M. R. James

• Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, (1862–1936), who used the publication name M. R. James, was a noted British mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918) and of Eton College (1918–1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature. One of James' most important achievements was to redefine the ghost story for the new century by dispensing with many of the formal gothic trappings of his predecessors, and replacing them with more realistic contemporary settings.

H. P. Lovecraft was an admirer of James's work, extolling the stories as the peak of the ghost story form in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature." Another renowned fan of James in the horror and fantasy genre was Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote an essay on him. The author John Bellairs paid homage to James by incorporating plot elements borrowed from James's ghost stories into several of his own juvenile mysteries. Other writers in the Jamesian tradition include A. N. L. Munby, E. G. Swain, and R. H. Malden, although their stories are generally considered to be inferior to those of James himself.

The stories of M. R. James continue to influence many of today's great supernatural writers, including Stephen King (The Shining, etc.) and Ramsey Campbell, who edited Meddling with Ghosts: Stories in the Tradition of M. R. James and wrote the short story "The Guide" in tribute.