The Victorian Ghost Story and Theology: From Le Fanu to James

ISBN-13: 9783319302188 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 188 str.

Zoe Lehmann Imfeld; Zoe Lehmann Imfeld

Opis

This book argues that theology is central to an understanding of the literary ghost story. This book, however, uses theological ideas from St Augustine through to modern theologians to identify a theological journey taken by the protagonists of such stories, and charts each stage of this journey through the short stories it examines.

Spis treści

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- 1. ‘Strangely mistaking death for life’: Arthur Machen.- 2. ‘What is this that I have done?’: M.R. James.- 3. ‘These devils have made quite a saint of you.’: Sheridan Le Fanu.- 4. ‘He’s there from the moment he knows somebody else is.’: Haunted by Paralysis in the Stories of Henry James.- Conclusion.- Bibliography.- Index.

O autorze

Zoë Lehmann Imfeld is Lecturer in Modern English Literature at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She is co-editor of the volume Theology and Literature after Postmodernity.

Blurb

This book argues that theology is central to an understanding of the literary ghost story. Victorian ghost stories have traditionally been read in the context of agnosticism – as stories which reveal a society struggling with Christian orthodoxy in a new ‘Enlightened’ world. This book, however, uses theological ideas from St Augustine through to modern theologians to identify a theological journey taken by the protagonists of such stories, and charts each stage of this journey through the short stories it examines. It also proposes a theory of reader participation which creates an imaginary space in which modern epistemology is suspended. The book studies the work of four major authors of the supernatural tale: Arthur Machen, M.R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Henry James.