Visions of an Unseen World: Ghost Beliefs and Ghost Stories in Eighteenth Century England (Religious Cultures in the Early Modern World)

This book describes the haunting of eighteenth-century England. It is the first in-depth study of the production, circulation and consumption of English ghost stories during the Age of Reason. This period saw the establishment of the ghost story as a literary genre. Handley combines close textual analysis with a broad conception of historical change. She examines a variety of mediums: ballads and chapbooks, newspapers, sermons, medical treatises and scientific journals, novels and plays. She relates the telling of ghost stories to wider changes associated with the Enlightenment, arguing that they played a key role in battles against atheism, republicanism, material excess and secularisation. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 Introduction: The Ghosts of Early Modern England......Page 12 1 Restoration Hauntings......Page 34 2 Printing the Preternatural in the Late Seventeenth Century......Page 60 3 A New Canterbury Tale......Page 91 4 Ghsot Stories in the Periodical Press, c.1700 - c.1750......Page 119 5 Confessional Cultures and Ghost Beliefs, c.1750 - c.1800......Page 151 6 Landscapes of Belief and Everyday Life in Late Eighteenth-Century England......Page 188 Conclusion......Page 221 Notes......Page 230 Works Cited......Page 266 Index......Page 290 A study of the production, circulation and consumption of English ghost stories during the Age of Reason. This work examines a variety of mediums: ballads and chapbooks, newspapers, sermons, medical treatises and scientific journals, novels and plays. It relates the telling of ghost stories to changes associated with the Enlightenment. This volume describes the haunting of 18th century England. It provides an in-depth study of the production, circulation and consumption of English ghost stories during the Age of Reason By Sasha Handley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 255-277) And Index.