I read this story when I was about 12, and loved it, reading it several more times in my teens. The premise is simple – a wealthy American family moves into Canterville Chase, a historic house, despite it being haunted, and despite everyone warning him against it, including Lord Canterville. However the sensible Americans refuse to be scared by this ghost, and ignore his increasingly desperate hauntings, even going so far as to recommend to him a special product to oil his clanking chains, and regularly cleaning up the ancient bloodstains (the ghost is reduced to using the children’s paintbox in his attempts to replace the stains).
The poor ghost dwells on his past glorious hauntings and becomes increasingly despondent at his lack of purpose, but is rescued by the kindly daughter.
Perhaps Wilde wrote it as a satirical antidote to the obsession with the supernatural, the ghostly, and spiritualism at the end of the 19th century. Certainly he was having fun with it, subverting all the usual ghost story telling conventions.
It’s a fun story, not too demanding, and ideal for reading to young children or for reading when you’re not well. And it ends with True Love. A great introduction to the charm and wit of Oscar Wilde.
First published in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 1887. You can find it here
A Personal Anthology 