#185 Sun (12/25/22) - Christmas Day and M.R. James

 Morning with Mike and Christina and some coffee, snacks and gifts, then over to Palmer's for a turkey dinner! 

We watched the new BBC Ghost Story for Christmas - Count Magnus, which I liked a lot and enjoyed reading the story later. Also, watched Mr. Humphrey's and His Inheritance.  When I was home, I read that one as well as watched The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Stalls of Barchester.  

Reading The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, I was struck by how much more was to be found in the text, as opposed to the BBC adaptation. (The adaptation however was top notch and the story contains a more thrilling set of discoveries and cryptic, coded puzzles than perhaps The DaVinci Code.) As was also the case with the Inheritance, in the detailed description of the Globe or Orb in the garden maze. Much of the occult, esoteric detail and scholarly references are omitted.

It is clear from his stories that James speaks and reads Latin fluently and few of his stories lack at least some Latin inscriptions, but The Treasure starts with an entire lengthy Latin paragraph that James helpfully translates for you immediately.  

I read the text for The Mezzotint and found that the sting was added for the adaptation.  The story itself is far more implied. 

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