Intrusions

In his Introduction to this new edition of Intrusions, Reggie Oliver writes that Robert Aickman (1914-1981) 'was one of the most original and interesting short story writers of the late twentieth century . . . I wonder if the adjective inconclusive, so often applied to Aickman, is quite the mot juste. His stories all have a beginning, a middle and an end. They conclude, but the conclusion is not absolute: puzzles remain. How like life Aickman is both a realist and a surrealist: or, to put it another way, his surrealism is real.'