Synopses & Reviews
Ghosts exist as a means of expressing our concerns for life and death, the passing of time, and the conscious and unconscious minds. The powerful metaphor of haunting has been used as an intellectual tool by writers and thinkers such as Marx, Freud, and Derrida in the fields of politics, psychoanalysis and philosophy.
Ghosts is the first collection of theoretical essays that interrogates these ghosts, employing a variety of theoretical perspectives to consider the efficacy and use of the concepts of haunting and spectrality as they appear in literature, culture, and theory.
Synopsis
Did you know that the father of psychoanalysis believed in ghosts, or that Frederick Engels attended seances? Ghosts: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, History is the first collection of theoretical essays to evaluate these facts and consider the importance of the metaphor of haunting as it has appeared in literature, culture, and philosophy. Haunting is considered as both a literal and figurative term that encapsulates social anxieties and concerns. The collection includes discussions of nineteenth-century spiritualism, gothic and postcolonial ghost stories, and popular film, with essays on important theoretical writers including Freud, Derrida, Adorno, and Walter Benjamin.
Synopsis
Notes on Contributors Introduction: A Future for Haunting; P.Buse and A.Stott I: SPECTRALITY AND THEORY Specters of Engels; W.Maley 'Something Tremendous, Something Elemental': On the Ghostly Origins of Psychoanalysis; R.Luckhurst Phantasmagoria: Walter Benjamin and the Poetics of Urban Modernism; C.Britzolakis Spectre and Impurity: History and the Transcendental in Derrida and Adorno; N.Mapp II: UNCANNY FICTIONS Anachrony and Anatopia: Specters of Marx, Derrida and Gothic Fiction; R.Parkin-Gounelas Theft, Terror, and Family Values: The Mysteries and Domesticities of Udolpho; N.Freeland The Medium of Exchange; M.Merck The Postcolonial Ghost Story; K.Gelder and J.M.Jacobs III: SPECTRAL CULTURE The Machine in the Ghost: Spiritualism, Technology, and the 'Direct Voice'; S.Connor Angles in the Architecture: the Economy of the Supernatural; C.Bloom The Other Side of Plato's Wall; R.Noyes Index
Synopsis
The first collection of theoretical essays that interrogates ghosts, employing a variety of theoretical perspectives to consider the efficacy and use of the concepts of haunting and spectrality as they appear in literature, culture, and theory.
About the Author
Peter Buse teaches in the English Department at the University of Cardiff.
Andrew Stott is a Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Future for Haunting--Peter Buse and Andrew Stott *
Part I: Spectrality and Theory * Specters of Engels--Willy Maley * On the Ghostly Origins of Psychoanalysis--Roger Luckhurst *
Phantasmagoria: Walter Benjamin and the Poetics of Urban Modernism--Christina Britzolakis * Spectre and Impurity: History and the Transcendental in Derrida and Adorno--Nigel Mapp *
Part II: Uncanny Fictions * Anachrony and Anatopia: Specters of Marx, Derrida and Gothic Fiction--Ruth Parkin-Gounelas * Theft, Terror and Family Values: The Mysteries and Domesticities of
Udolpho --Natalka Freeland * The Medium of Exchange--Mandy Merck * The Post-Colonial Ghost Story--Ken Gelder *
Part III: Spectral Culture * The Machine in the Ghost: Spiritualism, Technology, and the "Direct Voice"--Stephen Connor * Angels in the Architecture: The Economy of the Supernatural--Clive Bloom * The Other Side of Plato's Wall--Ralph Noyes * Index