Description
Considers the ways ghost stories appeal to our uneasy relationship with conventional good sense
What do they want, the ghosts that, even in the age of science, still haunt our storytelling? Catherine Belsey's answer to the question traces Gothic writing and tales of the uncanny from the ancient past to the present - from Homer and the Icelandic sagas to Lincoln in the Bardo. Taking Shakespeare's Ghost in Hamlet as a turning point in the history of the genre, she uncovers the old stories the play relies on, as well as its influence on later writing. This ghostly trail is vividly charted through accredited records of apparitions and fiction by such writers as Ann Radcliffe, Washington Irving, Emily Brontë, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, M. R. James and Susan Hill. In recent blockbusting movies, too, ghost stories bring us fragments of news from the unknown.
- Traces examples of ghost stories from Homer to the present day
- Describes the aspects of storytelling designed to involve readers
- Includes stories of attested apparitions, as well as fiction by a wide range of both canonical and popular authors
Author: Catherine Belsey
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 09/04/2019
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9781474417372
ISBN10: 147441737X
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Gothic & Romance
- Literary Criticism | Shakespeare
- Literary Criticism | Women Authors
About the Author
Catherine Belsey was a critic and cultural historian. After an academic career at Cambridge, Cardiff and Swansea, she visited the University of Derby for discussions with the students. She lived in Cambridge and chaired a range of reading groups in the area on an occasional basis. (dec.February 2021)