Continuing with the fourth story in my Stories to be Read with the Lights On reread... And at first glance... I didn't remember anything at all about this story! However, when we started to get to the meat of things, it definitely started to ring a bell. Mr Mappin's fantasies about murdering his boss started to feel a bit familiar.
Collier's story is very much in the Tales of the Unexpected mode. It's got the ordinary, frustrated man dreaming of something bigger (or more sinister), and the sting-in-the-tail ending you want from a story like this. What I liked about it though was that Mr Mappin's frustrations at being stuck as a mortgage clerk for 20 years have a proper nasty edge to them. I suppose this is partly to make sure we don't have too much sympathy for Mr Mappin. We have to know that he's got a mean streak to him (his thoughts on the secretaries Miss Ashley and Miss Burke definitely reveal this).
I can't work out whether the ending is a bit predictable or I was just remembering it from when I was a teenager. To be honest, I think I'm leaning towards saying it's a bit predictable. But for all its predictability, 'Mr Mappin Forecloses' is very well done. It's a nice example of the... genre? style? mode? that these type of stories employ.
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I am also rereading “Stories… Lights On.” I first read it as a teenager in the 70’s. One of my favorite stories, and the principal reason for my reread is this story that had a big enough impact on md that I cited it in a college English paper in 1979. I was in a very depressed mood at the time and claimed at the end of the paper: “I don’t want to end up like Mr. Mappin,” and do something rash and stupid.
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