When I read a book or a magazine, or even the newspapers, I read them because, .
obviously, I want to read, but I also do it because I want to enjoy myself reading. In this .
case I had to read, for an academic reason, a classical story, called "The Canterville .
Ghost", which was written by an extraordinary Irish writer of the 19th century. I"m .
referring to Oscar Wilde. And when I finished reading this story, I thanked Wilde for his .
funny and ironic way of writing it.
If you focus on the title of the story, you may think this is another typical ghost.
story about a terrible spirit that goes scaring people on his way. If you think that, you are .
not talking about the Canterville Ghost, at least not during this episode of his existence as a .
ghost. Because to Canterville Chase, where the story takes place, had arrived a very .
peculiar American family which was not interested in paying attention to his terrible fame. .
Never, in his brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he felt so .
grossly insulted. And all this made that the ghost, for the first time in his dead-life, had .
to require to his complete arsenal of tricks, which mainly consist in playing some horrible .
characters. Characters which had been played to scare everyone who had been in that place.
(even the members of his family), and which the ghost was so proud with. But now the .
story was totally different. .
The Otis were a beautiful family that came from the United States. Indeed, Mr. .
Hiriam Otis, the leader of the family, was a Minister of that country. With him also .
came his wife, who, as Miss Lucretia R. Tappen, of West 53rd Street, had been a celebrated .
New York belle, and now she was a very handsome, middle-aged woman, with fine eyes, .
and a superb profile. Their children were Washington, the elder one, who was a fair-haired .
and a rather good-looking young man (in London was well known as an excellent dancer). .
After Washington came a little girl of fifteen, lithe and lovely as a fawn, and with a fine .