Literary Criticism - Ghosts In Fiction

1. GHOSTS

2. WHAT IS A GHOST?!
German Word → “ Geist “
Chambers Dictionary → “ Spirit, any Spirit or Dominating Principle “
OED Dictionary → “ The Soul or Spirit as Principle of Life “
“ A Human “
To be Human ?! To Have a Spirit, Soul or Ghost!

3. ….
OED Dictionary , Listed as 7th Meaning:
“ Ghost → An Idea of The Spectre of The DEAD! “
“ The Dead Return to a kind of Spectral Existence “
“ An entity, NOT Alive, but also, NOT Quite DEAD! “

4. Ghosts Disturb sense of separation of Alive from Dead
“ They are Frightening and Uncanny! “
Ghosts Are Both EXTERNAL & Internal or Central
To Human.
Ghosts are Fundamental TO human
And Fundamentally Human

5. Paradoxical!
Ghosts are Denial of Human → when you die, we are
not Human anymore!
And at the same time:
Ghosts are in fact Human!
LIVING-DEAD !!!!

6. What does a Ghost have to do in Literature?!
Ghosts are embedded in Literature
They are always Present in many HUANTING ways in
Stories
Novels
Poems
Films

7. Ghosts Have a History &
In a sense, Are History!
Ghost have always inscribed in a context!
?!
They both Belong To & Haunt a Place or Time
Idea of a Place → “ genius Loci “
Idea of a Time → “ Zeit geist “

8. Trace History of Ghosts in the Past:
E.g → Ghosts in 19th C.
Marx believed: God is Ghost Number 1 !
Because he had Disappeared! Or Dead!
Psychologists believed: → Ghosts are things that move
into someone’s Head
It is Internalized not out there in the jungles!

9. Psychology Looked at Ghosts
We ( Literature ) Looked at Both of Them!
Hamlet?! Greatest Ghost work of Shakespeare
(1600-1601)

10. Hamlet’s Father’s Ghost appears!
“ Your Uncle killed me!”
“ He married your
Mother! “
“ get up Go Kill your
Uncle! “

11. But Hamlet Can’t be Sure to Kill his Uncle or
Not?!
He Does Not Listen to his Father’s Ghost!
He is in Fact Happy!
He knows that if his Uncle had Not killed the
Father,
He would have killed him, and Go to Bed with his
Mother!!!! “

12. Hamlet’s Father is an Idea that Haunts Him!

13. Ghosts in 20th C.
Freud → A Boy Would Like to Kill his Father, and
Sleep with His Mother!
Father → is the Enemy who Takes Mommy away!
? → Can I kill the Father?! No!
He is Powerful! He has a Phallus!
Symbol of Power and Domination of Fathers!

14. Freud: Id Ego Superego
Father is Like the Ego!

17. Id Ego Superego

18. Id Ego Superego

19. Lacan: Phallocentrism
“ Father has a Phallus! “
“ Phallus is Symbol of Power! “
“ You Can Not Fight or Strike Power of Father!”
“ But you Wish he was Dead! Hamlet did too! “
“ So he could not kill his Uncle!”
Lacan: “ Hamlet is Like an Omlette Prisoned by fear
Of Father! “

20. Phallocentric Culture of Lacan:
Hamlet is The Yellow Part!
Father ( Ghost ) ( Ego ) is the White!
Ghosts in 20th C.
An Idea like Phallus, Father,
Power, that is Haunting the
Man in Head!

21. Ghost in 20th Century an Idea that Silently
Controls You!

22. Nicolas Abraham?!
Ghosts are Unspeakable Secrets!
People die! They take secrets with them! Secrets
always make a gap! An unsolved empty place!
An undone wish! An unanswered Question!
Those secrets in the Head of the Alive about Dead
Are GHOSTS for Abraham!

23. Ghosts → Secrets! In the heads of Alive!
Not Real!

24. Ghosts are invented by Alive!
Because they have Unfulfilled Wishes about
Dead!

25. Esther Rashkin:
There’s a Ghostliness in Literature!
In Novels, Stories, Drama that The Characters
and The Author are Giving and Taking!
Those are the Hidden Secrets of Them!
So! Be careful when Writing a Story!

26. Ghosts in 21st Century!
Cellphones!
Internet!

28. Ghosts in Search of Unknown!
WTF is Here?!