The Re-Enchanted Ghost in Contemporary American Fiction (Routledge Studies in Speculative Fiction)

The Re-Enchanted Ghost in Contemporary American Fiction examines an emerging trend in spectrality and liminality within contemporary American fiction. Traditionally, the ghost story has reflected the culture from which it emerges, thereby providing insights into human challenges, purpose, and values in a given period. In this context, the ghost is often metaphorized, serving as a plot device or as a figure that haunts the living in stories that unfold in physical space.

Through a postsecular reading of four twenty-first-century American novels, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead, and George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, the book offers a critical approach in language, form, and landscapes to explore different aspects of haunting and re-enchantment.

This analysis reveals how contemporary American spectral fiction moves beyond traditional ghost narratives to address the spiritual and existential concerns that are particularly relevant in today's cultural landscape.

Karen Frances McCarthy holds a Doctorate in English Literature from the University of Birmingham (UK) and is an adjunct faculty member at New York University School of Professional Studies, where she lectures on the cultural and religious intersections of speculative fiction. She is the author of two books, including the creative non-fiction work Till Death Don't Us Part, and focuses on integrating academic scholarship with spectral research.