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Spectral stowaways : Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s ‘Kentucky’s Ghost’ (1868)
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Baker, Jen (2017) Spectral stowaways : Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s ‘Kentucky’s Ghost’ (1868). Gothic Studies, 19 (2). pp. 45-57. doi:10.7227/GS.0028
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.7227/GS.0028
Abstract
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s Gothic short story ‘Kentucky’s Ghost’ (1868) is amongst the most distinctive of ghost-child narratives to be published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This is owing, foremost, to its unique topographical and social setting; taking place at sea amongst an all-male crew of mostly lower-class sailors, rather than in the large suburban or rural house of middle or upper-class families that were typical of this AngloAmerican literary sub-genre. This article considers the child-figure in Phelps’s tale within intersecting frameworks: firstly, within a tradition of nautical folklore that is integral to producing the tale’s Gothic tone. Secondly, within a contemporary context of frequently romanticised depictions of child-stowaways in literature, but a reality in which they were subjected to horrific abuse. Finally, her tale is discussed as a reformist piece that, despite its singularities, draws on darker versions of literary and folkloric dead-child traditions to produce a terrifying tale of retribution.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PS American literature | ||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart, 1844-1911 -- Criticism and interpretation, Gothic fiction (Literary genre), American -- 19th century | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Gothic Studies | ||||||
| Publisher: | Manchester University Press | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1362-7937 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 1 November 2017 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 19 | ||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 45-57 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.7227/GS.0028 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
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