Feminist Gothic
Ghost Stories by Victorian Women Writers
1st Edition
Published on 18. December 2025
222 pages
978-1-040-44659-1 (ISBN)
Description
This examination of 32 ghost stories by 21 Victorian women writers defines a new genre, Feminist Gothic, that utilizes the Gothic structure and its uncanny atmosphere of ambiguity to deploy competing narratives that seek to undermine patriarchy by simultaneously upholding and subverting its dominant myths. While a surface reading of these tales often interprets the outer, public, overt voice as one of patriarchal appeasement, a second reading uncovers an inner, private, covert voice that undermines the first. By focusing exclusively on women's stories and examining Victorian ghost stories by lesser-known women writers alongside those more widely disseminated and discussed, this study aims to establish a definition of Feminist Gothic that transcends the binaries of horror/terror, physical/psychological, and intrusive/liminal. It also explores the issues that haunt the Victorian female literary imagination and techniques women writers employ to incarnate and exorcise those revenants. Aimed at scholars of feminist literary criticism, Victorian literature, and the Gothic genre, this study combines close readings of primary sources with current scholarship, arranged thematically in chapters that examine women's issues, including marriage, children, and property ownership.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
File size
1,88 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-44659-1 (9781040446591)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€207.50
Not yet published
Person
Anne DeLong is Professor of English at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, United States, where she teaches courses in nineteenth-century British literature and women's studies.
Content
INTRODUCTION: Haunted Narratives: Liminality, Narrative Reliability, and Resolution
CHAPTER ONE: Haunted Love: Drowned Women and Revenge Fantasies
"The Cold Embrace" (1860) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
"A Terrible Vengeance" (1889) by Charlotte Riddell
Weeping Ferry (1898) by Margaret L. Woods
CHAPTER TWO: Haunted Memories: Pretty Boys and the Ones That Got Away
"The Last House in C- Street" (1856) by Dinah Maria Mulock
"Poor Pretty Bobby" (1873) by Rhoda Broughton
"Thorleigh Moat: A Grandmother's Tale" (1876) by A. E. Barker
"The Story of the Rippling Train" (1888) by Mary Louisa Molesworth
"Uncle Abraham's Romance" (1893) by Edith Nesbit
CHAPTER THREE: Haunted Marriage: Mesmerism, Deception, and the Runaway Wife
"The Man with the Nose" (1873) by Rhoda Broughton
"In the Seance Room" (1893) by Lettice Galbraith
"From the Dead" (1893) by Edith Nesbit
CHAPTER FOUR: Haunted Children: Legitimacy, Inheritance, and the Sins of the Fathers
"The Old Nurse's Story" (1852) by Elizabeth Gaskell
"Walnut Tree-House" (1882) by Charlotte Riddell
"The Open Door" (1882) by Margaret Oliphant
CHAPTER FIVE: Haunted Families: Legacy and the Baggage of the Past
"The Secret Chamber" (1876) by Margaret Oliphant
"The Weird of the Walfords" (1895) by Louisa Baldwin
"The Undying Fire" (1895) by Mrs. St. Loe Strachey (Amy Strachey)
"The Ghost of the Sedan-Chair" (1896) by Marie Corelli
CHAPTER SIX: Haunted Rentals: Uncanny Familial Spaces
"The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth" (1868) by Rhoda Broughton
"Chantry Manor House: A Ghost Story" (1876) by Mrs. Hartley
"To Let" (1893) by B. M. Croker
CHAPTER SEVEN: Haunted Travel: Terror on the Road
"The Phantom Coach" (1864) by Amelia B. Edwards
"Under the Cloak" (1873) by Rhoda Broughton
"At the Dip of the Road" (1896) by Mary Louisa Molesworth
CHAPTER EIGHT: Haunted Others: The Racialized Ghost
Monsieur Maurice (1873) by Amelia B. Edwards
"The Story of Salome" (1873) by Amelia B. Edwards
"Old Mrs. Jones" (1882) by Charlotte Riddell
CHAPTER NINE: Haunted Bodies: Spirit Possession and Class Mobility
The Strange Transfiguration of Hannah Stubbs (1896) by Florence Marryat
"The Legend of Madame Krasinska" (1915) by Vernon Lee
CHAPTER TEN: Haunted Music: Ghostly Echoes and Hommes Fatales
"The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly" (1886) by Rosa Mulholland
"A Wicked Voice" (1890) by Vernon Lee
"The Ensouled Violin" (1892) by Helena Blavatsky
CHAPTER ONE: Haunted Love: Drowned Women and Revenge Fantasies
"The Cold Embrace" (1860) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
"A Terrible Vengeance" (1889) by Charlotte Riddell
Weeping Ferry (1898) by Margaret L. Woods
CHAPTER TWO: Haunted Memories: Pretty Boys and the Ones That Got Away
"The Last House in C- Street" (1856) by Dinah Maria Mulock
"Poor Pretty Bobby" (1873) by Rhoda Broughton
"Thorleigh Moat: A Grandmother's Tale" (1876) by A. E. Barker
"The Story of the Rippling Train" (1888) by Mary Louisa Molesworth
"Uncle Abraham's Romance" (1893) by Edith Nesbit
CHAPTER THREE: Haunted Marriage: Mesmerism, Deception, and the Runaway Wife
"The Man with the Nose" (1873) by Rhoda Broughton
"In the Seance Room" (1893) by Lettice Galbraith
"From the Dead" (1893) by Edith Nesbit
CHAPTER FOUR: Haunted Children: Legitimacy, Inheritance, and the Sins of the Fathers
"The Old Nurse's Story" (1852) by Elizabeth Gaskell
"Walnut Tree-House" (1882) by Charlotte Riddell
"The Open Door" (1882) by Margaret Oliphant
CHAPTER FIVE: Haunted Families: Legacy and the Baggage of the Past
"The Secret Chamber" (1876) by Margaret Oliphant
"The Weird of the Walfords" (1895) by Louisa Baldwin
"The Undying Fire" (1895) by Mrs. St. Loe Strachey (Amy Strachey)
"The Ghost of the Sedan-Chair" (1896) by Marie Corelli
CHAPTER SIX: Haunted Rentals: Uncanny Familial Spaces
"The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth" (1868) by Rhoda Broughton
"Chantry Manor House: A Ghost Story" (1876) by Mrs. Hartley
"To Let" (1893) by B. M. Croker
CHAPTER SEVEN: Haunted Travel: Terror on the Road
"The Phantom Coach" (1864) by Amelia B. Edwards
"Under the Cloak" (1873) by Rhoda Broughton
"At the Dip of the Road" (1896) by Mary Louisa Molesworth
CHAPTER EIGHT: Haunted Others: The Racialized Ghost
Monsieur Maurice (1873) by Amelia B. Edwards
"The Story of Salome" (1873) by Amelia B. Edwards
"Old Mrs. Jones" (1882) by Charlotte Riddell
CHAPTER NINE: Haunted Bodies: Spirit Possession and Class Mobility
The Strange Transfiguration of Hannah Stubbs (1896) by Florence Marryat
"The Legend of Madame Krasinska" (1915) by Vernon Lee
CHAPTER TEN: Haunted Music: Ghostly Echoes and Hommes Fatales
"The Haunted Organist of Hurly Burly" (1886) by Rosa Mulholland
"A Wicked Voice" (1890) by Vernon Lee
"The Ensouled Violin" (1892) by Helena Blavatsky
