Spirits and Spirituality in Victorian Fiction

by Cadwallader, Jen

• ISBN13: 9781137559920
• ISBN10: 1137559926
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-01-22
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
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Summary

Spirits and Spirituality in Victorian Fiction argues that supernatural encounters in nineteenth-century fiction show Victorians trying to achieve greater spiritual agency by adapting scientific theories to traditional Christianity. The increasing presence of ghosts across the nineteenth century – in fiction, newspaper accounts, séances, and magic shows – thus highlights a significant countercurrent to the general decline of faith during the period. Through examining ghost encounters in the fiction of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Dickens, Margaret Oliphant, Rhoda Broughton, E. Nesbit, Rudyard Kipling, and others, this book demonstrates how the supernatural served as a site where a range of stances toward spirituality could be tested: from ambivalence toward both scientific and religious epistemologies to fascinating instances of spiritual evolution. Not only do fictional ghosts suggest that belief persisted despite an intellectual climate that often associated spirituality with credulity, but they also illustrate the way faith adapted to scientific innovation and evolved to encompass new theories regarding the mind.

Author Biography

Jen Cadwallader is Associate Professor of English at Randolph-Macon College, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Framing the Ghost Story
1. Physiology, Pharmacology, and the Ghost Stories of J. S. Le Fanu
2. Dickens's Ghosts and the Christmas Spirit
3. The Anatomy of Desire: Madness, Mesmerism, and the Specters of Female Sexuality
4. Mourning the Dead and the Rise of the New Faith
Coda: Cecilia De Noël a nd the Triumph of Experience