Episode 57 – The White and the Black by Erckmann-Chatrian

A Podcast to the Curious - The M.R. James Podcast

Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian

This episode Mike and Will pop across the channel for some booze-heavy French/German shinanigans in ‘The White and the Black’ by Erckmann-Chartrian.

M.R. James says this writing partnership “produced some quite first-class romances”, but this tale of murder and mayhem is no love story!

Show notes:

• Erckmann-Chatrian (Wikipedia)
  About the authors
• Breisach, Germany (Wikipedia)
  About the town in which the story is set. Also, take a look on Google Maps.
• ‘Buried Treasure’ by Erckmann-Chatrian (Archive.org)
  This public domain scan of an Erckmann-Chatrian anthology contains a number of translations of their short stories, including ‘The White and the Black’ (albeit in a very different translation to the version we cover in the podcast).
• Anabaptism (Wikipedia)

The following also get a mention in this episode:

• Nunkie Theatre (nunkie.co.uk)
  Robert Lloyd Parry is releasing another of his excellent M.R. James performances as a pay-to-stream release before Christmas.
• Haunted Advent Calendar (moorereppion.com)
  To entertain lovers of the strange and horrible over the festive season, authors Leah Moore and John Reppion have produced this highly enjoyable advent calendar, packed with weird and horrifying tit-bits.