This book argues that theology is central to an understanding of the literary ghost story. This book, however, uses theological ideas from St Augustine through to modern theologians to identify a theological journey taken by the protagonists of such stories, and charts each stage of this journey through the short stories it examines.
Zoë Lehmann Imfeld is Lecturer in Modern English Literature at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She is co-editor of the volume Theology and Literature after Postmodernity.
Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- 1. ‘Strangely mistaking death for life’: Arthur Machen.- 2. ‘What is this that I have done?’: M.R. James.- 3. ‘These devils have made quite a saint of you.’: Sheridan Le Fanu.- 4. ‘He’s there from the moment he knows somebody else is.’: Haunted by Paralysis in the Stories of Henry James.- Conclusion.- Bibliography.- Index.