Overview
- Repositions theology as central to the understanding of the Victorian ghost story, which has traditionally been read in the context of Victorian agnosticism
- Examines the work of four of the best known exponents of the Victorian ghost story
- Uses a wide variety of theological ideas from St Augustine through to modern theologians
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About this book
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.
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Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“This book is a most welcome intervention in Gothic Studies. The dominant reading of ghost stories has, until recently, been materialist or psychoanalytical in orientation, but thinking theologically about ghosts makes a great deal of sense. This very original, innovative study which not only takes theology seriously, but proposes a theologically sophisticated understanding of the Victorian obsession with ghosts, could open up new directions in research.” (Jarlath Killeen, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
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.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Victorian Ghost Story and Theology
Book Subtitle: From Le Fanu to James
Authors: Zoe Lehmann Imfeld
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30219-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-30218-8Published: 08 August 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-80754-6Published: 22 April 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-30219-5Published: 27 July 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 188
Number of Illustrations: 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: Nineteenth-Century Literature, British and Irish Literature, North American Literature