Michael Dopffel

The literary development of Anglo-American ghost stories from the Early Enlightenment to the beginning of the 19th Century

The project will attempt to determine, how and why the empirical ghost story, initially part of theological and philosophical debates, developed into an autonomous literary form in the Anglo-American cultures. Consequently, it will analyze how this de-pragmatization and fictionalization affects the religious-didactic function of the texts. The principal focus will lie on texts of the early and middle 18th century, which cannot be conclusively determined in

regard to their status (pragmatic or fictional) and intention (primarily theological or primarily entertaining). The central question will be, whether the detachment of the ghost story from its theological context and its focus upon entertaining its readers (“the thrill of the chill”) necessarily includes or demands a complete religious de-functionalization, or rather a re-functionalization. Additionally, the project will examine whether the stylistic forms of these empirical ghost stories were a substantial influence during the creation of the modern short story.