Uses of the trope of the ghost at the turn of the nineteenth century

Resumo

Gothic literature has been interpreted as a reaction to the rationalism and scepticism of the Enlightenment, and the Victorians' interest in the supernatural could be considered a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the social and cultural changes fostered by it. The incipient serious study of spiritualism and the emergence and development of what later came to be called psychical research favoured the popularity of real and fictional ghost stories in the second half of the nineteenth century. At the turn of the century, ghost stories continued to proliferate but we have detected a humorous and ironic touch in many of them. The participants in this round table will debate changes in tone and style in ghost stories written at the turn of the century both in England and in America. We shall also focus on short stories written by men and by women so as to see if the different tone employed by the authors -humour and irony seldom appearing in ghost stories written by women- reflect the distinct uses of the trope of the ghost in their narratives.