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Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction / VICTORIA BREWSTER

Swansea University Author: VICTORIA BREWSTER

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.66730

Abstract

There has been a proliferation in the first quarter of the twenty-first century of fiction that features haunting – be they traditional ghost stories or stories that feature other kinds of haunting. The reasons for this are identified as particular to the rapid changes and global upheavals of the po...

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Published: Swansea, Wales, UK 2024
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Gamble, Sarah ; Pak, Chris
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66730
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first_indexed 2024-06-14T11:34:48Z
last_indexed 2024-06-14T11:34:48Z
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spelling v2 66730 2024-06-14 Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction 6c1839756042cf34c34e178f1f0ea50c VICTORIA BREWSTER VICTORIA BREWSTER true false 2024-06-14 There has been a proliferation in the first quarter of the twenty-first century of fiction that features haunting – be they traditional ghost stories or stories that feature other kinds of haunting. The reasons for this are identified as particular to the rapid changes and global upheavals of the political, economical, and technological situation of the times. These factors complicate for the reader, and for individuals more broadly, what is real and what can be trusted. While ghost stories have always encouraged mistrust in the reader towards the narrator, contemporary haunted fiction upends the stability of place and time, as well as narrative voice. In examining this concept, this thesis develops the work of late twentieth century theorists such as Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard, who both theorised the ephemerality of reality: Derrida with his essays on hauntology, and Baudrillard with his work on simulacra and simulation. These haunted texts are also peculiar in that they destabilise the notion of who and what haunts. This thesis argues that contemporary haunted fiction revises the notion of who haunts and who is haunted by moving agency away from those who traditionally control the narrative (the heteronormative, patriarchal, colonial subject), and towards voices previously unheard and/or suppressed. This builds on Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock’s work on Object Oriented Ontology in the Gothic, as the identity of the haunted subject and haunting object becomes fluid. This thesis researches texts largely new to literary examination, focusing on popular and award-winning contemporary fiction to truly reflect the stories that are desired for consumption by the ‘average reader today’ (with acknowledgement this is a construct), but also the stories publishers believe should be told. The methodology uses close textual analysis, building on Gothic and horror theory of the twentieth century, as well as personal correspondence with the authors for perspectives on authorial intention and the state of the text before publishing/editorial intervention. E-Thesis Swansea, Wales, UK contemporary literature, twenty-first-century literature, Gothic, horror, ghosts, haunting, hyperreality, hauntology, thing theory, social media, posthumanism 6 6 2024 2024-06-06 10.23889/SUthesis.66730 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Gamble, Sarah ; Pak, Chris Doctoral Ph.D 2024-06-14T12:45:38.9515583 2024-06-14T12:30:48.1462548 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing VICTORIA BREWSTER 1 66730__30647__106712b55c75409da1a1be0fe0b4143c.pdf Brewster_Victoria_PhD_Thesis_Final_Redacted_Signature.pdf 2024-06-14T12:42:09.1130706 Output 2034047 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The Author, Victoria S. Brewster, 2024. true eng
title Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
spellingShingle Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
VICTORIA BREWSTER
title_short Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
title_full Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
title_fullStr Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
title_full_unstemmed Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
title_sort Hauntings in Twenty-First Century Fiction
author_id_str_mv 6c1839756042cf34c34e178f1f0ea50c
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6c1839756042cf34c34e178f1f0ea50c_***_VICTORIA BREWSTER
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department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
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description There has been a proliferation in the first quarter of the twenty-first century of fiction that features haunting – be they traditional ghost stories or stories that feature other kinds of haunting. The reasons for this are identified as particular to the rapid changes and global upheavals of the political, economical, and technological situation of the times. These factors complicate for the reader, and for individuals more broadly, what is real and what can be trusted. While ghost stories have always encouraged mistrust in the reader towards the narrator, contemporary haunted fiction upends the stability of place and time, as well as narrative voice. In examining this concept, this thesis develops the work of late twentieth century theorists such as Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard, who both theorised the ephemerality of reality: Derrida with his essays on hauntology, and Baudrillard with his work on simulacra and simulation. These haunted texts are also peculiar in that they destabilise the notion of who and what haunts. This thesis argues that contemporary haunted fiction revises the notion of who haunts and who is haunted by moving agency away from those who traditionally control the narrative (the heteronormative, patriarchal, colonial subject), and towards voices previously unheard and/or suppressed. This builds on Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock’s work on Object Oriented Ontology in the Gothic, as the identity of the haunted subject and haunting object becomes fluid. This thesis researches texts largely new to literary examination, focusing on popular and award-winning contemporary fiction to truly reflect the stories that are desired for consumption by the ‘average reader today’ (with acknowledgement this is a construct), but also the stories publishers believe should be told. The methodology uses close textual analysis, building on Gothic and horror theory of the twentieth century, as well as personal correspondence with the authors for perspectives on authorial intention and the state of the text before publishing/editorial intervention.
published_date 2024-06-06T12:45:38Z
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