Ghost-Seers, Detectives, and Spiritualists: Theories of Vision in Victorian Literature and Science (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Series Number 71) - Hardcover

Srdjan Smajić

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521191882 ISBN 13: 9780521191883

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

This is an original study of the narrative techniques that developed for two very popular forms of fiction in the nineteenth century - ghost stories and detective stories - and the surprising similarities between them in the context of contemporary theories of vision and sight. Srdjan Smajić argues that to understand how writers represented ghost-seers and detectives, the views of contemporary scientists, philosophers, and spiritualists with which these writers engage have to be taken into account: these views raise questions such as whether seeing really is believing, how much of what we 'see' is actually only inferred, and whether there may be other (intuitive or spiritual) ways of seeing that enable us to perceive objects and beings inaccessible to the bodily senses. This book will make a real contribution to the understanding of Victorian science in culture, and of the ways in which literature draws on all kinds of knowledge.

About this title

Book Description:

An original study of the narrative techniques which developed for two very popular forms of fiction in the nineteenth century - ghost stories and detective stories - and the surprising similarities between them in the context of contemporary theories of vision and sight.

About the Author:

Srdjan Smajić is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Furman.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0521191882
• ISBN 13: 9780521191883
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280