One of most vivid memories of my childhood was when my grandfather used to gather all his grandchildren around him in the evening and feed us wih scary ghost stories. He was German and had a good repertoire of Gothic ones - the sort of tales that would fire the imagination of Catherine Morland.
    
     Our short story this month comes from New Writing 15.
    
     'From Shakespeare's Banquo to Casper the Friendly Ghost, stories of spectres, phantoms and apparitions have entertained for centuries. However, in the hands of Anita Desai [ ] the traditions of the ghost story are manipulated, twisted and turned on their head, offering the reader a new interpretation of a classic genre.'
    
     Please, click here to download The Landing
    
     I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to reading your comments here
     Cheers - Chris

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I too enjoyed reading the piece. I thought I will share my thoughts on it with others.
    
     For a while I wondered what made this story scary. Then it occurred to me that it's "the knowledge of the unknown" that controls the fear factor in the story. The lady thought that she controlled the house; then suddenly she started envisioning that there is somebody else there of which she had only rudimentary knowledge. Somehow she chances upon the thought that it is the landing where the unknown stays.
    
     Her efforts to rationalize the whole thing and escape it breaks down as she realizes the sure signs around. There are things happening around her over which she had no control. This feeling coupled with her loneliness made her miserable.
    
     However, her efforts to get rid of the eerie feelings by getting out of the house and living in a cramped house where there is no space for any one else except her backfires when she realises that the ominous feelings have grown inside her along with a longing to know the thing which is there in the landing. The note in which the story ends bring the ghost feeling to another level where the new owners also become part of the horrifying things.
    
     At one level Ms Desai made a deliberate effort to ascribe personal traits to the otherwise inanimate house. This has made the house a living presence in the story. As readers we come to know that the house breathes, it watches, etc. There arises a sort of mutual longing for each others presence. But that relation's growth is stymied when the other remains unknown. The element of suspense heightens through the colleague character who was also unknown to many.
    
     These are some of the random thoughts which occurred to me after reading the piece.

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Posted on the behalf ot Robert Vicetti - from Lima, Peru.
    
     'Anita Desai´s Landing vividly impresses as being a superb short story of a homeless mind trying to come to terms with its present – and future - surroundings. She feels an inner compulsion, so it seems, to connect with her unbeknownst heritage, even if it were only possible through ghosts of times past. The existential pangs of rootlessness she feels makes her want, in quiet desperation, to withstand the “silent dissolving of darkness” of her life and times. She surmises, hence, that a “presence inhabited” in the lonely house had to be met in the standing; although it was not to be.
    
     The whole theme exudes a melancholy loneliness that is masterfully narrated in forceful, pellucid tones. This author hard as she tries to bridge her inner and outer worlds finds herself squarely, albeit unintendedly, in a netherworld that is not entirely of her own making. On a personal reflection, though, I am intrigued by the lack of a spiritual and emotional comradeship with present and past human beings, real or imagined. She reveals that she is also, in effect, a homeless spirit desperately trying to find a secure and restful abode in a world that persistently remains to her strangely familiar and eerily foreign. It is remarkable to note that in our post-modernist times Octavio Paz´s Labyrinth of Solitude still rings true.
    
     That will be all. Have a very good day.
     Roberto Vicetti
    

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"The Landing"
    
     I could hardly learn she wanted to live in a silent place or in the sound like a guetho house she finally got to live in. And I can hardly learn why after she left she had to go back again just to turn around the hemelock tree and slowly withdraw. Did she miss the rooks? And it seems she doesn't own a name!
    
     Peharps she needed somebody to share with her emotions - a boyfriend or a husband. One shouldn't lead an extremely lonely life, otherwise there's a danger of having hallucinations - and one'll want to run away from oneself.
    
     Langa

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Hi All
    
     Very interesting ideas so far. It also called my attention how much impersonation Desai uses when talking about the house and how she masters the genre making us hold our breath till the last paragraph. What's more, even after the story is finished in the paper it goes on in our minds. What does exactly 'withdrew' mean in there??
    
     I totally agree with Cherry that the whole tale is much about how we deal with the unknown but I would also say that it is very much about how we deal with our fears and our poweful imagination.
     It brought to me how our minds can create realities that seem to be almost touchable and how many times we have to deal with the consequences of our creations.
    
     Looking forward to hear your comments on that.
     Cheers - Chris

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Hi All,
     What I love most about this reading group is to have the chance to read the readings of everyone ! My impressions on The Landing are various and somehow as intricate as the threads of this story I dare qualify as psychosis . The illusions and phantasms the narrator seems to "see" can be but the dormant earnest need to a real sensitive and -why not- sensual life. Her seeming to feel the breathing is a pathetic fallacy she tries to hide in as a sort of defense mechanism from this hostile and lifeless present.
     Also what makes the story scary is that it unveils our inner and repressed self we keep (allow me the coining pliz) "euthanasing" ...for the scary aspect of the short story is more psychical than sensational. We do sometimes imagine things breating or talking and even hugging us , but are not these hallucination deeply rooted in our very complex inner self?!

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Dear Langa
    
     Your observation that the woman is too lonely so that she hallucinates is a valid one.
    
     There is always a possibility to invite people inhabiting your mental world to the real world when people in the real world fails you or you don't like to be with them. The story points at the fact that the woman, though she's socially alive in the sense of having a job and friends, keeps a large self of hers to herself. Nobody seems to stay with her. After unpacking her belongings the people leave her to her solitude.
    
     Ms Desai cleverly leaves her past untouched. We wonder whether she's like this right from the beginning or something happened in between to make her so. However there is no space for us to think and find an answer as each moment awaits something terrible to happen which in turn never happens.
    
     One can also see an earnest effort in a human soul to be in company all the time with something or somebody even when the company seems to be unreal. No one wants to be left alone. When loneliness is forced on us we manipulate and create a world of ours from where we get the momentum to go forward.

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hi everybody . especially cherry and langa
    
     ı dont fully agreee with u .yes noone wants to be lonely but sometimes people must be lonely.
    
     u cant find anyone around u infact u can find some so called friends and think that u can get rid of from lonelines but that time u feel so bad and friend start to give u damage pcsyhigolically .to prevent this .it is better to be lonely and try to find ways to soothe urself.
    
     ı think the girl in the story was empty that is to say one neeed to believe sth to get rid of this hallucinations .only Allah or god will help people in this situations.

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and ı want to ask everyone what did u felt when u finished readind the story?
    
     please tell me
     and later ı will share my feelings.

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Hi everyone
    
     I couldn't agree more with Mostafa when he says that one of the great things about this group is that 'we have the chance to read the readings of everyone'. The are somethimes so different and bring up aspects that I haven't imagined. Thanks all of you for this great experience.
    
     Daffodil' s approach to the text is, for example, completely new to me because I come from another culture, probably quite different from hers. I'm not sure if people 'must' be lonely. I see that we 'are' so most of the times, even if there are lots of people around us who are apparently part of our lives - botton there we are always lonely. Should it really be like that?
     The religious answer to this question depends a lot on each one's beliefs and it is interesting to see here how each of us tries to find a sort of explanation to the events that unfold in the story.
    
     How I feel after reading the story?? Still lonely, but more serene about this because I realised that my own imagination and 'homeless spirit' - to use Roberto's words - are at least a bit more on the leash than the character's ones :)
    
     Cheers-Chris

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Hi, Chris
     I agree with your opinion that Desai superbly masters the genre, but at the same time fails our expectations when we speak about some elements typical for the ghost story.Formaly, everything is there-"small house on the hill. presence of something what had existed before"etc; we keep our breathing to the last paragraph, wondering what is going to happen, but nothing actually happens.Nothing coud have happened because "The Landing" is, from the beginning to the end a briliant parody of the genre!
     It is significant that trying to puzzle mystery over the old house main character doesn/t feel fear, but anger or frustration.She desperately tries to make a contact with the "unknown," but house seems to be determined not to reveal its secrets.Woman can not put up with "it" which tortures her mind.
     "It" must be a symbol of something.I think it is a symbol of the world which had definitely dissapeared-not even traces remained.Woman is allowed to own the house, but not to be a part of it.Where she really belonges to is a "set of small rooms above shops".Instead of"black rooks with an astonishing volume of sounds" there are only some insects revolved around a lamp". "Four-poster bed" in old house has been replaced with an image of " metal foldup contraption".Writer gives us details which clearly associate to emptiness and banality of everyday life.World we live in has a litle in common with that one which could make us feel secure and fulfiled.
     And, finally where is the ghost in this story? Not where he supposed to be, in the old house-1743..He doesn/t inhabit mysterious places any longer, he moved into the real life.We find him in an office, where woman works ;one of her colleagues "with something malevolent in his lidded eyes".
     Best regards, Jasmina

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Hi Jasmina and all,
     I do appreciate the way you react to the text! It's indeed here the role of art: it is to make you, and/or me feel frustrated, disappointed, de-automatised and even angry. For what is art if it doesn't shake , or destroy, or frustrate your expectancies?! Desai has in a way or another deviated from the run-of-the-mill traditional genres we are used to.
     As for Dafodill's pertinent question I do claim that my feelings after reading the Landing, were somewhat mingled with pleasure and frustration, which is a sweet albeit paradoxical feeling.
     I have a question to Jasmina:Why Jasmina when you said"finally where is the ghost in this story? Not where he supposed to be"did you imagine the ghost as male, not female? Is your image-making so male-oriented? Contrarily, I have been imagining the ghost as a "sexless" entity: I don't know why.
     So should the image-making mechanism-while reading- be related to our referential world? If yes, what is then the role fiction if it keeps us glued to reality?
     Cheers
     Mostafa

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Hello everyone,
    
     While I was trying to find an answer to Chris question: What's does "Withdrew" mean, I learned that withdrew is the last word of the whole story, and the last one of the 1st paragraph.
    
     "After upacking people leave her to her solitude" withdrawn from herself - I think she's living away from the world around and even from her inner self.
    
     I love the group for it's powerful in the diversity of opinions however different our biliefs may be, we can share our reading experience.
    
     Langa

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Thanks for ur answers. Chris u said that my approach is different yes it may be because of culture diffrence . where are u from ı have wondered. and ı think it is also because of religion diffrence ,isnt it. but ı agree with u that to learn diffrent opinion is very good.
    
     ı think the coment on the story is diffrent because of the things ı am experiencing nowadays . but ones mood can be very changing.
    
     see u soon

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Hi all
     A bit late but it's never too late to share!
     While reading "The Landing", I thought of Henry James's "The Turn of The Screw".they are both mesmerizing.
     The lady in "the landing" is to some extent similar in character to the governess-the protagonist in Henry 's novella.
     They both see themeselves facing some dark and unseen forces.In both writings we can feel that the ghosts if any are but figments of their imagination.I read everyone's comments and could feel that you focused mainly on the psychic/psychological state of the woman.But there are questions to ask: What if the house is really haunted? What's the presence of the malevolent aged man "ghost of the department" for?Those would be some of the questions that an "apparitionist" would ask,no?
     No one believes in a theological concept of evil?
     Tarik-Morocco

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Hi, Mostafa,
     Well, I obviosly was not clear enough, saying that"writer fails our expectations when we speak about some elements typical for the ghost story".
     It should have had absolutely positive connotation!If we expected "typical" ghost story as "The Landing" seemed to be at the beginning, then Desai surprised us, offering totaly fresh and innovative view on this genre!I simply understood the whole story as a briliant parody, trying to pay attention to some details which, in my opinion gives us a key for understanding of writers intentions.Mentioning of the ghost who exists in the department, not where "he supposed to be" is, if nothing else, a good example of how Desai manipulates run-of-the-mill traditional genre.By the way, I also imagine the ghost as a sexless entity, but in this case I just tried to stick to the text( "the aged man...)Do you think that in a context of the story question of the ghost gender is a relevant one?
     Best regards, Jasna

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Hello Tareve and the board,
    
     You've raised a new approach to the discussion, urging us to look for the ghost, or check if the scene (the house) is haunted. If you read Mostafa and Yasmina's comments on the matter of finding out where the ghost is in the story, you find out it was even diffuculty for the narrator of the story to tell us that. My view is that we learn most of the things about this story through HER sight and emotion, and we can be taken to think there's a ghost while there isn't any.
    
     We're not told of any friendiship she owns, no relatives and the emptiness of relantioniship ties in her life and her hallucinations can urge you think She was too LONELY'
    
     Langa

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Just reading the title of this short story made me go into a totally different direction before I even started reading the story itself! For a while when it stood on my desk at home I believed that it was going to be about a plane trip from one place to another, and how the passengers will have to be extremely careful when coming down the stairs from the plane because of a fire on that side! Those were honestly my first thoughts!
    
     After reading the first page, I was somewhat sucked up into the story and by the last page I could say with certainty that it very much reminded me of "The Yellow Wallpaper" (by Charlotte Perkins Gilman). At the University where I work, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is an obligatory story that fourth-year English major students read in the American Literature subject they take. There are so many similarities between these two works of fiction that I would suggest that "The Yellow Wallpaper" be a story posted in the ELT e-Reading Group. I'm sure the rest who still haven't read it will come to the same conclusions. So if you like "The Landing" or even "The Fall of the House of Usher" (E.A. Poe), you'll certainly be fond of "The Yellow Wallpaper"!
    
     Best regards,
     Aneta

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The writer as narrator does play an important role in short story writing - but in terms of theme in the case of your comment ... the themes outweigh the value of a narrator!

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