...finally, the correct pronunciation of 'Mr. Jekyll'...!!
Gertrude Jekyll will be pleased.
I really look forward to and enjoy the brief chat with the audience at the end of each reading. And the music is so appropriate and spooky too 😊
Lady Jane's interactions with the housekeeper remind me of the narrator in Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca." Both timid and acting as though they don't belong in the house. You could just about shake both of them too, though it does a marvelous job of building tension and mystery.
I have to go to work at 4 I'm listening to this and gonna go back to sleep. Good voice
I've read this story a number of times, and it always gives me a chill. Even more so, listening to your excellent narration! I would love to hear you read other Edith Wharton ghost stories---particularly "Pomegranate Seed," of which I have only come upon quite mediocre readings. I think your beautiful voice and quietly dramatic style are a perfect match for the subtlety and nuance of this most chilling of Wharton's ghost stories! Thanks for the listening pleasure!
I have done the Pomegranate Seed and it’s on this channel! th-cam.com/channels/prCE02DXiC1f3chbtnZFqQ.html
@@ClassicGhost Thanks! I'll check it out!
Edith wrote Men and Ghosts i believe that is the title there is no good recording of it so i come the the master of bringing her work to life. Tony would you consider recording
Men and Ghosts please its a long one but you do all these stories in 1 shot right😂😂
Hope all is well. Give them dogs a pat on the head😊
Great story but it felt strangely incomplete, which was frustrating. It left a lot more potential unexplored.
I know what you mean.
I love your videos and your stories I'm new to your channel I just love your accent
I was fully invested. Omg you just answered the question I had BEFORE I asked. I was going to compare this to Wilkie Collins "Woman in White." Have you recorded it? I know it's long but maybe done in several parts.
It's hugely long. I did Dracula and it took me 7 months. So, it'll be awhile before I do the Woman in White, though I am fond of the book
Tony, I saw where you said you turned the ads off and we could go to Patreon to support you. Additionally, you could put up a PayPal link in your description box under all of your YT videos.
I am dithering about Ads. I know from the podcast only a tiny % of listeners are able (or minded) to support so maybe ads is the way to go
@@ClassicGhost I pay the approximately $13.00 a month and I never see any ads on anyone’s videos. I think I would almost give up eating to make sure I get YT Premium every month. When I am qualified to monetize again, the ads will go on. A YT channel is a lot of work, but I do understand it’s a game changer when you’re listening to a story. If you turn them on, hopefully peeps will still watch or get Premium.
@@matronista what should I do ir go to give you support. I love what you do
@@matronista I, like so many I know, use a free ad blocker. Works a treat & costs nothing.
Thank you. Edith is my favorite💛
I absolutely love the way you talk at the end, summing up and making things clear etc. very enjoyable. Good voice too that i don't drift of into thought to lol. thank you!
You can drift off if you like. I do. glad you like it
The weather ist cold and grey here in Vienna, perfect for listening...😊 1:04:40
I'm loving this story. I wouldn't have had the patience with the housekeeper. She'd have been fired on the spot!
❤️
Excellent reading💛
The narrator has an exquisite voice
Thank you.
Brilliant 🤗 Even guessing he was dead, loved all the suspense and wondering? Great narrator. Thank you
Wonderful reader!
Thank you!
Thank you! I love the stories - well-read1 But I live for the commentary afterwards so I can see if what I was thinking or feeling was....
Thank you. It’s just my own response but we might have a similar one :)
So happy I found you Mr.Walker. Happy to be a subscriber.
I’m happy you found me too . Thanks for the sub and membership:)
Wow! You've done it again! How did I miss this! You are a master, Tony! Thank you!!!!
Glad I listened to the end. Your analysis is eye-opening. Thank you....love the Scoobie reference and I had to look up what a citron desk was.
Glad you enjoyed it!
EW! A great and prolific writer. Thank you so much.
@AMT 🤣😅😂
This story was so annoying. The owner is acting like a servant. I wanted to scream "This is your house. Act like the freaking owner." Give the servants a severance pay and send them on there way.
Really enjoyed that. Brilliant as usual ☺️
Fantastic reading!
This is such a wonderful reading. Thank you so very much!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I call bullshit we get no explanation of Mr. JONES I want more.
No, that's the beauty! It's so subtle.
Wonderful story . Thank you for your great reading I enjoyed it very much.
And, what do we imagine was in the sealed up room behind the curtain? The Viscountess? Something else?
It's a bit mysterious
Thoroughly enjoyed excellent reading thank you for your channel
"..and you know something is happening but you don't know what it is, do you Mr Jones"
Love this! Masterful narration, enjoyable commentary. Love everything by Wharton! 2 yrs. ... Think. Much has happened.
Very nice...thank you
Thudeney Blazes is an extraordinary name. But did you know that there is a real house near Wolverhampton called Chillington Hall?
No, I didn't. I'd like to visit it
@@ClassicGhost I visited it many years ago, it's a classic country house and grounds. The owner himself showed us around and I'm afraid he was a little worse for wear (if you get my drift) and while showing us the extensive pinned butterfly collection he dropped a load of them on the floor, saying "Ah well". Hard not to laugh. Worth a visit if you are ever in that neck of the woods Tony.
This is the first sentence from her wikipedia bio - Edith Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones on January 24, 1862 to George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander at their brownstone at 14 West Twenty-third Street in New York City. I just wanted to point that out. She is not from Massachusetts. You can even check it out on google maps. It's in a very exclusive part of the city. I don't think it's still a house though but it is very impressive. 14 W 23rd Street, NYC.
Sure ain't Starkfield. Perhaps it would take an outsider to perceive such a place.
@@johnnicholas1488 What's Starkfield? Oh, I just looked it up - Ethan Frome! lol
Hi, I've found some info on the connection between Edith Wharton and Massachusetts. It's true that Edith Wharton was born into New York's "upper class aristocracy" . She grew-up living between New York City and Rhode Island while she also spent much of her childhood in different countries in Europe. In 1902 Edith Wharton and Teddy, her husband, built and then lived in a country house called The Mount, which is located in Lennox, Massachusetts. Apparently Ms. Wharton described The Mount as "her first real home". The house is now a National Historic Landmark. I'm not from Massachusetts, but I would like to visit the state in fact I'd like to visit many states as I'm from Cymru. I've left a link about the house. Hwyl am nawr (Bye for now). www.edithwharton.org/discover/the-estate/
@@timmaloey That's an excellent clarification! I hope you come to PA, that's where I'm from! But yes, Boston has a lot of history too. Ben Franklin who spent a lot of time in Philadelphia was actually born in Massachusetts. Thanks for the link to The Mount.
The housekeeper dropped several clues as to the situation of Mr Jones, for example "he's between life and death". Unfortunately Lady Jane's upper class sensibilities and timidity prevented her from pursuing the question. Imagine living in a house, indeed owning, with a person you've never been allowed to meet!
This is a creepy one ❤
Gripping story but terrible ending. Great narration
I was always thinking about the historical context of Edith Wharton’s writing, right before the turn of the century I believe 😊
Dungeness, perfect ghostly setting! She was a great writer. Your narration and analysis is excellent, thank you 😊
Yes, Dungeness is spooky ....imagine it before the N power station......its name comes from the drowned land of Denge that lies under the North Sea..
Well read. EW was a great talent, one of few American
authors . Perhaps more American in birth than sensibility.
Ii
"Few American authors?" Please!
our elementary school in pittsburgh would take the class to classical performances at the Syria Mosque. i've always fully enjoyed most music, particularly orchestral music, as a child. the experience would embrace me with strange languor, almost like spending a winter's night under a mountain of comforters. i'd be embarrassed by falling asleep. i can't remember which teacher, all women of indeterminate age, told me that falling asleep was an indication of enjoyment. it would never occur to me to take it any other way. i always return to the recording when fully awake. (i googled the Syria Mosque only to find that it had been razed. in the building that was erected in its place, a single brick of the old mosque is displayed.)
Wonderful. Thank you!
Wonderful narration and judging by the few thumbnails regarding your back catalogue, wonderful tales. It seems that the entertainment for my bouts of insomnia is sorted for a while. Thank you.
Piled up like leaves with something budding underneath. Whoo ❣️
I had never heard of your channel and it was suggested to me. Thank you for reading this, first Edith Wharton I had heard!
I’m glad you came
Great story. I just noticed that the end title says 'Mrs Jones".
Ah my famous inattention to detail. Too late to change now. Me and Mrs, Mrs Jones. We got a thing going on. We both know that it’s wrong.
One wonders if Mr. Jones remained after his closely guarded secret was now exposed. Or why, even after his death, he felt compelled to keep the secret of his Masters dastardly behavior. Of course there is the question of Mr. Edwards own lack of morals that would allow him to be the enforcer of his Masters orders.
Were this not a piece of fiction, I would hope that The Bells became a place of peace and harmony. I could not wish the same for Mr. Edwards.
very very good. love your reading
thank you
So glad! :)
Grand story telling. Loved the details both visual and language used.
I like your presentations at the end. I, too, am always disappointed at a ghost story which turns out not to have a ghost; in effect,, it's a bait and switch a ghost story which purports to be a ghost story but is really a psychological drama or social commentary, dressed as a gothic ghost story for whatever purpose. Although Edith Wharton is a masterful writer, I'm glad she delivers the goods this time :)
+wmnoffaith1 yes I like a ghost story to have a ghost. Though there was a period in the Victorian age when it became fashionable to have rational explanations
@@ClassicGhost Yes, I know. Some of those are good, but honestly I prefer these. Otherwise, they might as well be called "ghostless stories" LOL.
Thoroughly enjoyable, kept me riveted until the end thank you
Ah yes, VWD sir! TY Tony !
Fell asleep & woke up to the bells ringing at the end 😮 scared me half to death 😅 really surprised myself 😊
Finally a decent author and stories thank you
Im a very poor sleeper. But you have a soothing voice that helps me to doze off
Thank you.
Scoobie Doo and Wilkie Collins - I love it ! Thanx again Mr. Tony Walker
Adored this!! Thank you for making this amazing story, and delivery, possible. Your additional comments at end, include foreshadowing elements, are priceless. I've often been asked how I can predict what the character will do next, or how the plot will go, and since I've been a writer all my life, my fun tactic is watching for the foreshadowing. I look at movies and listen to stories as a writer. And I love what you've done with Mr Jones.
What a great find you are! I'm forwarding this link to my classes via email. My classes? I teach psychic development and many of my students have had experiences with spirit. Thank you thank you thank you! A fan ad infinitum!
Another great story. Thank you..
Great story but wished we knew more details, very mysterious
I was going to buy your audio podcast of Alice and Wonderland. I couldn't find the link in your description, when I went to Music Glue there didn't seem to be a search option. I'm not even sure if I have the right spelling, is it "Eerie Cumbria" that I should be looking for? This is too hard. If there was just a link I could click on, I would have done it.
+@michaelhunter2136 you can listen to it here for free
Listening to all your videos, thank you so much. Edith Wharton's ghost stories have always irritated me, much more so even than the more poorly written sensational magazine stories so common throughout the Victorian age. This story, like her others, sounds very unfinished to me. The epical short story format requires a twist ending - in this story, that Mr. Jones is a ghost - but that's such an anticlimactic revelation, I think, that it's hardly a proper twist. The reader is way ahead of her for most of the story. Even the penny dreadful writers would reveal the ghost much sooner in the story (we already know anyway) and offered a different twist - perhaps, that Julianna had been secreted, behind the blocked up door, because of an affair with Jones, or some other dreadful secret. The mercenary marriage and spousal neglect is too much a staple of domestic fiction of the period, too prosaic, too absolutely ordinary, to make a good reveal. Although I teach Victorian fiction, I have never liked Wharton's work. I think she misjudges her reader. Thank you again for your awesome channel, not just great listening for fun but literally helping some of us with our research. 😊
I'd love to sign up for a course on Victorian literature, but it's so expensive! Also, I'm not interested in exposing the stories to various theoretical positions, I'd just like to old-fashioned understand how the stories work and perhaps what the writers intended. I feel some penny dreadfuls coming along. I've got Sweeney Todd and Varney The Vampire on my shelf !
Grazie
Beautifully read! Well done 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😊👍👍
Thank you my friend
Love your reading. Have looked for your literature videos… what’s the name of the account?
+@2girlsandmama look at the bottom of the channel page for
links
Thank you again! Your analysis is brilliant. Wonderfully done, with that rich cello voice.🤗
Wonderful story and well narrated!
How many ways can I say brilliant?
You are a rock solid person
@@ClassicGhost That title we can share
I just bought a copy of Cumbrian Ghost Stories and my copy of Bloodstock just showed up this morning. I love your channel, I get an endless supply of wonderful weird tales and ghost stories to read!
Oh thank you. Hope you like the stories. Always get anxious about it
I just found The Corner Shop and really enjoyed it, so subscribed. Then I saw this posting. Was it the story I remembered reading years ago? Yes it was, really chilling story that creeps up on you and given a perfect narration. Thank you so much.
She is a great writer. I want to do Afterwards and the Pomegranate Seed too
The best! the lady could write!
Algorithms
I believe so
Love scoobie reference
Listen to this again and again!!
Her endings suck 56:51
What a wordsmith!
Really love your narration of these excellent stories. I would like to hear many more and was wondering if you'd any plans to put all the podcasts up on TH-cam. Thanks anyway.
There are about a hundred episodes now. But I will keep posting on TH-cam now that there seems to be an audience.
@@ClassicGhost Just what I wanted to hear. Am an old lady who doens't really understand how podcasts work. Have learnt to really appreciate the artists on TH-cam. Thanks!!
@@ClassicGhost Yes, more please!
👍👍👍👍👍🎬
❤
Thanks
@Classic Ghost Stories Podcast - Tony Walker Mr Walker, sir, for your information this reading has severe drop outs in your audio track which ruin the story because they occur so often... I'd reckon you ought to re-record it as who knows how many sentences are missing etc.
It's really disappointing, and especially so, as this has been perhaps the best out of all of the stories not written by yourself that you have read in my own opinion and according to my own personal obviously subjective tastes.
Just FYI, also this isn't the only story in which I've noticed it, I did also in one other, however, unfortunately I can't recall off the top of my head which other story [it was only one, thankfully], that was. Other than that you had some audio levels which would sometimes get quite low, and I probably only noticed that and the one time you read without being mic'd up, because I'm a prEditor, so I'm rather more likely to be quite fussy about such things which are probably trivialities to other people.
Please don't take this as bitching, moaning, and whining, it's just a technicality though one that I found persistently enough occurring this one time alone, that I am even bothering to also add in passing mention, the aforementioned other, er, ''issues'', more so that you may avoid them in the future as advice than anything else. I seem to gather you get quite enough of the other kind of correspondence and hope for the world you wont take this little bit of professional detail in that vein at all at all, for you are providing a great service to the subscribers of your channel who are not among your patrons as I, and for that, you are greatly appreciated and your uploads looked forward to with great fondness by those of us with any sense, who would never debase ourselves by addressing you in peevish and pettily griping tones.
Best and warmest regards always, one of many grateful subscribers.
Thank you very much for pointing this out. I am glad you took the time to bring this to my attention. I will take a look at this. I wonder how it compares with the podcast only version. Sometimes I have struggled with levels In iMovie but I accept it might also be in the original podcast. I will take a listen. Thanks again for your time and expertise. Tony
I was reading Edith Wharton's Wikipedia earlier today and noticed that before she got married, her surname from birth was Jones........could be something in it considering how the marriage in the story goes and how real life one ended in divorce, partially related to the male's health problems
Keeping up with the Joneses! But I hadn't figured out the link with the title of this story. Not implausible at all.