The Supernatural in Modern English FictionScarborough, Dorothy
History
The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction
Scarborough, Dorothy
English fiction -- History and criticism; Supernatural in literature
Brander Matthews has several stories of humorous supernaturalism,
_Rival Ghosts_ being the account of ancestral spooks belonging to
a young bridegroom, and who resent being brought into enforced
companionship by his sudden elevation to a title, since one ghost
must haunt the house and one the heir. The ingenious groom, at last
harassed to invention by the continual squabbling of the ghosts, brings
about a wedding between them. This is the only instance I have found
of a wedding between two specters, though there are various cases on
record of marriage between one living and one spectral personage.
John Kendrick Bangs devotes several volumes to the doings and sayings
of spooks, describing parties in a house-boat on the Styx, where the
shades of the departed great gather together and engage in festivities
and discussions, and showing types of water-ghosts and various kinds
of spooks. The humorous ghost is a more frequent person than one would
suppose without giving some thought to the subject, for many writers
have sharpened their wits on the comic haunt.
As may be seen from the examples mentioned, the ghost has made
perceptible progress in psychology. The modern apparition is much more
complex in personality than the crude early type, and shows much more
variety. The up-to-date spook who has a chance to talk things over
with William James, and knows the labyrinths of the human mind is much
better adapted to inflict psychal terrors than the illiterate specter
of the past. He can evolve mental tortures more subtle and varied than
ever, or he can amuse a downcast mortal by his gambols.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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