Katarzyna Łozińska, 2c About ghost stories
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction or drama that includes a ghost. The “ghost” may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic. Linked to the ghost is the idea of “hauntings”, where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. The term “ghost story” can refer to any kind of scary story, but in a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format. It is a form of supernatural fiction and is often a horror story. While ghost stories are often explicitly meant to be scary, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes, from comedy to morality tales. Ghosts often appear as sentinels or prophets of things to come. Belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in a written form.
What is a ghost? In folklore, mythology or literary fiction, a ghost (a spectre, phantom, spook) is the soul of a dead person or animal that can appear in visible form or other manifestation, to the living.
British ghost story
The “classic” ghost story arose during the Victorian period (1840-1920). It 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 was one of the greatest writers from this period and he is best known for his ghost stories. He perfected a method of story-telling which has since become known as Jamesian. The classic Jamesian tale usually includes the following elements
A setting somewhere in England, an English village, seaside town or country estate, or an ancient town in France, Denmark or Sweden, an abbey or university. (It must be a setting that is well known for the reader. It makes a story more realistic and thus more scary). The main character is often a reserved and rather naïve gentleman-scholar. (The main character must be ordinary, like people that we meet every day) The discovery of an old book or other antiquarian objects that somehow summons powers from beyond the grave. This object usually unlocks and calls down the wrath, it summons something supernatural or evil. 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!”. 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...” – “
Gothic novel
For some, gothic novels and ghost stories seem to be similar or even the same but there are significant differences. Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines fiction, horror and Romanticism. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle to Otranto. We call it Gothic because imaginative impulse was drawn from medieval buildings and ruins (gothic architecture – flourished during medieval period – it is most familiar as the architecture of the many great cathedrals, churches, castles and palaces of Europe). Gothic novel has its significant elements, such as the setting – the setting is a character in itself, the plot is usually set in a castle, an abbey, a monastery, or some other, usually religious building – place that is mysterious, frightening – or the main characters – virginal maiden: young, pure, beautiful, innocent and sensitive; older and foolish woman, hero and villain. Gothic novel originated in England in the second half of 18th century and had much success in the 19th. Most well-known novels of this genre are: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. This form or Romanticism was very popular in England and Germany.