The Lost Stradivarius

J. Meade Falkner's short story The Lost Stradivarius explores ghosts and the potential evil that might be devoted to an item-in this case, an exceptionally excellent Stradivarius violin. This novel has been known as "one of Falkner's three renowned novels'' and as a "psychological romance." "The Lost Stradivarius'' (1895), a timeless tale about the paranormal power of spirits, is horrifying to the extreme. While practicing in his rooms at Oxford University, skilled violinist John Maltravers observed an unusual phenomenon: whenever a particular piece was played, a strange presence appeared to enter. Unable to explain this away, Maltravers build gradually unsettled, until he makes a staggering discovery-tucked away in a cupboard in his room is a valuable Stradivarius! Obsessed with this valuable treasure, he gradually withdraws, unaware that the evil holding this ideal violin is an initiation to take control of him. Wandering from Britain to Italy, the novel's story involves lordly depravity, family love, and the calamity of obsession, all transmitted in a "strong '' serious tone, not unusual in old-styled literature. Prior to M. R. James's ghost stories from various years were referred to as "novels," and James may have conceived and written novels.