M. R. James’s lower-class characters sense ghosts quicker than his learned scholars

Evidence

The fractured and dialectical English in which [James’ array of lower-class characters] speak or write is, in one sense, a reflection of James’ well-known penchant for mimicry; but it cannot be denied that there is a certain element of malice in his relentless exhibition of their intellectual failings. […] And yet, they occupy pivotal places in the narrative: by representing a kind of middle ground between the scholarly protagonists and the aggressively savage ghosts, they frequently sense the presence of the supernatural more quickly and more instinctively than their excessively learned betters can bring themselves to do. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1121

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to a body of literary-critical arguments that subordinate figures in supernatural fiction act as privileged perceivers — echoes of the amateur/folk knowledge theme running through the reader’s archive. — connects to: Class rather than race powered M.R. James’s ghost stories — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1120