In horror fiction, however, it is entirely possible
that the voices be real.
Seth, the narrator of “Enoch,” is a mentally ill
man living alone in a remote swamp—alone, that
is, except for Enoch, an invisible, intangible demon
who lives on top of his head, having been bonded
to him by Seth’s now-dead mother, a practicing
witch. Enoch tells Seth how to take care of him-
self, but in return he demands that Seth kill a suc-
cession of people, after which the headless bodies
are thrown into the quicksand. Not even Seth
knows what happens to the heads. Although the
reader might initially believe this to be just a delu-
sion, we soon realize that Enoch has advance
knowledge of his victims that would not be accessi-
ble to Seth. Eventually, however, Enoch neglects to
cover all of Seth’s tracks, and he is arrested for one
and eventually all nine murders.
Although a psychologist clearly believes Seth to
be mentally ill, the district attorney very much wants
a sensational conviction. He plans to undermine the
doctor’s testimony by convincing Seth to deny that
their conversations are being accurately reported.
When Seth balks because of Enoch, the district at-
torney offers to take custody of Enoch temporarily.
Unfortunately, he discovers very quickly that Enoch
is real, and when he refuses to do as he is told,
Enoch devours his head from the inside out and re-
turns to Seth, who escapes jail and runs off, presum-
ably to be blamed for a 10th murder. There is a
feeling of rough justice about the ending, although
Seth and Enoch are presumably fated to kill again.
This is probably Bloch’s most frequently reprinted
story, short, nasty, and direct.
“Enoch Soames” Max Beerbohm(1919)
Deal-with-the-devil stories usually have one of two
basic plots. Either the human party finds an elabo-
rate and often humorous way to escape the conse-
quences of the pact, or despite a clever attempt to
outwit the devil, the protagonist loses everything,
including his or her soul. There have been so many
that it has become a cliché within the genre, and
there are entire collections of stories on the theme
and even a few novels. Max Beerbohm is best re-
membered for his nonfiction and satirical writing
and is not generally thought of as a genre writer,
although a few of his small output of short stories
contain fantastic elements. The most famous of
these, “Enoch Soames,” is still one of the oddest
and most satisfying stories of its type because the
title character sells his soul not for fame or glory or
anything grandiose but merely for a glimpse of the
future.
Enoch Soames is a painfully awkward and un-
successful writer of poetry and essays who inhabits
the fringes of the artistic community during the
1890s. Although he eventually publishes three
books, they are almost complete failures. We meet
Soames through the eyes of the narrator, who is
Max Beerbohm himself. They strike up a mild ac-
quaintance, and Soames describes himself as a
Catholic diabolist, that is, he does not worship the
devil so much as trust him to be true to his nature.
Beerbohm meets him from time to time over the
course of years, and believes that Soames is con-
tent with his lot and that he is convinced that his
great literary merit will be confirmed by posterity,
even though he seems likely to remain unappreci-
ated during his own lifetime.
Their last meeting comes by chance at a small
restaurant, and during the ensuing conversation
Soames expresses his bitterness about his obscurity,
vowing that he would sell his soul for a chance to
examine the historical record a century hence to
confirm his belief that he will be an acknowledged
master. Another diner promptly introduces himself
as the devil and offers to transport Soames to the
British Library a century in the future, granting
him five hours to conduct his research, after which
he will return to the present and be carted off to
hell. Although Beerbohm believes it to be a sham,
he urges Soames not to agree, but to no avail. The
frustrated writer promptly disappears, returning
five hours later looking more disturbed than ever.
In the minutes that remain before he is to pay his
last bill, Soames announces bitterly that the only
mention of his name was as a fictional character in
a story by Max Beerbohm, a nice recursive touch
to tie up a brilliantly executed story.“The Enormous Radio”John Cheever(1946)
The novelist and short story writer John Cheever
occasionally used fantastic elements in his fiction,108 “Enoch Soames”