CHAPTER 7 the Dead

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

CHAPTER 7 the Dead CHAPTER 7 The Dead. 259. 1. Introduction In this chapter three related concepts are d.is cussed - life after death, 'reveriants', and 'poltergeists'. The women of the Ga.tley study group all hold conventional religious views and are churchgoers (a sub- stantial majority are Methodists, and smaller numbers are Roman Catholics and Jews). It is hardly surprising, therefore, to find that seventy per- cent of them believe that after death we qill "meet again" those we loved in life. When the results of the survey of belief were calculated, how- ever, it as rather more unexpected to find. that significant numbers (sixty percent) believe that dead relatives can return, or/and. that houses can be haunted by poltergeists (forty-one percent). The nature of those beliefs dll be explored below, principally through an examination of the memorates and. personal legends the women tell on these subjects. Memorates are particularly valuable in the exploration of beliefs because they are the genre of narrative used in this context to demonstrate the speaker's understanding of the subject matter, and to explain, illus- trate and justify points of view. Memorates and personal legends may also, of course, be told even in a serious context for social reasons - because storytelling is fun, because it facilitates ease and friendliness in social gatherings, because it is an outlet for artistic self-expression. Even in these stories, however, in this context cultural belief patterns lie close to the surface. Memorates, for example, transmute raw experience into narrative - a personal and private happening becomes, in a sense, public property, shaped. both by and for public opinion. The language of memorates will therefore reveal cultural patterns and the experience itself will be shaped. by cultural expectations. So, if raw experience is trans- muted into narrative, and in so doing a report of a visual hallucination becomes a story about the returning dead, then the patterns of action 260. accorded to the dead in the story will not be idiosyncratic invention but those accorded to the dead in the narrator' s community. Personal legend, of course, has already been transformed into a culturally acceptable product - if it had. not been, it would not have continued to be transmitted. In this and. the foflowing two chapters therefore the texts of memorates and personal legends told by the study group will be examined, as a direct and relevant way of approaching their beliefs. The emphasis will be pre- dominantly textual, and will examine belief as text • Four points perhaps need stressing and reiterating. First, these texts were collected in the context of discussions of belief. A majority of them were given as direct responses to ques-Lions; a minority, though not so immediately question- orientated, were obviously considered both helpful and relevant in the discussion. Secondly, none of these narratives was requested: all were spontaneously volunteered. One may therefore assume that they were designed to be topic-related rather than to display the narrator's skill or familiarity with 'ghost stories' as a genre. Thirdly, they are pre- dominantly memorates. None of them, so far as I am aware, is a traditional legend. They are therefore less affected by literary and historical supernatural stereotypes and more influenced by the concepts current in the teller's and hearer's community. Fourthly, the discourse surrounding the narratives will also be analysed so that texts may be set in context. If non-narrative and narrative accord to present a single, cohesive account of belief patterns, then together they offer strong evidence for the accuracy of that account. Any discussion of the spirits of the dead and their possible in- fluence on, or activity in,the world of the living must be seen in the context of the study group's ideas about life after death. During field- work the cjuestion used as an initial general introduction to the topic of the dead was a composite one: "Do you think that we might meet the dead 261. again in another world, or is it possible that they may return in this one?" Most respondents took up the latter part of the question, ignoring the first or implying an answer to it through their discussion 0±' the second part. As a consequence there are only thirty-one direct replies on which to base a description of their views about life after death. Of the thirty-one women who answer, twenty-two express some measure of belief, four are not sure, and. five express convinced disbelief. The rhetoric of both negative and affirmative answers is very consistent, revealing that these are matters quite frequently discussed among women of this age and class • The five negative answers are all couched in terms of an analogy with plant and animal life: (a) "I have a theory that you're put on this earth for so long, and that's your span of life. It's like a flower. A flower dies, another one doesn't grow in its place: you've got to plant something else, haven' t you? I don' t believe in reincarnation or meeting the dead." (Paula) (b) "No, as far s I'm concerned, once you're dead, you're dead. Look at the animals for that." (Rita) (c) "I think our bodies die like the plants and flowers do." (Phyllis) Others comment on the lack of evidence or the implausibility of the idea: (d) "No', Because nobody's come back, have they? I think once you've gone, you've gone. That's it. That's the end of it." (Evelyn) (e) "No, because you must go back thousands of years for things like that, mustn't you? Well, I mean if people are going to come back to me or somebody for all those years, I don't see how it can be. That's my opinion, anyhow, and I think once you're dead. that' s the end of you." (Gwen) The recurring linguistic pattern in these replies is the "once you're dead, you're dead" formula and its variants. The 'don't knows' in no case give that answer as an easy or evasive one. All the answers show that long and. careful consideration has been given but no conclusion reached. Geraldine's answer below epitomises the 262. attitude and its customary expression: (f) "Well, that is something I've pondered. on and. I don'-b know. I think, yes - but I don't know if there's something. We'll have to wait and see." Just as the "once you're dead you're dead" maxim recurs as a theme in negative answers, so the "We'll have to wait and see" formula dominates the 'don't knows', Affirmative answers, being more common, show greater variety of form, but once again there is an underlying logic common to all, indicative of oft-repeated argument. In this case, two formulae pattern the replies: (g) "Faith is a great thing." (h) "It would be very disappointing to go through life and not have a feeling that there is something there." Basically, then, the affirmative answers are based on the assumption of life's futility without the notion of an afterlife. After that, the answers take the form of either looking for scriptural evidence or of puzzling out the nature of a future life and the form in which we dll "meet again". Though specific response to the first part of the initiating question ("Do you think that we might meet the dead again in another world, or is it possible that they might return in this one?") is limited, and hence there is little direct discussion of life after death, it is impossible to understand answers to the second part of the question except in the context of this belief. The attitude which informs their philosophy is: (i) I think they're here. I don't believe that there's a deadline, and above, that's Heaven: and below, that' s Farth underneath it, I don' t believe that - [G.B.: They have to be around us somewhere?] YesL That's why you suddenly sense a presence, isn't it?" (Mary) It is n the context of this sort of world view that women say, "the dead never leave me" and expect to be understood at both metaphorical and literal level • It is in this climate too that Dorothy' s poignant little 263. statement below is made: (j) "So many - I'm speaking about ddows now - find comfort. They say, 'My husband is walking beside me.' 'It's a very good. thing to have', I say, 'what a help it must be.' 'But,' I've said, 'I've tried. I've tried - I don't say to contact him - but - - - to feel he's around. But, no. No.'" The world of the dead is a protective and genial one as the women' s faith paints it. The concept of life after death reinforces the notion of the creation' s knowability and renders it safe, and these are very important functions of supernatural belief in the Gatley women's worldview.1 It is in this context that the d.isparity between belief in 'polter- geists' and belief in 'revenants' has to be considered. During fieldwork the intention was to follow up clues to belief which the women themselves let fall rather than to initiate discussion along preplanned lines. Thus the data reveals the two poles of belief extant in the community rather than a complete and comprehensive pattern. At one pole, there is the collection of malevolent phenomena for which the shorthand term 'polter-.
Recommended publications
  • “Supernatural” Beginnings in North American Folklore: the Vanishing Hitchhiker and L
    “Supernatural” Beginnings in North American Folklore: The Vanishing Hitchhiker and L... Page 1 of 6 University of Missouri A Journal of Undergraduate Writing “Supernatural” Beginnings in North American Folklore: The Vanishing Hitchhiker and La Llorona David J. Shewmaker Rock music blares from the speakers of a car as it drives down a dark wooded road. The young man driving is speaking to his girlfriend on the phone explaining that he can’t make it tonight because it’s late and he has to work in the morning. Just when he hangs up, a beautiful woman in a flowing white dress appears on the side of the road. She stands staring at the car as he slows to a stop. He asks if she needs a ride to which she mysteriously responds, “Take me home?” He opens the passenger door and she gets in. As they drive, he takes notice of her skimpy, white attire. “Coming from a Halloween party or something?” Then, looking from her burgeoning cleavage to her morosely wandering eyes he says, “You know, a girl like you really shouldn’t be alone out here.” She responds by lifting her dress slowly over her knee “I’m with you,” she says. “Will you come home with me?” Excitedly accepting, he speeds off arriving at an abandoned house some time later. He takes a look at the boarded up windows and dilapidated porch. “Come on, you don’t live here . .” he says. She looks at the house longingly. “I can never go home.” “What are you talking about? Nobody even lives here,” he says staring at the house.
    [Show full text]
  • (2011), I Found a Relationship Between a Local “Vanishing Hitchhiker” Legend and a Murder That Took Place Near Owego, New York About 180 Years Ago
    THE WHITE LADY O F DEVIL ’S ELBOW ELI za BETH TU C KER While doing research for my book Haunted Southern Tier (2011), I found a relationship between a local “Vanishing Hitchhiker” legend and a murder that took place near Owego, New York about 180 years ago. This legend, “The White Lady of Devil’s Elbow,” raises an interesting question. To what extent can speculation about a violent death that happened many years ago influence the development of a local legend that belongs to a migratory legend pattern? This essay will explore the development of “The White Lady of Devil’s Elbow” from the early 1900s to the present, examining legend texts and reports of “White Lady” pranks played by teenagers. It will also delve into the White Lady’s symbolic meaning, in an effort to explain why she has been important to young people in upstate New York for many years. Near Owego, New York on Route 17C, some people who have driven past a hill called Devil’s Elbow have claimed to have startling experiences. Legends about these experiences describe a young woman wearing a long white dress. Narrators who learned her story in the early twentieth century have described her as a young Victorian lady carrying calling cards who travels in a horse-drawn carriage. In the 1980s, 1990s, and early twenty-first century, adolescent and young adult narrators have described her as a prom queen or a bride. Before vanishing, she asks the driver to stop at the bottom of Devil’s Elbow Hill. When the driver goes to a nearby house to ask about the young woman, he learns that she died in an accident on the hill many years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • The Vanishing Hitchhiker” in Rumorfolk Database
    Rumours and contemporary legends today: “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” in RumorFolk database Carme Oriol Carazo & Emili Samper Prunera Rovira i Virgili University [email protected] / [email protected] Abstract Although rumours and contemporary legends are widely present in our daily conversations, they can often be difficult to collect through interviews because informants can find it difficult to understand clearly what it is we want them to tell us. When collecting such materials, it is therefore important to use strategies that assist us in the task of identifying rumours and legends. Once the materials have been collected, it is likewise important to ensure that they are kept under the best possible conditions so that they can be easily consulted during the subsequent analysis phase. Given these challenges, the present paper describes strategies that are used to collect rumours and contemporary legends in the research conducted at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It explains how the information obtained during research is organised and introduced into the special “RumorFolk” database that has recently been created at the Folklore Archive of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and concludes by demonstrating how the entire process functions through the analysis of the various versions of one of the legends contained in the database: “The Vanishing Hitchhiker”. Keywords rumour; contemporary legend; database; RumorFolk; The Vanishing Hitchhiker Estudis de Literatura Oral Popular, núm. 5, 2016, 71–83 | DOI: 10.17345/elop201671-83 ISSN: 2014-7996 | http://revistes.urv.cat/index.php/elop Carme Oriol Carazo & Emili Samper Prunera Resum Tot i que els rumors i les llegendes contemporànies estan molt presents en les nostres converses del dia a dia, sovint és difícil recollir-les a través de la tècnica de l’entrevista, ja que als informants els pot costar identificar clarament el que volem que ens expliquin.
    [Show full text]
  • A Haunted Genre: a Study of Ghost Hunting Reality Television
    Eastern Illinois University The Keep Undergraduate Honors Theses Honors College 2018 A Haunted Genre: A Study of Ghost Hunting Reality Television Abigail L. Carlin Follow this and additional works at: https://thekeep.eiu.edu/honors_theses Part of the Television Commons A Haunted Genre: A Study of Ghost Hunting Reality Television (TITLE) BY Abigail L. Carlin UNDERGRADUATE THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF UNDERGRADUATE DEPARTMENTAL HONORS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, ALONG WITH THE HONORS COLLEGE, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 2018 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS UNDERGRADUATE THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THE THESIS REQUIREMENT FOR UNDERGRADUATE DEPARTMENTAL HONORS DATE 'fHESISADVISOR DATE H6NORS COORDINATOR Carlin 2 Introduction to Thesis In a recent interview on CONAN, the Chicago comedian Kyle Kinane shared his opinion regarding the relationship between white privilege and the existence of ghosts. Kinane joked that he thinks "the only people who believe in poltergeists are people who don't have any real-world problems," and following that statement, he states that believing in ghosts and engaging in paranormal culture is stereotypically "white" (0:39-1:20). The parallel drawn between daily life andthe topic of race is referredto as privilege, and Kinane insinuates that white privilege leaves an individual with a significant amount of free time and resources to engage in seemingly illogical beliefs, such as ghosts; however, ghost hunting reality television lends itself to more thanboredom, as it is a new and exciting genre specific to the 21st century. In this thesis, ghost hunting reality television is explored and recognized as a cultural artifact. Born from the combination of secular methodology, religion, and technology, an unlikely and obscure genre explodes from obscurity to popular culture to such a degree that tier one celebrities, such as Post Malone, guest star on longstanding ghost hunting reality show Ghost Adventures (2008-present).
    [Show full text]
  • Linger: Searching for Ghostly Justice in American History]
    [Linger: Searching for Ghostly Justice in American History] A Senior Honors Thesis for the Program in American Studies Justine Johanna Bowe Tufts University 2012 [contents] [03]Abstract [04]Introduction: Context and Theory [13]A New Birth of Freedom: Lost Histories and Histories of Loss [15] Ghosts of Gettysburg [20] Lincoln, Spiritual Medium [29] Birth through Death [35] Reconstructed Violence [39] Lynch Law [44]The Indian Burial Ground [50] The Great Permanent Problem [54] The Vanishing Race [60] Zitkala-Ša and Assimilation [66] Resistance and the Ghost Dance [71]Conclusion: The Haunting of The Myrtles Plantation [79]Chloe: “The Space Where It Was, and a Place like Home” ii [Introduction] Context and Theory Whether or not we believe in ghosts, we may nevertheless be forced to deal with them. Peter Buse and Andrew Scott, Ghosts: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, History, p. 2 You know the stories: the building constructed above an Indian burial ground plagued by desecrated spirits, the historic plantation, preserved yet spiritually unrested because of the horrors it knows, soldiers haunting formerly bloodied battlefields who might never know peace. Their lingering has meaning: the ghost collapses time and history into a traversable, nearly tangible, fantastical continuum that begs exploration. The ghost is an entity capable of moving through life and death, reality and fantasy, past and present, providing a fragmented yet panoramic version of how things happened. Precisely because ghosts have this mobility, they should be considered an important part of American history and history making. Their sometimes-invisible though eerily tangible presence in life and literature beckons inquiry into the more repressed and obscure facets of social and historical life, which are difficult to discuss and impossible to understand without this unique flexibility.
    [Show full text]
  • Fabio Camilletti Melissa, O La Realtà Dei Fantasmi
    323 Caietele Echinox, vol. 35, 2018: Neo-Gothic – Hybridizations of the Imaginary Fabio Camilletti Melissa, o la realtà dei fantasmi Melissa, or the reality of phantasms I pionieri si divertivano a raccontarsi Abstract: Whereas horror and neogothic storie di paura. La notte capitava che fiction often coincide with the literary or si sedessero nella capanna di uno di cinematographic re-elaboration of folkloric loro o intorno a un fuoco e vedevano beliefs, Melissa’s case – a typical urban legend, chi era più bravo a spaventare gli altri. possessing, nonetheless, a quite peculiar origin: Alcuni ragazzi e ragazze della mia the first testimonies of ‘Melissa’ are actually città fanno la stessa cosa ancora oggi. not to be found in local newspapers, nor even Si ritrovano a casa di qualcuno, spen- in the bush advertising coming from ‘a friend gono le luci e mangiano popcorn, e si of a friend’, but in the works published by spaventano a morte l’uno con l’altro. the neogothic writer Danilo Arona since the La gente si è raccontata storie di paura mid-2000s – inverted the process : from the per migliaia di anni, perché alla mag- parole of the written page, a literary creation gior parte di noi piace essere spaventati had re-entered the langue of shared belief. This in quel modo. E dato che non c’è alcun pericolo, pensiamo che sia divertente. article analyzes the genesis and development Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories to Tell of Melissa’s legend: as a variant of the ubiqui- in the Dark tous urban legend of the ‘Phantom Hitch-hiker’, Melissa corresponds to a turn of the screw in Non ho mai detto che siano possibili, the hypermodern relationship between Gothic ho solo detto che sono veri.
    [Show full text]
  • Alas, Poor Ghost!
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 1999 Alas, Poor Ghost! Gillian Bennett Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Cultural History Commons Recommended Citation Bennett, G. (1999). Alas, poor ghost!: Traditions of belief in story and discourse. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Alas, Poor Ghost!” Traditions of Belief in Story and Discourse “Alas, Poor Ghost!” Traditions of Belief in Story and Discourse by Gillian Bennett New, Expanded, and Extensively Revised Edition of Traditions of Belief: Women and the Supernatural Utah State University Press Logan, Utah Copyright © 1999 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 Typography by WolfPack Text design by Chantze Kin Cover Design by Barbara Yale-Read Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bennett, Gillian. Alas, poor ghost! : traditions of belief in story and discourse / by Gillian Bennett. p. cm. New, expanded, and extensively rev. ed. of Traditions of belief, 1987. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87421-277-4 (pbk.) ISBN 0-87421-278-2 (cloth) 1. Folklore—Great Britain. 2. Occultism—Great Britain. 3. Ghosts—Great Britain. 4. Women—Great Britain—Folklore. I. Traditions of belief. II. Title. GR141 .B55 1999 398’.0941—dc21 99-6558 CIP In Memoriam Frederick George Lawley, 5 September 1916–26 March 1991 Contents Introduction 1 Background 1 The Structure of This Book 6 Chapter 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Vanishing Hitchhiker in Shillong Khasi Belief Narratives and Violence Against Women
    Margaret Lyngdoh University of Tartu, Estonia The Vanishing Hitchhiker in Shillong Khasi Belief Narratives and Violence Against Women This article on the vanishing hitchhiker theme explores how an international narrative has generated a locally constructed set of orally transmitted narra- tives. The narratives derive from the framework of traditional belief systems among the Khasi community in northeastern India and incorporate within them Western conceptions of hauntings and beliefs about the restless dead. The article also attempts to examine how this narrative critiques paradigm shifts in the socioeconomic structures that are dependent on government pol- icies and infrastructural development. Alongside this analysis, the article fur- ther explores how the urban legend is supported by the living Khasic system of belief and social reality. keywords: vanishing hitchhiker—belief narratives—matrilineal society— urban legends—restless dead Asian Ethnology Volume 71, Number 2 • 2012, 207–224 © Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture On 6 September 2002, a twenty-three-year-old pregnant woman was killed by her husband; on 8 January 2008 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.1 Soon afterwards, the story of a young woman hailing taxis, and then vanishing mysteriously from them, began to make the rounds in Shillong. his study of the vanishing hitchhiker theme, paradoxically set in a country Twhere hitchhiking is virtually unknown, will try to demonstrate how this popular international legend has generated a locally constructed set of metafolk- lore that derives from the framework of traditional Khasi beliefs. This framework of beliefs incorporates within it the predominately Western conceptions of how hauntings should be (Carrol 2006; Davies 2007; Finucane 1982; Jones 1968).
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Ethnography of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana with Ruminations on Hauntology
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2012 A critical ethnography of The yM rtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana with ruminations on hauntology Holley Ann Vaughn Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Vaughn, Holley Ann, "A critical ethnography of The yM rtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana with ruminations on hauntology" (2012). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3317. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3317 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. A CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MYRTLES PLANTATION IN ST. FRANCISVILLE, LOUISIANA WITH RUMINATIONS ON HAUNTOLOGY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College In partial fulfillment of the Requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Communication Studies by Holley Ann Vaughn B.A., University of North Texas, 2001 M.A., University of North Texas, 2005 December 2012 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project could not have come to fruition without the time, love, commitment and dedication of so many of my friends, family, mentors and colleagues. To my huge, loving family, particularly my parents Devora Vaughn, Greg Vaughn, and Carolyn Vaughn, thank you for your support, patience and constant encouragement. To my aunt and uncle Rhonda and Ed King, thank you for taking me in, opening your home, and providing a space to cocoon and grow.
    [Show full text]
  • Horror Begins at Home: Family Trauma In
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Oregon Scholars' Bank HORROR BEGINS AT HOME: FAMILY TRAUMA IN PARANORMAL REALITY TV by ANDREW J. BEARD A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of English and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2012 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Andrew J. Beard Title: Horror Begins at Home: Family Trauma in Paranormal Reality TV This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of English by: Dr. Carol Stabile Chairperson Dr. Anne Laskaya Member Dr. Priscilla Ovalle Member Dr. Lynn Fujiwara Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2012 ii © 2012 Andrew J. Beard iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Andrew J. Beard Doctor of Philosophy Department of English June 2012 Title: Horror Begins at Home: Family Trauma in Paranormal Reality TV This dissertation argues that paranormal reality television is a form of what some have referred to as “trauma television,” a site of struggle between meanings of family and the violence often found in the hegemonic nuclear family ideal. Programs such as A Haunting and Paranormal State articulate family violence and trauma through a paranormal presence in the heteronormative family home, working to make strange and unfamiliar the domestic and familial milieus in which their episodes take place.
    [Show full text]
  • Shirley Jackson Papers
    Shirley Jackson Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress 1993 Washington, D.C. Revised 2013 August Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms996001 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm78052522 Prepared by Grover Batts Revised and expanded by Michael McElderry with the assistance of Scott McLemee Collection Summary Title: Shirley Jackson Papers Span Dates: 1932-1991 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1932-1965) ID No.: MSS52522 Creator: Jackson, Shirley, 1916-1965 Extent: 7,500 items ; 52 containers ; 20.6 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Author. Correspondence, diaries, journals, and other papers pertaining primarily to Jackson's writings. Includes manuscripts, notes, and outlines relating chiefly to the development of Jackson's short stories as well as to her supernatural tales and to her stories of contemporary domestic life. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Bernstein, Walter--Correspondence. Brockway, Jean--Correspondence. Burke, Elizabeth Batterham--Correspondence. Ciardi, John, 1916-1986--Correspondence. Covici, Pascal, 1930- --Correspondence. Hyman family. Hyman, Stanley Edgar, 1919-1970--Correspondence. Jackson family. Jackson, Geraldine B.--Correspondence. Jackson, Leslie H.--Correspondence. Jackson, Shirley, 1916-1965. Livaudais, Carol Black--Correspondence. Mintz, June Mirken--Correspondence. Orenstein, Frank--Correspondence.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2017 Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies Daniel Powell University of Central Florida Part of the Other Film and Media Studies Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Powell, Daniel, "Digital Dissonance: Horror Cultures in the Age of Convergent Technologies" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 5482. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5482 DIGITAL DISSONANCE: HORROR CULTURES IN THE AGE OF CONVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES by DANIEL POWELL M.A. Portland State University, 2002 B.S. Linfield College, 1999 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Texts & Technology in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2017 Major Professor: Rudy McDaniel © 2017 Daniel Powell ii ABSTRACT The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed an abundance of change in the areas of textual production, digital communication, and our collective engagement with the Internet. This study explores these changes, which have yielded both positive and negative cultural and developmental outcomes, as products of digital dissonance. Dissonance is characterized by the disruptive consequences inherent in technology’s incursion into the print publication cultures of the twentieth century, the explosion in social-media interaction that is changing the complexion of human contact, and our expanding reliance on the World Wide Web for negotiating commerce, culture, and communication.
    [Show full text]