Sean Ferrier-Watson

The Children's Ghost Story in America

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Ghost stories have played a prominent role in childhood. Circulated around playgrounds and whispered in slumber parties, their history in American literature is little known and seldom discussed by scholars. This book explores the fascinating origins and development of these tales, focusing on the social and historical factors that shaped them and gave birth to the genre. Ghost stories have existed for centuries but have been published specifically for children for only about 200 years. Early on, supernatural ghost stories were rare--authors and publishers, fearing they might adversely affect young minds, presented stories in which the ghost was always revealed as a fraud. These tales dominated children's publishing in the 19th century but the 20th century saw a change in perspective and the supernatural ghost story flourished.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland and Company, Inc.
• Seitenzahl: 204
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. April 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 12mm
• Gewicht: 339g
• ISBN-13: 9781476664941
• ISBN-10: 1476664943
• Artikelnr.: 47126503

Autorenporträt

Sean Ferrier-Watson is a professor of English at Collin College in Plano, Texas. Visit his page at seanferrierwatsonauthor.wordpress.com.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface Introduction 1.
"Airy nothings": The Mock Ghost Story 2.
Spectrality and Nineteenth-Century American Girlhood 3.
Resurrecting the Supernatural for Children 4.
The Missing Phantom in Early African American Children's Literature 5.
New Media, New Apparitions 6.
The Transnarrative Ghost Epilogue Bibliography of Mock Ghost Stories Chapter Notes Works Cited Index