Ghosts, Stories and Histories: Ghost Stories and Alternative Histories - Hardcover

Sladja Blazan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847182194 ISBN 13: 9781847182197

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007

Synopsis

This collection combines academic reflections on typical ghost stories from the seventeenth century to our current ghosts in the machine. All primary texts are associated with Anglo-American discourses, some of which originate in the Chinese or African traditions as in the case of the American appropriation of Zhang Yimou's adaptation of Raise the Red Lantern. The focus on the function and the representation of the ghostly figure allows such different narratives as Daniel Defoe's 'A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal' (1705), one of the first modern ghost stories, and Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), a psychological exploration of a mother-daughter relationship after the experience of slavery, to appear next to each other. This variety demonstrates that spectral vocabulary which so far mainly circulated in marginalized spheres such as women s issues, so-called ethnic topics, and supernatural literature is finally finding its place in cultural theory and literary studies.

About this title

About the Author:

Sladja Blazan, visiting professor at New York University, lecturer, author and theater dramaturge, received her Ph.D. in American literary and cultural studies from Humboldt University Berlin, after completing her M.A. studies in Berlin, New York and Dublin. Her research interests lie in literary and other discourses, feminism and philosophy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1847182194
• ISBN 13: 9781847182197
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Sladja Blazan