Synopses & Reviews
Why was Henry James drawn to the supernatural and what narrative purpose did his repeated use of the ghostly fulfill? Covering a wide range of Jamess fiction and non-fiction, distinguished James scholars deal with the complex ways in which Jamess interest in the supernatural blends with his philosophical historical and cultural engagement. This volume is the first compilation of essays on this topic and it offers new and exciting readings of the varied ways in which the ghost storys generic conventions both articulate and interrogate the anxieties of turn-of-the-century Anglo-American culture.
Review
“Using an exciting range of contemporary approaches, the contributors to this volume demonstrate convincingly that Jamess interest in the supernatural was central to his writing—to his acute sense of perceptual boundaries and of our relation to the physical world as well as to his lifelong investigation of the intricacies of memory and desire. For the Jamesian consciousness, the ‘air of reality itself is ghostly.”--T.J. Lustig, Senior Lecturer in American Literature, Keele University
“A timely collection, Henry James and the Supernatural extends the discussion of Jamess engagement with spectrality beyond the familiar ground of The Turn of the Screw, beyond even the rich territory of Jamess other ghost stories. Invoking the uncanny under a variety of aspects—spatial, sacred, philosophical, Gothic, ‘queer, rhetorical, among others—it stimulatingly shows the suggestiveness of the ghostly, richly bringing out the many ways in which Jamess profound challenge to usual categories and identities haunts our experience as readers.”--Philip Horne, University College London and editor of Henry James: A Life in Letters
Synopsis
This book is a collection of essays on ghostly fiction by Henry James. The contributors analyze James's use of the ghost story as a subgenre and the difficult theoretical issues that James's texts pose.
Synopsis
This book fills a gap in critical investigations into Henry James's lesser-known works, specifically his ghostly fiction, and provides new and engaging perspectives. Wide-ranging essays analyze James’s use of the ghost story as a subgenre and the difficult theoretical issues that James’s texts pose.
About the Author
Anna Despotopoulou is an Assistant Professor of English Studies at the University of Athens. She is the co-editor of Reconstructing Pain and Joy: Linguistic, Literary, and Cultural Perspectives.
Kimberly C. Reed is a Professor of English and French at Lipscomb University. She is the editor of The Turn of the Screw and Other Stories and the co-editor, with Peter G. Beidler, of Approaches to Teaching Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw.
Table of Contents
Introduction: “I see ghosts everywhere”--Anna Despotopoulou and Kimberly C. Reed * “The complexion of ever so long ago”: Style and Henry Jamess Ghosts--Greg Zacharias * Immensities of Perception and Yearning: The Haunting of Henry Jamess Heroes--Kristin Boudreau * Haunting the Churches: Henry James and the Sacred Space in “The Altar of the Dead”--Hazel Hutchison * “Mysterious tenants”: Uncanny Women and the Private / Public Dilemma in the Supernatural Tales--Anna Despotopoulou * John Marchers Uncanny Unmanning in "The Beast in the Jungle"--Kathy Justice Gentile * Homospectrality in Henry Jamess Ghost Stories--Diane Long Hoeveler * Second Thoughts: “Queer ‘Maud-Evelyn”--Kevin Ohi * Uncanny Doublings in “Owen Wingrave”--Gert Buelens * The Afterlife of Figures--Sheila Teahan * Epilogue: “Ghost writing”--Nicola Bradbury