"This is an original study of the narrative techniques that developed for two very popular forms of fiction in the nineteenth century - ghost stories and detective stories - and the surprising similarities between them in the context of contemporary...
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Universitätsbibliothek der Eberhard Karls Universität
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"This is an original study of the narrative techniques that developed for two very popular forms of fiction in the nineteenth century - ghost stories and detective stories - and the surprising similarities between them in the context of contemporary theories of vision and sight. Srdjan Smajić argues that to understand how writers represented ghost-seers and detectives, the views of contemporary scientists, philosophers, and spiritualists with which these writers engage have to be taken into account: these views raise questions such as whether seeing really is believing, how much of what we 'see' is actually only inferred, and whether there may be other (intuitive or spiritual) ways of seeing that enable us to perceive objects and beings inaccessible to the bodily senses. This book will make a real contribution to the understanding of Victorian science in culture, and of the ways in which literature draws on all kinds of knowledge"--Provided by publisher Contextualizing the ghost story -- The rise of optical apparitions -- Inner vision and spiritual optics -- 'Betwixt ancient faith and modern incredulity' -- Visual learning : sight and Victorian epistemology -- Scopophilia and scopophobia : Poe's readerly flâneur --Stains, smears, and visual language in The moonstone -- Semiotics vs. encyclopedism : the case of Sherlock Holmes -- Detective fiction's uncanny -- Light, ether, and the invisible world -- Inner vision and occult detection : Le Fanu's Martin Hesselius -- Other dimensions, other worlds -- Psychic sleuths and soul doctors.
