Hauntings and spectrality have always been popular literary tropes, manifested in fiction not only for the sake of pure entertainment but also historiographically, considering that the metaphorical dimension of "haunting", recurring issues shapes our perception of the stains the past leaves on our personal history. The past in itself models the future by possessing us, making us the ghost of our own haunting, while we remain utterly unaware of our foretime reaching out to us from beyond the grave of time.
Sarah Waters' novel The Little Stranger generically combines features of a realist historical novel, a political novel and the Victorian trope of the Gothic spook haunting a formerly praised country house. The plot takes place at Hundreds Hall, the seemingly cursed mansion of the Ayres family at a time when the gentry lost its social status stricken by the post World War II anxiety (Thomas 2009). The decrepit building stands for many of the formerly glorious and renowned country houses in England, which bit by bit lost their worth within society and ceased to exist. Just like its predecessors, Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher or Walpole's The Castle of Ontario, The Little Stranger dismantles the pre-war notion of the country house as a mystified, heavenly place full of wonders and beauty. Just like the gentry itself represented by the Ayreses the almost propagandist imagery of the British upper class is torn apart by an inexplicable malicious force (O’Connell 2009: 44). The country house which functions as a refuge from the change that comes with time is penetrated by the very same force which aims to remove the last remnants of an obsolete hierarchical system who still defy modernity: The Ayres family. The hauntings result in madness, suicide, death – to be concise: the irrecoverable doom of the venerable Ayreses.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- The British Gentry after the Second World War: A Historical Insight
- Paranormal Activity: What is the Source of the Hauntings at Hundreds Hall?
- The Poltergeist Hypothesis
- The Ghost of the Future
- The Return of the Working Class
- The House as a Creature
- The Restoration of Reputation: A Staged Haunting
- Nervous Agitation and Spectrality
- Faraday: The Little Familiar Stranger
- Betty
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This essay analyzes Sarah Waters' novel The Little Stranger to investigate the paranormal occurrences at Hundreds Hall and explore their significance in relation to the historical context of the British gentry's decline after World War II. The essay aims to unpack the complex relationship between personal tragedy and the broader societal changes that impacted the British aristocracy.
- The decline of the British gentry in the post-war era.
- The symbolic significance of the country house as a site of both wealth and decline.
- The exploration of paranormal phenomena as a reflection of societal anxieties and historical trauma.
- The examination of various potential sources for the hauntings at Hundreds Hall, including supernatural forces, staged events, and individual motivations.
- The interplay between individual characters and the broader historical and social context of the novel.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introduction explores the themes of haunting and spectrality in literary fiction and establishes the context of Sarah Waters' novel The Little Stranger as a blend of historical realism, political commentary, and Gothic elements. The novel's setting at Hundreds Hall, a declining country house, reflects the loss of social status experienced by the British gentry in the post-war era. The introduction also highlights the novel's exploration of the past's influence on the present, and the ambiguous source of the hauntings that plague the Ayres family.
The second chapter delves into the historical background of the British gentry before and after World War II. It describes the pre-war status of the gentry, their country houses as symbols of wealth and authority, and the role of servants within this system. The chapter then details the decline of the gentry due to economic crisis, societal changes, and the rise of democratic reforms. The loss of power and wealth experienced by the aristocracy is presented as a pivotal moment in British social history.
The third chapter focuses on the paranormal activity at Hundreds Hall. It examines various potential explanations for the hauntings, including the poltergeist hypothesis, the possibility of a staged haunting, and the mental state of the characters involved. The chapter analyzes different interpretations of the haunting, from supernatural forces to individual motivations, providing a multifaceted perspective on the source of the paranormal phenomena.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
Key themes and concepts explored in this essay include: the British gentry, post-war decline, country house, hauntings, paranormal phenomena, historical context, social change, class, power, symbolism, and the relationship between the past and present.
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- Isabell Rieth (Autor:in), 2019, On a Ghost Hunt: In Search of an Explanation for the Paranormal in Sarah Waters "The Little Stranger", München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/882751
