Expansive Ectoplasms: Demystifying the Ghost Story in The Haunted House
This article analyses the dialogue between literary tradition and innovation which is established with the genre of the ghost story in the collection of short stories entitled The Haunted House coordinated by Charles Dickens. The collection crafts a frightening atmosphere through the omnipresence of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires du Midi
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Caliban: French Journal of English Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/caliban/13916 |
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| Summary: | This article analyses the dialogue between literary tradition and innovation which is established with the genre of the ghost story in the collection of short stories entitled The Haunted House coordinated by Charles Dickens. The collection crafts a frightening atmosphere through the omnipresence of spectres monopolising the conversation, whether directly or not. The fearsome aspect of the narratives is then twisted through the comical subversion of haunting and questioned via a confrontation with reason. The main interaction underlined in the short stories then becomes an interaction with specific issues haunting the Victorian era, particularly thanks to the exploration of psychological themes, such as trauma or the notion of identity. The authors toy with the codes of the ghost story to underline the evils of their time and therefore demystify the figure of the ghost and of the literary genre with which it is associated. |
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| ISSN: | 2425-6250 2431-1766 |