Ghost story

Last updated
Illustration by James McBryde for M. R. James's story "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" (1904). Whistle and I'll come to you illustration.jpg
Illustration by James McBryde for M. R. James's story "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" (1904).

A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. [1] [2] The "ghost" may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic. Linked to the ghost is the idea of a "haunting", where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. [1] Ghost stories are commonly examples of ghostlore.

Contents

Colloquially, the term "ghost story" can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. It is a form of supernatural fiction and specifically of weird fiction, and is often a horror story.

While ghost stories are often explicitly meant to scare, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes, from comedy to morality tales. Ghosts often appear in the narrative as sentinels or prophets of things to come. [1]

History

Fragment of a jar with the story Khonsuemheb and the Ghost written in Hieratic, between 1292 and 1076 BC (New Kingdom of Egypt). Museo Egizio, Turin. Frammento di giara iscritta in ieratico che riporta un brano del 'Racconto del fantasma' SA64149.tif
Fragment of a jar with the story Khonsuemheb and the Ghost written in Hieratic, between 1292 and 1076 BC (New Kingdom of Egypt). Museo Egizio, Turin.
The ghost of a pirate, from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates (1903) Pyle pirates ghost.jpg
The ghost of a pirate, from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates (1903)

A widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Anthropologists link this idea to early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person (the person's spirit), most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist. [3] Belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form. [1]

The campfire story, a form of oral storytelling, often involves recounting ghost stories, or other scary stories. [4] Some of the stories are decades old, with varying versions across multiple cultures. [5] Many schools and educational institutions encourage ghost storytelling as part of literature. [6]

In 1929, five key features of the English ghost story were identified in "Some Remarks on Ghost Stories" by M. R. James. As summarized by Frank Coffman for a course in popular imaginative literature, they were: [7]

The introduction of pulp magazines in the early 1900s created new avenues for ghost stories to be published, and they also began to appear in publications such as Good Housekeeping and The New Yorker . [8]

Literature

John Dee and Edward Kelley invoking the spirit of a deceased person (engraving from the Astrology by Ebenezer Sibly, 1806) A Magician by Edward Kelly.jpg
John Dee and Edward Kelley invoking the spirit of a deceased person (engraving from the Astrology by Ebenezer Sibly, 1806)

Early examples

Ghosts in the classical world often appeared in the form of vapor or smoke, but at other times they were described as being substantial, appearing as they had been at the time of death, complete with the wounds that killed them. [9] Spirits of the dead appear in literature as early as Homer's Odyssey , which features a journey to the underworld and the hero encountering the ghosts of the dead, [1] as well as the Old Testament in which the Witch of Endor calls the spirit of the prophet Samuel. [1]

The play Mostellaria , by the Roman playwright Plautus, is the earliest known work to feature a haunted dwelling, and is sometimes translated as The Haunted House. [10] Another early account of a haunted place comes from an account by Pliny the Younger (c. 50 AD). [11] Pliny describes the haunting of a house in Athens by a ghost bound in chains, an archetype that would become familiar in later literature. [1]

Ghosts often appeared in the tragedies of the Roman writer Seneca, who would later influence the revival of tragedy on the Renaissance stage, particularly Thomas Kyd and Shakespeare. [12]

The One Thousand and One Nights , sometimes known as Arabian Nights, contains a number of ghost stories, often involving jinn (also spelled as djinn), ghouls and corpses. [13] [14] In particular, the tale of "Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad" revolves around a house haunted by jinns. [13] Other medieval Arabic literature, such as the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity , also contain ghost stories. [15]

The 11th century Japanese work The Tale of Genji contains ghost stories, and includes characters being possessed by spirits. [16]

English Renaissance theatre

"Hamlet and his father's ghost" by Henry Fuseli (1780s drawing). The ghost is wearing stylised plate armour in 17th-century style, including a morion type helmet and tassets. Depicting ghosts as wearing armour, to suggest a sense of antiquity, was common in Elizabethan theatre. Henry Fuseli rendering of Hamlet and his father's Ghost.JPG
"Hamlet and his father's ghost" by Henry Fuseli (1780s drawing). The ghost is wearing stylised plate armour in 17th-century style, including a morion type helmet and tassets. Depicting ghosts as wearing armour, to suggest a sense of antiquity, was common in Elizabethan theatre.

In the mid-16th century, the works of Seneca were rediscovered by Italian humanists, and they became the models for the revival of tragedy. Seneca's influence is particularly evident in Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's Hamlet , both of which share a revenge theme, a corpse-strewn climax, and ghosts among the cast. The ghosts in Richard III also resemble the Senecan model, while the ghost in Hamlet plays a more complex role. [1] The shade of Hamlet's murdered father in Hamlet has become one of the more recognizable ghosts in English literature. In another of Shakespeare's works, Macbeth , the murdered Banquo returns as a ghost to the dismay of the title character. [17]

In English Renaissance theatre, ghosts were often depicted in the garb of the living and even in armour. Armour, being out-of-date by the time of the Renaissance, gave the stage ghost a sense of antiquity. [18] The sheeted ghost began to gain ground on stage in the 1800s because an armoured ghost had to be moved about by complicated pulley systems or lifts, and eventually became clichéd stage elements and objects of ridicule. Ann Jones and Peter Stallybrass, in Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory, point out, "In fact, it is as laughter increasingly threatens the Ghost that he starts to be staged not in armor but in some form of 'spirit drapery'." An interesting observation by Jones and Stallybrass is that "at the historical point at which ghosts themselves become increasingly implausible, at least to an educated elite, to believe in them at all it seems to be necessary to assert their immateriality, their invisibility. [...] The drapery of ghosts must now, indeed, be as spiritual as the ghosts themselves. This is a striking departure both from the ghosts of the Renaissance stage and from the Greek and Roman theatrical ghosts upon which that stage drew. The most prominent feature of Renaissance ghosts is precisely their gross materiality. They appear to us conspicuously clothed." [18]

Border ballads

Ghosts figured prominently in traditional British ballads of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly the “Border Ballads” of the turbulent border country between England and Scotland. Ballads of this type include "The Unquiet Grave", "The Wife of Usher's Well", and "Sweet William's Ghost", which feature the recurring theme of returning dead lovers or children. In the ballad "King Henry", a particularly ravenous ghost devours the king's horse and hounds before forcing the king into bed. The king then awakens to find the ghost transformed into a beautiful woman. [19] The Flying Dutchman was a ghost ship that became the subject of many ghost stories.

Romantic era

Depiction of a woman telling a ghost story. A Ghost Story.jpg
Depiction of a woman telling a ghost story.

One of the key early appearances by ghosts was The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole in 1764, considered to be the first gothic novel. [20] However, although the ghost story shares the use of the supernatural with the Gothic novel, the two forms differ. Ghost stories, unlike Gothic fiction, usually take place in a time and location near to the audience of the story.

The modern short story emerged in Germany in the early decades of the 19th century. Kleist's "The Beggar Woman of Locarno", published in 1810, and several other works from the period lay claim to being the first ghost short stories of a modern type. E. T. A. Hoffmann's ghost stories include "The Elementary Spirit" and "The Mines of Falun". [21]

The Russian equivalent of the ghost story is the bylichka . [22] Notable examples of the genre from the 1830s include Gogol's "Viy" and Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades", although there were scores of other stories from lesser known writers, produced primarily as Christmas fiction. The Vosges mountain range is the setting for most ghost stories by the French writing team of Erckmann-Chatrian.

One of the earliest writers of ghost stories in English was Sir Walter Scott. His ghost stories, "Wandering Willie's Tale" (1824, first published as part of Redgauntlet ) and The Tapestried Chamber (1828) eschewed the "Gothic" style of writing and helped set an example for later writers in the genre.

"Golden Age of the Ghost Story"

Historian of the ghost story Jack Sullivan has noted that many literary critics argue a "Golden Age of the Ghost Story" existed between the decline of the Gothic novel in the 1830s and the start of the First World War. [23] Sullivan argues that the work of Edgar Allan Poe and Sheridan Le Fanu inaugurated this "Golden Age". [23]

Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu was one of the most influential writers of ghost stories. Le Fanu's collections, such as In a Glass Darkly (1872) and The Purcell Papers (1880), helped popularise the short story as a medium for ghost fiction. [24] Charlotte Riddell, who wrote fiction as Mrs. J. H. Riddell, created ghost stories which were noted for adept use of the haunted house theme. [25]

19th-century etching by John Leech of the Ghost of Christmas Present as depicted in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Scrooges third visitor-John Leech,1843.jpg
19th-century etching by John Leech of the Ghost of Christmas Present as depicted in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

The "classic" ghost story arose during the Victorian period, and included authors such as M. R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu, Violet Hunt, and Henry James. Classic ghost stories were influenced by the gothic fiction tradition, and contain elements of folklore and psychology. M. R. James summed up the essential elements of a ghost story as, "Malevolence and terror, the glare of evil faces, 'the stony grin of unearthly malice', pursuing forms in darkness, and 'long-drawn, distant screams', are all in place, and so is a modicum of blood, shed with deliberation and carefully husbanded ...". [26]

Famous literary apparitions from the Victorian period are the ghosts of A Christmas Carol , in which Ebenezer Scrooge is helped to see the error of his ways by the ghost of his former colleague Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come. In a precursor to A Christmas Carol Dickens published "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton". [27] Dickens also wrote "The Signal-Man", another work featuring a ghost.

Jamesian style

David Langford has described British author M. R. James as writing "the 20th century's most influential canon of ghost stories". [28] James perfected a method of story-telling which has since become known as Jamesian, which involved abandoning many of the traditional Gothic elements of his predecessors. The classic Jamesian tale usually includes the following elements:

  1. a characterful setting in an English village, seaside town or country estate; an ancient town in France, Denmark or Sweden; or a venerable abbey or university
  2. a nondescript and rather naïve gentleman-scholar as protagonist (often of a reserved nature)
  3. the discovery of an old book or other antiquarian object that somehow unlocks, calls down the wrath, or at least attracts the unwelcome attention of a supernatural menace, usually from beyond the grave

According to James, the story must "put the reader into the position of saying to himself, 'If I'm not very careful, something of this kind may happen to me!'" [29] He also perfected the technique of narrating supernatural events through implication and suggestion, letting his reader fill in the blanks, and focusing on the mundane details of his settings and characters in order to throw the horrific and bizarre elements into greater relief. He summed up his approach in his foreword to the anthology Ghosts and Marvels (Oxford, 1924): "Two ingredients most valuable in the concocting of a ghost story are, to me, the atmosphere and the nicely managed crescendo. ... Let us, then, be introduced to the actors in a placid way; let us see them going about their ordinary business, undisturbed by forebodings, pleased with their surroundings; and into this calm environment let the ominous thing put out its head, unobtrusively at first, and then more insistently, until it holds the stage."

Another aspect James considered a requisite was "that the ghost should be malevolent or odious: amiable and helpful apparitions are all very well in fairy tales or in local legends, but I have no use for them in a fictitious ghost story." [29]

Despite his suggestion in the essay "Stories I Have Tried to Write" that writers employ reticence in their work, many of James's tales depict scenes and images of savage and often disturbing violence. [30]

19th-century American writers

Influenced by British and German examples, American writers began to produce their own ghost stories. Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), based on an earlier German folktale, features a Headless Horseman. It has been adapted for film and television many times, such as Sleepy Hollow , a successful 1999 feature film. [31] Irving also wrote "The Adventure of the German Student" [21] and Edgar Allan Poe wrote some stories which contain ghosts, such as "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Morella". [21]

In the later 19th century, mainstream American writers such as Edith Wharton, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman [32] and F. Marion Crawford [33] all wrote ghost fiction. Henry James also wrote ghost stories, including "The Jolly Corner" and The Turn of the Screw . [1] The Turn of the Screw, his most famous ghost story, has appeared in a number of adaptations, notably a film, The Innocents , and an opera, Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw .

The introduction of pulp magazines in the early 1900s created new avenues for ghost stories to be published, and they also began to appear in publications such as Good Housekeeping and The New Yorker . [8]

Comedies and operas

Oscar Telgmann's opera Leo, the Royal Cadet (1885) includes "Judge's Song" about a ghost at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. [34]

Oscar Wilde's comic short story "The Canterville Ghost" (1887) has been adapted for film and television on several occasions.

In the United States, prior to and during the First World War, folklorists Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil Sharp collected ballads from the people of the Appalachian Mountains, which included ghostly themes such as "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter", "The Suffolk Miracle", "The Unquiet Grave" and "The Wife of Usher's Well". The theme of these ballads was often the return of a dead lover. These songs were variants of traditional British ballads handed down by generations of mountaineers descended from the people of the Anglo-Scottish border region. [35]

Psychological horror

In the Edwardian era, Algernon Blackwood (who combined the ghost story with nature mysticism), [23] Oliver Onions (whose ghost stories drew on psychological horror), [23] and William Hope Hodgson (whose ghost tales also contained elements of the sea story and science fiction) helped move the ghost story in new directions. [23]

Kaidan

Print by Katsushika Hokusai. Illustration for a classical Japanese kaidan story Yotsuya from the series One Hundred Tales (Hyaku monogatari). The ghost of Oiwa manifesting herself as a lantern obake. Shunkosai Hokuei Obake.jpg
Print by Katsushika Hokusai. Illustration for a classical Japanese kaidan story Yotsuya from the series One Hundred Tales (Hyaku monogatari). The ghost of Oiwa manifesting herself as a lantern obake.

Kaidan (怪談), which literally means "supernatural tale" [36] or "weird tale", [37] is a form of Japanese ghost story. [36] Kaidan entered the vernacular when a game called Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai became popular in the Edo period. The popularity of the game, as well as the acquisition of a printing press, led to the creation of a literary genre called Kaidanshu. Kaidan are not always horror stories, they can "be funny, or strange, or just telling about an odd thing that happened one time". [37]

Lafcadio Hearn published Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things in 1904 as a collection of Japanese ghost stories which was also adapted into a film. [38] The book "is seen as the first introduction of Japanese superstition to European and American audiences". [36]

Modern era (1920 onward)

Ghost Stories magazine, which contained almost nothing but ghost stories, was published from 1926 to 1932.

Beginning in the 1940s, Fritz Leiber wrote ghost tales set in modern industrial settings, such as "Smoke Ghost" (1941) and "A Bit of the Dark World" (1962). [39] Shirley Jackson made an important contribution to ghost fiction with her novel The Haunting of Hill House (1959). [1] [40]

A noted modern British writer of ghost fiction is Ramsey Campbell. [41] Susan Hill also produced The Woman in Black (1983), a ghost novel that has been adapted for stage, television and film. [2]

Noël Coward's play Blithe Spirit , later made into a 1945 film, places a more humorous slant on the phenomenon of haunting of individuals and specific locations.

Film

The Gray Ghost (1917). The Gray Ghost.jpg
The Gray Ghost (1917).

During the late 1890s the depiction of ghost and supernatural events appear in films. With the advent of motion pictures and television, screen depictions of ghosts became common, and spanned a variety of genres. The works of Shakespeare, Dickens and Wilde have all been made into cinematic versions, as well as adaptations of other playwrights and novelists. One of the well known short films was Haunted Castle directed by Georges Méliès in 1896. It is also considered as the first silent short film depicting ghost and supernatural events. [42]

In 1926 the novel Topper by Thorne Smith was published, which created the modern American ghost. When the novel was adapted into the 1937 movie Topper , it initiated a new film genre and would also influence television. [43] After the second World War, sentimental depictions of ghosts had become more popular in cinema than horror, and include the 1947 film The Ghost and Mrs. Muir , which was later adapted to television with a successful 1968–70 TV series. [20] Genuine psychological horror films from this period include 1944's The Uninvited , and 1945's Dead of Night . The film Blithe Spirit , based on a play by Noël Coward, was also produced in this period. [44] 1963 saw one of the first major adaptations of a ghost novel, The Haunting , based on the well known novel The Haunting of Hill House . [20]

The 1970s saw screen depictions of ghosts diverge into distinct genres of the romantic and horror. A common theme in the romantic genre from this period is the ghost as a benign guide or messenger, often with unfinished business, such as 1989's Field of Dreams , the 1990 film Ghost , and the 1993 comedy Heart and Souls . [45] In the horror genre, 1980's The Fog , and the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films from the 1980s and 1990s are notable examples of the trend for the merging of ghost stories with scenes of physical violence. [20] The 1990s saw a return to classic "gothic" ghosts, whose dangers were more psychological than physical. Examples of films are comedy and mystery from this period include 1984's Ghostbusters , 1999's The Sixth Sense and The Others . The 1990s also saw a lighthearted adaptation of the children's character Casper the Friendly Ghost , originally popular in cartoon form in the 1950s and early 1960s, in the feature film Casper .

Asian cinema has also produced horror films about ghosts, such as the 1998 Japanese film Ringu (remade in the US as The Ring in 2002), and the Pang brothers' 2002 film The Eye . [46] Indian ghost movies are popular not just in India, but in the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and other parts of the world. Some Indian ghost movies such as the comedy / horror film Manichitrathazhu have been commercial successes, dubbed into several languages. [47] Generally the films are based on the experiences of modern people who are unexpectedly exposed to ghosts, and usually draw on traditional Indian literature or folklore. In some cases the Indian films are remakes of western films, such as Anjaane , based on Alejandro Amenábar's ghost story The Others . [48]

Television

In fictional television programming, ghosts have been explored in series such as Ghost Whisperer , Medium , Supernatural , the television series adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) . In animated fictional television programming, ghosts have served as the central element in series such as Casper the Friendly Ghost , Danny Phantom , and Scooby-Doo , as well as minor roles in various other television shows.[ which? ]

Popularized in part by the 1984 comedy franchise Ghostbusters , ghost hunting has been popularized as a hobby wherein reportedly haunted places are explored. The ghost hunting theme has been featured in paranormal reality television series, such as A Haunting , Ghost Adventures , Ghost Hunters , Ghost Hunters International , Ghost Lab , and Most Haunted . It is also represented in children's television by such programs as The Ghost Hunter based on the book series of the same name and Ghost Trackers . [49]

The Indian television series Aahat featured ghost and supernatural stories written by B. P. Singh. It was first aired on 5 October 1995 and ran for more than a decade, ending on 25 November 2010 with more than 450 episodes. [50]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghost</span> Supernatural being originating in folklore

In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, haint, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gothic fiction</span> Romance, horror and death literary genre

Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name refers to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of early Gothic novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horror fiction</span> Genre of fiction

Horror is a genre of fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten or scare. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which are in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheridan Le Fanu</span> Irish Gothic and mystery writer (1814–1873)

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales, mystery novels, and horror fiction. He was a leading ghost story writer of his time, central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M. R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are the locked-room mystery Uncle Silas, the lesbian vampire novella Carmilla, and the historical novel The House by the Churchyard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. R. James</span> British author and scholar (1862–1936)

Montague Rhodes James was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1913–1915).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algernon Blackwood</span> English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer

Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".

<i>The Turn of the Screw</i> 1898 novella by Henry James

The Turn of the Screw is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in Collier's Weekly. In October 1898, it was collected in The Two Magics, published by Macmillan in New York City and Heinemann in London. The novella follows a governess who, caring for two children at a remote country house, becomes convinced that they are haunted. The Turn of the Screw is considered a work of both Gothic and horror fiction.

Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets traditional antagonists of supernatural horror fiction, such as ghosts, vampires, and werewolves. Writers on the subject of weird fiction, such as China Miéville, sometimes use "the tentacle" to represent this type of writing. The tentacle is a limb-type absent from most of the monsters of European folklore and gothic fiction, but often attached to the monstrous creatures created by weird fiction writers, such as William Hope Hodgson, M. R. James, Clark Ashton Smith, and H. P. Lovecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Onions</span> English writer (1873–1961)

George Oliver Onions, who published under the name Oliver Onions, was an English writer of short stories and novels. He wrote in various genres, but is perhaps best remembered for his ghost stories, notably the collection Widdershins and the widely anthologized novella "The Beckoning Fair One". He was married to the novelist Berta Ruck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantasy literature</span> Literature set in an imaginary universe

Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults.

Southern Ontario Gothic is a subgenre of the Gothic novel genre and a feature of Canadian literature that comes from Southern Ontario. This region includes Toronto, Southern Ontario's major industrial cities, and the surrounding countryside. While the genre may also feature other areas of Ontario, Canada, and the world as narrative locales, this region provides the core settings.

Supernatural fiction or supernaturalist fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that exploits or is centered on supernatural themes, often contradicting naturalist assumptions of the real world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese horror</span> Horror fiction with Japanese themes

Japanese horror is horror fiction derived from popular culture in Japan, generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horror. Japanese horror tends to focus on psychological horror, tension building (suspense), and the supernatural, particularly involving ghosts (yūrei) and poltergeists. Other Japanese horror fiction contains themes of folk religion such as possession, exorcism, shamanism, precognition, and yōkai. Media in which the genre of Japanese horror fiction can be found include artwork, theater, literature, film, anime and video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of fantasy</span>

Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were an element of literature from its beginning. The modern genre is distinguished from tales and folklore which contain fantastic elements, first by the acknowledged fictitious nature of the work, and second by the naming of an author. Works in which the marvels were not necessarily believed, or only half-believed, such as the European romances of chivalry and the tales of the Arabian Nights, slowly evolved into works with such traits. Authors like George MacDonald (1824–1905) created the first explicitly fantastic works.

Herbert Russell Wakefield was an English short-story writer, novelist, publisher, and civil servant chiefly remembered today for his ghost stories.

<i>Yotsuya Kaidan</i> Japanese ghost story of betrayal

Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談), the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today. Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku IV as a kabuki play, the original title was Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan. It is now generally shortened, and loosely translates as Ghost Story of Yotsuya.

Everett Franklin Bleiler was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called "the foundation of modern SF bibliography". Among his other scholarly works are two Hugo Award–nominated volumes concerning early science fiction—Science-Fiction: The Early Years and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years—and the massive Guide to Supernatural Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supernatural horror film</span> Film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film

Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common themes in the genre are the afterlife, the Devil, and demonic possession. Not all supernatural horror films focus on religion, and they can have "more vivid and gruesome violence".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghosts in English-speaking cultures</span>

There is widespread belief in ghosts in English-speaking cultures, where ghosts are manifestations of the spirits of the dead. The beliefs may date back to animism or ancestor worship before Christianization. The concept is a perennial theme in the literature and arts of English-speaking countries.

Irish Gothic literature developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of the writers were Anglo-Irish. The period from 1691 to 1800 was marked by the dominance of the Protestant Ascendancy, Anglo-Irish families of the Church of Ireland who controlled most of the land. The Irish Parliament, which was almost exclusively Protestant in composition, passed the Penal Laws, effectively disenfranchising the Catholic majority both politically and economically. This began to change with the Acts of Union 1800 and the concomitant abolition of the Irish Parliament. Following a vigorous campaign led by Irish lawyer Daniel O'Connell, Westminster passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 removing most of the disabilities imposed upon Catholics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Darrell Schweitzer (2005). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Westport, CT: Greenwood. pp. 338–340.
  2. 1 2 "Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN   9780198614531 (p. 404-5).
  3. J. Gordon Melton (1996). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology . Gale Group. ISBN   978-0-8103-5487-6.
  4. Vassler, Bill. "Campfire Stories: The Art Of The Tale". Westside Toastmasters. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  5. Gordon, Lauren (16 July 2014). "9 Scary Campfire Stories That'll Make You Drop Your S'mores". ABC News. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. Carey, Joanna (17 February 2004). "Ghouls for schools". The Guardian . Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  7. Coffman, Frank. "Excerpts From "Some Remarks on Ghost Stories"". Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. 1 2 Carpenter, Lynette; Kolmar, Wendy K. Ghost Stories by British and American Women: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography. Taylor & Francis. pp. xxii.
  9. Finucane, R. C. (1984). Appearances of the Dead: A Cultural History of Ghosts. Prometheus Books. pp. 4, 16. ISBN   978-0879752385.
  10. D. Felton (2010). Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity. University of Texas Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN   978-0-292-78924-1.
  11. Jaehnig, K.C. (1999-03-11). "Classical ghost stories". Southern Illinois University. Archived from the original on September 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
  12. Braund, Susanna (28 March 2013). "Haunted by Horror: The Ghost of Seneca in Renaissance Drama". In Buckley, Emma; Dinter, Martin T. (eds.). A Companion to the Neronian Age. pp. 425–443. doi:10.1002/9781118316771.ch24. ISBN   9781118316771.
  13. 1 2 Yuriko Yamanaka, Tetsuo Nishio (2006). The Arabian Nights and Orientalism: Perspectives from East & West . I.B. Tauris. pp.  83–84. ISBN   978-1-85043-768-0.
  14. Hamori, Andras (1971). "An Allegory from the Arabian Nights: The City of Brass". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies . 34 (1): 9–19 [10]. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00141540. S2CID   161610007.
  15. Ian Richard Netton (1991). From the introduction of Muslim Neoplatonists: An Introduction to the Thought of the Brethren of Purity. Edinburgh University Press. p. 59. ISBN   978-0-7486-0251-3.
  16. Smith, Tom (August 6, 2014). "Hyper Japan hails digital-age 'Genji' opera". The Japan Times . Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  17. Graves, Zachary (2011). Ghosts the complete guide to the supernatural. Eastbourne, UK: Canary Press. p. 182. ISBN   9781908698124.
  18. 1 2 Jones, Ann Rosalind; Stallybrass, Peter (2000). Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory. Cambridge University Press. p. 248. ISBN   978-0521786638 . Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  19. Helen Child Sargent; George Lyman Kittredge (1904). English and Scottish Popular Ballads edited from the Collection by Francis James Child. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Newman, Kim, ed. (1996). BFI Companion to Horror. London: Cassell. p. 135. ISBN   978-0304332168.
  21. 1 2 3 Andrew Barger, "Introduction:All Ghosts are Grey" in Barger (editor),The Best Ghost Stories 1800–1849: A Classic Ghost Anthology. Bottletree Books LLC, 2011. ISBN   1-933747-33-1, (pp. 7-12)
  22. Pamela Davidson. Russian Literature and Its Demons. Berghahn Books, 2000. ISBN   9781571817587. Page 59.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Jack Sullivan (1986). "Golden Age of the Ghost Story" in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Viking Press. pp.  174–6. ISBN   978-0-670-80902-8.
  24. J. L. Campbell Sr. (1985). "J. S. Le Fanu". In E. F. Bleiler (ed.). Supernatural Fiction Writers. New York: Scribner's. p. 88. ISBN   978-0-684-17808-0.
  25. J. L. Campbell Sr., "Mrs. J. H. Riddell", in Bleiler, ed., Supernatural Fiction Writers.
  26. James, M. R. (December 1929). Some Remarks on Ghost Stories. The Bookman. pp. 55–56.
  27. Barger, Andrew (2015). Middle Unearthed: The Best Fantasy Short Stories 1800-1849. Bottletree Books LLC. p. 13. ISBN   978-1-933747-53-8.
  28. David Langford, "James, Montague Rhodes", in David Pringle, ed., St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers (London: St. James Press, 1998). ISBN   1-55862-206-3
  29. 1 2 James, M.R., "Preface to More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary". In Joshi, S.T., ed. (2005). Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories: The Complete Ghost Stories of M.R. James, Volume 1, pt. 217. Penguin Books.
  30. Punter, David (2003). "The modern gothic". The literature of terror: a history of Gothic fictions from 1765 to the present day. London: Longman. p. 86. ISBN   978-0582290556. Although James conjures up strange beasts and supernatural manifestations, the shock effect of his stories is usually strongest when he is dealing in physical mutilation and abnormality
  31. Sleepy Hollow at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  32. Benjamin Fisher, "Transitions from Victorian to Modern: The Supernatural Stories of Mary Wilkins Freeman and Edith Wharton" in: Robillard, Douglas, ed. American Supernatural Fiction: From Edith Wharton to the Weird Tales Writers. New York: Garland, 1996. (pp. 3-42). ISBN   0-8153-1735-2
  33. Douglas Robillard, "The Wandering Ghosts of F. Marion Crawford" in: Robillard, Douglas, ed. American Supernatural Fiction: From Edith Wharton to the Weird Tales Writers. New York: Garland, 1996. (pp. 43-58). ISBN   0-8153-1735-2
  34. Cameron, George Frederick (1889). Leo, the Royal cadet. [Kingston, Ont.? : s.n. ISBN   9780665065514.
  35. Campbell, Olive Dame; Sharp, Cecil James (1917). English Folk Songs From The Southern Appalachians. New York: G. Putnam's Sons.
  36. 1 2 3 Foutz, Scott. "Kaidan: Traditional Japanese Ghost Tales and Japanese Horror Film". Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  37. 1 2 "What are Kaidan". Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai. 2010-08-18. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  38. "Kwaidan", by Brian Stableford, in Frank N. Magill, ed., Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Vol 2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc., 1983, ISBN   0-89356-450-8 (pp. 859-860).
  39. Landon, Brooks (1983). "The Short fiction of Leiber". In Magill, Frank N. (ed.). Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Vol 4. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc. pp. 1611–1615. ISBN   978-0-89356-450-6.
  40. Sullivan, Jack. "Shirley Jackson". In Bleiler (ed.). Supernatural Fiction Writers. pp. 1031–1036.
  41. Joshi, S. T. (2001). Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction . Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp.  53–63. ISBN   978-0-85323-765-5.
  42. Babbis, Maurice. "The True Origin of the Horror Film". Emerson.edu. Emerson College. Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  43. FILM; A Fanciful, Haunting Tale of Influence - The New York Times
  44. "Blithe Spirit". British film institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  45. Chanko, Kenneth M. (August 8, 1993). "FILM; When It Comes to the Hereafter, Romance and Sentiment Rule". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  46. Rafferty, Terence (June 8, 2003). "Why Asian Ghost Stories Are the Best". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  47. Mohamed, Shoaib (September 24, 2007). "The Bus Conductor Turned Superstar Who Took the Right Bus to Demi". Behindwoods. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  48. "Anjaane – The Unknown". Indiafm.com. December 30, 2005. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  49. Williams, Karen (2010). "The Liveness of Ghosts: Haunting and Reality TV". In Blanco, María del Pilar; Peeren, Esther (eds.). Popular ghosts : the haunted spaces of everyday culture. New York: Continuum. pp. 149–160. ISBN   9781441163691.
  50. "Hello darkness, my old friend..." Indian Express. Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. 3 November 1997. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2010.

Further reading