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The Ghost: A Cultural History
“Five thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has even been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.” —Samuel Johnson
Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of life. In Britain, every town, village, and great house has a spectral resident, and their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore, and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify, and inspire. Our conceptions of ghosts—the fears they provoke, the forms they take—are connected to the conventions and beliefs of each particular era, from the marauding undead of the Middle Ages to the psychologically charged presences of our own age. The ghost is no less than the mirror of the times.
Organized chronologically, this new cultural history features a dazzling range of artists and writers, including William Hogarth, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Susan Hiller and Jeremy Deller; John Donne, William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Muriel Spark, Hilary Mantel, and Sarah Waters.
Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of life. In Britain, every town, village, and great house has a spectral resident, and their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore, and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify, and inspire. Our conceptions of ghosts—the fears they provoke, the forms they take—are connected to the conventions and beliefs of each particular era, from the marauding undead of the Middle Ages to the psychologically charged presences of our own age. The ghost is no less than the mirror of the times.
Organized chronologically, this new cultural history features a dazzling range of artists and writers, including William Hogarth, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Susan Hiller and Jeremy Deller; John Donne, William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Muriel Spark, Hilary Mantel, and Sarah Waters.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2017
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3371 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
October 8, 2017
A fascinating book regarding the history and culture of ghosts in the UK. Well researched and written. I really enjoyed reading about how the perception of ghosts has changed throughout the centuries from angry, fully visible ghosts to barely there apparitions.. Excellent read
January 26, 2020
I struggled with this one. The topic is ostensibly fascinating but the authors narrative is laborious. It’s mostly quotes interspersed with the the authors analysis, which would be fine (expected, even) if it wasn’t 90% quotations. This format really interrupts the flow of the authors own words and makes it a very clunky read. Especially when the quotes are written in old a English, it makes it quite difficult. Owens also gets a bit bogged down when presenting us with examples. It’s like a jagged collection of ghost stories, with too much depth to be a brief contextual example, but too little to be engaging.
This book just wasn’t what I was expecting.
This book just wasn’t what I was expecting.
December 10, 2017
I'm so in love with books about ghosts. Not books of ghost stories (whether fiction or 'true') but analyses of what ghosts mean in a sociological or psychological sense - why are we so fascinated by ghosts? How does belief in ghosts change over time and in different societies? What do ghosts mean to us? This book explored these questions in such a compelling way. I'd have loved more comment on ghosts in non-British society - but that's outwith the scope of this book, so no use complaining. For this book's aims, it was great.
October 30, 2019
I shouldn’t even have to explain why I borrowed this because I mean… the moment I saw this in Tampines Regional Library (cool library but on the other side of the world Singapore) I immediately picked it up and borrowed it. This isn’t a collection of ghost stories or a novel about ghosts – instead, this is a history of ghosts in Britain.
The Ghost starts it’s history all the way back in 1014, with St. Edmund coming back from the dead to kill Sweyn Forkbeard. From there, the book takes us through the history of the ways the British have seen ghosts, not just in local stories but also in the ways that they’ve been depicted in art and literature. By the time the book ends, we’re in the year of our Lord 2016 and thus firmly in the modern age.
I really enjoyed this because it revealed the origins of so many common beliefs we have about ghosts. For example, changes in burial clothing in the 18th century led to the departed being buried in “ever-more tailored grave clothes”. But as this “neat new costume did not remotely correspond to the Romantic idea of the ‘magnificent horror’ wielded by the ghost”, artists “such as Henry Fuseli, George Romney and John Flaxman” provided ghosts with a new wardrobe: “they began to sport voluminous white sheets.” In addition, “[g]hosts’ acquisition of see-through properties, and the ability to fade in and out, seems to have developed concurrently with developments in optical entertainments and light shows that transformed public entertainment towards the end of the eighteenth century.”
In terms of religion, an effect of the English Reformation was an existential threat towards ghosts. As purgatory disappeared, so did the ability for ghosts to roam on earth. But in an interesting twist, “in the 1740s Methodism fostered what its opponents felt to be a worrying degree of interests in ghosts” as Wesley felt that “apparitions and other supernatural phenomena served as evidence of the spiritual realm.” It seems like things came full circle (and then some, as spiritualism and seances became popular in British society).
Of course, The Ghost covers much more ground than the few examples that I raised in the last paragraph. By examining how ghosts were depicted in art and literature, Owens shows us the ways British society thought about death and the afterlife. Ghosts, Owens argues, is a mirror for society and it is through studying the ways the British reacted to and depicted ghosts that we can understand them more fully.
While this book is on the academic side, the language is still accessible and I had no problems reading it. I have not read many of the works cited in her, but the book does explain enough that I don’t need prior knowledge of the books/stories in question to get the point (although I really enjoyed reading the ghosts stories she quoted!). I also appreciated all the illustrations in the book – I spent a lot of time flipping to the pictures of the paintings – because being able to see the art in question helped me to understand the point that was being made.
If you’re looking for a collection of spooky, True Singapore Ghost Stories-type of book, this isn’t for you. But if you’d like to look a bit more deeply into the history and idea of a ghost and what they say about the British (and perhaps in the commonalities, the rest of us), then this is a book that you’ll want to read.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
The Ghost starts it’s history all the way back in 1014, with St. Edmund coming back from the dead to kill Sweyn Forkbeard. From there, the book takes us through the history of the ways the British have seen ghosts, not just in local stories but also in the ways that they’ve been depicted in art and literature. By the time the book ends, we’re in the year of our Lord 2016 and thus firmly in the modern age.
I really enjoyed this because it revealed the origins of so many common beliefs we have about ghosts. For example, changes in burial clothing in the 18th century led to the departed being buried in “ever-more tailored grave clothes”. But as this “neat new costume did not remotely correspond to the Romantic idea of the ‘magnificent horror’ wielded by the ghost”, artists “such as Henry Fuseli, George Romney and John Flaxman” provided ghosts with a new wardrobe: “they began to sport voluminous white sheets.” In addition, “[g]hosts’ acquisition of see-through properties, and the ability to fade in and out, seems to have developed concurrently with developments in optical entertainments and light shows that transformed public entertainment towards the end of the eighteenth century.”
In terms of religion, an effect of the English Reformation was an existential threat towards ghosts. As purgatory disappeared, so did the ability for ghosts to roam on earth. But in an interesting twist, “in the 1740s Methodism fostered what its opponents felt to be a worrying degree of interests in ghosts” as Wesley felt that “apparitions and other supernatural phenomena served as evidence of the spiritual realm.” It seems like things came full circle (and then some, as spiritualism and seances became popular in British society).
Of course, The Ghost covers much more ground than the few examples that I raised in the last paragraph. By examining how ghosts were depicted in art and literature, Owens shows us the ways British society thought about death and the afterlife. Ghosts, Owens argues, is a mirror for society and it is through studying the ways the British reacted to and depicted ghosts that we can understand them more fully.
While this book is on the academic side, the language is still accessible and I had no problems reading it. I have not read many of the works cited in her, but the book does explain enough that I don’t need prior knowledge of the books/stories in question to get the point (although I really enjoyed reading the ghosts stories she quoted!). I also appreciated all the illustrations in the book – I spent a lot of time flipping to the pictures of the paintings – because being able to see the art in question helped me to understand the point that was being made.
If you’re looking for a collection of spooky, True Singapore Ghost Stories-type of book, this isn’t for you. But if you’d like to look a bit more deeply into the history and idea of a ghost and what they say about the British (and perhaps in the commonalities, the rest of us), then this is a book that you’ll want to read.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
April 9, 2022
I read quite a few books about ghosts. Many of them address, at least tacitly, whether ghosts “really” exist or not. Susan Owen takes a different track in The Ghost: A Cultural History. It’s a remarkable book in many ways. While not strictly chronological, it follows the subject roughly through time, showing how the surviving dead were initially physical beings that only later became spirits and even only later became transparent.
She tracks ghosts through, as I mention elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), through literature of the period and artwork. The book is generally Britain-focused but it gives some wonderful full-color artwork showing ghosts from their transformation as skeletons to the more familiar ghost of today. While not “up to the minute” she does come as far as M. R. James and the unrelated but contemporary Henry James.
The book is thoughtful and intelligent. Although those uninterested in ghosts will likely not read it, it is a fine piece of cultural history. Some of the illustrations are quite haunting in their own right. It won’t answer the question of whether there are “actual” ghosts, but it will give you a very good idea of what people thought about them through the centuries in a haunted old England.
She tracks ghosts through, as I mention elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), through literature of the period and artwork. The book is generally Britain-focused but it gives some wonderful full-color artwork showing ghosts from their transformation as skeletons to the more familiar ghost of today. While not “up to the minute” she does come as far as M. R. James and the unrelated but contemporary Henry James.
The book is thoughtful and intelligent. Although those uninterested in ghosts will likely not read it, it is a fine piece of cultural history. Some of the illustrations are quite haunting in their own right. It won’t answer the question of whether there are “actual” ghosts, but it will give you a very good idea of what people thought about them through the centuries in a haunted old England.
July 17, 2018
Was interesting to see how ghost stories and legends have changed over time, and the most interesting thing to me that the author brought up, was that no matter your beliefs, whether you believe in ghosts or not-everyone seems to have a story regarding one.
Fascinating from beginning to end. Extremely well researched. I liked that the author wrote about ghosts from an unbiased view- letting the reader decide and interpret the information for themselves.
I would like to thank Susan Owens and ABRAMS and for a copy of this provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Fascinating from beginning to end. Extremely well researched. I liked that the author wrote about ghosts from an unbiased view- letting the reader decide and interpret the information for themselves.
I would like to thank Susan Owens and ABRAMS and for a copy of this provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Read
August 18, 2024La historia de Inglaterra (desde el año 1000 hasta nuestros días) a través de sus espectros. La autora se apoya en una montaña de fuentes documentales realmente abrumadora para demostrar que un fantasma es, ante todo, un constructo artístico-cultural, reflejo de los miedos, anhelos y ansiedades de cada era.
October 31, 2023
I hadn't realized that it was specific to British ghosts when I requested this for interlibrary loan.
My favourite illustration is an 1840s engraving by Robert Graves. It's of a woman alone at night scaring herself silly with a book titled "The Ghost Story". Very relatable.
My favourite illustration is an 1840s engraving by Robert Graves. It's of a woman alone at night scaring herself silly with a book titled "The Ghost Story". Very relatable.
September 19, 2017
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'These dead refused to stay in their tombs and insisted on climbing out and stalking back to their towns and villages, night after night, to attack the living. But what was the background to these stories?'
Death comes to us all, and it would seem ghostly beings do as well, regardless of what country you live in or what time period. Ghosts certainly seem to be a tie that binds, be it harbingers of pending doom, terrorizing haunts, revenants bent on revenge- why is it that there are so many encounters and stories about something that ‘doesn’t exist’ and that science denies. This book is a fascinating look at the history of ghosts. Was it true that the English Reformation and religious reform did away with all our ‘haints’? Spirits kept appearing, they continued to walk the nights despite the cleanliness of religion. Maybe ghosts were simply optical illusions? How did witchcraft and ingrained habits and beliefs come into sightings and stories of ghosts? Maybe it’s madness of one’s mind? What does purgatory have to do with any of this?
Are ghosts simply ‘refugees from the after-life’? I like that, refugees from the afterlife! It wasn’t just uneducated peasants that told tales, were visited by apparitions and passed around ghostly tales. The middle class and upper crust were just as enthralled by the subject. If literature is any proof, certainly much was written and in fact, still lines our shelves today. How many ghostly themed reality shows can you count? Let’s not forget our fascination with shows about mediums talking to ‘ghosts’ that aren’t supposed to exist. Remember all that table tapping, the seances fine ladies took part in during the Victorian age?
Ghosts, it seems, even entered the political arena, art, church… is there anywhere they don’t ‘haunt’ us? Susan Owens has written a well researched work, be you a believer or skeptic, there is meat for anyone to chew on. Ghosts have evolved with our changing world, look at us now using meters and special instruments to capture that other realm. Are they real, simply a product of our own minds (some guilty)? Will we ever truly know? The walk through our cultural history of ghosts is fascinating and strange. Just in time for Halloween.
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
Abrams
Tate Publishing
'These dead refused to stay in their tombs and insisted on climbing out and stalking back to their towns and villages, night after night, to attack the living. But what was the background to these stories?'
Death comes to us all, and it would seem ghostly beings do as well, regardless of what country you live in or what time period. Ghosts certainly seem to be a tie that binds, be it harbingers of pending doom, terrorizing haunts, revenants bent on revenge- why is it that there are so many encounters and stories about something that ‘doesn’t exist’ and that science denies. This book is a fascinating look at the history of ghosts. Was it true that the English Reformation and religious reform did away with all our ‘haints’? Spirits kept appearing, they continued to walk the nights despite the cleanliness of religion. Maybe ghosts were simply optical illusions? How did witchcraft and ingrained habits and beliefs come into sightings and stories of ghosts? Maybe it’s madness of one’s mind? What does purgatory have to do with any of this?
Are ghosts simply ‘refugees from the after-life’? I like that, refugees from the afterlife! It wasn’t just uneducated peasants that told tales, were visited by apparitions and passed around ghostly tales. The middle class and upper crust were just as enthralled by the subject. If literature is any proof, certainly much was written and in fact, still lines our shelves today. How many ghostly themed reality shows can you count? Let’s not forget our fascination with shows about mediums talking to ‘ghosts’ that aren’t supposed to exist. Remember all that table tapping, the seances fine ladies took part in during the Victorian age?
Ghosts, it seems, even entered the political arena, art, church… is there anywhere they don’t ‘haunt’ us? Susan Owens has written a well researched work, be you a believer or skeptic, there is meat for anyone to chew on. Ghosts have evolved with our changing world, look at us now using meters and special instruments to capture that other realm. Are they real, simply a product of our own minds (some guilty)? Will we ever truly know? The walk through our cultural history of ghosts is fascinating and strange. Just in time for Halloween.
Publication Date: October 3, 2017
Abrams
Tate Publishing
May 13, 2019
In her postscript to ‘The Ghost: A Cultural History’ Susan Owens states that she wanted to focus principally on ghosts appearances in imaginative works such as paintings, poems, ballads and stories as through them we are able to observe the British ghost as it becomes whatever we want it to be in any given era as they hold up a mirror to us and reveal our desires and fears.
Ranging from the medieval period to the modern day Owens charts not only how ghosts have been perceived by society and the ever evolving role they play in it but also the different and changing ways they have been depicted culturally. I was interested to learn that Daniel Defoe with his story ‘The Apparition of Mrs Veal’ is generally credited in creating the modern ghost story as we know it.
It is a fascinating book that is lavishly illustrated and although it was extremely intriguing finding out how ghosts have variously manifested themselves in different forms of art I personally would have liked to have read more about their presence in the short story format as a good ghost story is a hard trick to accomplish. However that is a very minor quibble in what is an excellent and informative book on the enduring power of ghosts to induce in us the pleasure of being afraid.
Ranging from the medieval period to the modern day Owens charts not only how ghosts have been perceived by society and the ever evolving role they play in it but also the different and changing ways they have been depicted culturally. I was interested to learn that Daniel Defoe with his story ‘The Apparition of Mrs Veal’ is generally credited in creating the modern ghost story as we know it.
It is a fascinating book that is lavishly illustrated and although it was extremely intriguing finding out how ghosts have variously manifested themselves in different forms of art I personally would have liked to have read more about their presence in the short story format as a good ghost story is a hard trick to accomplish. However that is a very minor quibble in what is an excellent and informative book on the enduring power of ghosts to induce in us the pleasure of being afraid.
Read
November 19, 2018Love this—a treasure trove.
February 3, 2018
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of life. In Britain, every town, village, and great house has a spectral resident, and their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore, and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify, and inspire. Our conceptions of ghosts—the fears they provoke, the forms they take—are connected to the conventions and beliefs of each particular era, from the marauding undead of the Middle Ages to the psychologically charged presences of our own age. The ghost is no less than the mirror of the times.
Organized chronologically, this new cultural history features a dazzling range of artists and writers, including William Hogarth, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Susan Hiller and Jeremy Deller; John Donne, William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Muriel Spark, Hilary Mantel, and Sarah Waters.
Why are we so fascinated with ghosts? What draws us to the mystery, the horror, the changing perceptions of ghosts?
This book goes a long, long way to covering these questions - and so much more. Basically a history of ghosts in British culture, this book is brilliant.
The best thing about this book is that the author didn't set out to make this a "Do ghosts exist?" type of thing, nor did she go out of her way to make fun of those who do or don't believe - it is what it says on the packet: a cultural history of ghosts in the UK.
If you have even the slightest interest in ghosts, or the culture of ghosts, then this could very well be the book for you!
Paul
ARH
Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of life. In Britain, every town, village, and great house has a spectral resident, and their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore, and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify, and inspire. Our conceptions of ghosts—the fears they provoke, the forms they take—are connected to the conventions and beliefs of each particular era, from the marauding undead of the Middle Ages to the psychologically charged presences of our own age. The ghost is no less than the mirror of the times.
Organized chronologically, this new cultural history features a dazzling range of artists and writers, including William Hogarth, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Susan Hiller and Jeremy Deller; John Donne, William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Muriel Spark, Hilary Mantel, and Sarah Waters.
Why are we so fascinated with ghosts? What draws us to the mystery, the horror, the changing perceptions of ghosts?
This book goes a long, long way to covering these questions - and so much more. Basically a history of ghosts in British culture, this book is brilliant.
The best thing about this book is that the author didn't set out to make this a "Do ghosts exist?" type of thing, nor did she go out of her way to make fun of those who do or don't believe - it is what it says on the packet: a cultural history of ghosts in the UK.
If you have even the slightest interest in ghosts, or the culture of ghosts, then this could very well be the book for you!
Paul
ARH
December 30, 2020
While this book is well researched it suffers from trying to cram too much in over too long a time frame. It would have been much better if it delved a little further into the early accounts of ghosts up until the Victorian age. The later chapters trying to look at more contemporary times felt rushed and tacked on and didn't really add too much to the overall thesis.
February 15, 2023
The amount of research this author has done on art, literature, photography, and film over the ages is breathtaking.
October 11, 2018
The intersection of art and the spirit world
The Ghost, a Cultural History, by Susan Owens is a delightful look at British ghosts — how they have been written about and painted through the years — curated by an art historian. Not surprisingly, she has a deep understanding of and appreciation for British art — written and visual — from the Middle Ages to the present, and brings that to bear exploring the spirit world as captured by artists. The book is stuffed with lovely reproductions of some incredible paintings and illustrations, as well as snippets of prose and poetry from some pretty significant authors.
Despite the subject matter, this is not the kind of book that will haunt you (sorry, I won’t do that again). There are no frights or chills to be found here, but rather a somewhat charmingly dry, droll exploration of how ghosts have been thought about by Brits through the ages, and how — like cultural tofu — they pick up the flavors of the current hopes and fears and religiosity of successive generations. And how perceptions of ghosts, what they look like and how they manifest, also reflect the latest technologies — from painting to print to sound recording to television to digital.
As she notes, “Ghosts moved, as ever, with the times.”
It’s a fun and fascinating read, and a beautifully produced book, that will appeal to ghost lovers, Anglo-philes and art fanciers alike. Oh, and also cloud fanciers, like me:
“Clouds are nebulous and indistinct, inspiring speculation but not satisfying it. We see them in a particular form for only a few moments before they disperse; and they are neither up nor down, but occupy a debatable land in between. Clouds, like ghosts, are ambiguous phenomena. Their latent power is enormous. And just as clouds can announce welcome shade or unwanted rain, so ghosts can bring either comfort or terror…”
This book, at least, brings nothing but comfort.
The Ghost, a Cultural History, by Susan Owens is a delightful look at British ghosts — how they have been written about and painted through the years — curated by an art historian. Not surprisingly, she has a deep understanding of and appreciation for British art — written and visual — from the Middle Ages to the present, and brings that to bear exploring the spirit world as captured by artists. The book is stuffed with lovely reproductions of some incredible paintings and illustrations, as well as snippets of prose and poetry from some pretty significant authors.
Despite the subject matter, this is not the kind of book that will haunt you (sorry, I won’t do that again). There are no frights or chills to be found here, but rather a somewhat charmingly dry, droll exploration of how ghosts have been thought about by Brits through the ages, and how — like cultural tofu — they pick up the flavors of the current hopes and fears and religiosity of successive generations. And how perceptions of ghosts, what they look like and how they manifest, also reflect the latest technologies — from painting to print to sound recording to television to digital.
As she notes, “Ghosts moved, as ever, with the times.”
It’s a fun and fascinating read, and a beautifully produced book, that will appeal to ghost lovers, Anglo-philes and art fanciers alike. Oh, and also cloud fanciers, like me:
“Clouds are nebulous and indistinct, inspiring speculation but not satisfying it. We see them in a particular form for only a few moments before they disperse; and they are neither up nor down, but occupy a debatable land in between. Clouds, like ghosts, are ambiguous phenomena. Their latent power is enormous. And just as clouds can announce welcome shade or unwanted rain, so ghosts can bring either comfort or terror…”
This book, at least, brings nothing but comfort.
August 24, 2017
The Ghost
A Cultural History
by Susan Owens
ABRAMS
Tate Publishing
Pub Date 03 Oct 2017
Courtesy Netgalley
I really enjoyed The Ghost A Cultural History by Susan Owens. This nonfiction book examines the history of the ghost or apparition. Ms. Owens, the author, was interested in how much Dickens's ghost have in common with what we define as ghosts today. How did ghosts change as technology was introduced, like the earliest shadow shows and then film? Also what is it about Britain that creates the fertile ground for ghosts? Is it the long history? The wet, foggy weather?
In early Christian history, ghosts were believed to be the souls of the dead suffering in purgatory come to warm those left behind to clean up their act. When the Protestant Reformation hit England, purgatory was edited out of their theology. The ghosts that were previously the souls of the dead now became demons and apparitions from hell. The book traces the history through each different phase or interpretation of what a ghost was, including the words used to describe them.
There is an excellent bibliography at the end of the book. It has given me a whole new list of writings from the classics that I want to read. The Ghost A Cultural History by Susan Owens is readable, entertaining and enlightening. It is releasing on October 3rd, making it the perfect Halloween present for yourself or a fan of spirits.
A Cultural History
by Susan Owens
ABRAMS
Tate Publishing
Pub Date 03 Oct 2017
Courtesy Netgalley
I really enjoyed The Ghost A Cultural History by Susan Owens. This nonfiction book examines the history of the ghost or apparition. Ms. Owens, the author, was interested in how much Dickens's ghost have in common with what we define as ghosts today. How did ghosts change as technology was introduced, like the earliest shadow shows and then film? Also what is it about Britain that creates the fertile ground for ghosts? Is it the long history? The wet, foggy weather?
In early Christian history, ghosts were believed to be the souls of the dead suffering in purgatory come to warm those left behind to clean up their act. When the Protestant Reformation hit England, purgatory was edited out of their theology. The ghosts that were previously the souls of the dead now became demons and apparitions from hell. The book traces the history through each different phase or interpretation of what a ghost was, including the words used to describe them.
There is an excellent bibliography at the end of the book. It has given me a whole new list of writings from the classics that I want to read. The Ghost A Cultural History by Susan Owens is readable, entertaining and enlightening. It is releasing on October 3rd, making it the perfect Halloween present for yourself or a fan of spirits.
January 26, 2019
A very thorough, beautifully executed guide to the cultural history of ghosts. The book is built up chronologically, such that each chapter deals with the cultural ideas and perceptions surrounding ghosts and the afterlife in a specific historical period. It shows how our beliefs and thoughts about ghosts reflect the general spirit of the age we live in and how the idea of the ghost has been transformed in sync with other, much more well known and seemingly grander transformations. The author is an art historian and it shows clearly, seeing as each chapter is accompanied by one or more beautiful illustrations of spectres from the epoch. These are then analysed by the author, showing you clearly what thoughts and beliefs are invested in the paintings. Highly recommended to anyone interested in ghosts and cultural history, though not recommended to anyone merely interested in a spooky story.
March 7, 2018
The Ghost is a thoroughly fascinating book which traces the development of ghosts from warnings from the afterlife, through escapees from purgatory and then the devil's playthings and finally to delicious, terrifying entertainment purely from the imagination. This history is complemented by the shifts in the images of ghosts from skeleton to a shrouded, bare footed figure to the cotton sheet. There are old favourites such as the well known Ghost of a Flea by William Blake and new favourites including the beautiful and eerie three works by Paul Nash. Susan reminded of the extraordinary spiritualist painter Georgiana Houghton and introduced me to writer and essayist Vernon Lee (Violet Paget). The book is furnished with detailed references should you wish to follow up a line of enquiry, a thoughtful selection of colour plates and a great bibliography.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
July 12, 2022
a whistle-stop tour of how ghosts have been perceived throughout british history, from the medieval times to the present, through the lens of art, literature, science, theology and “encounters”, complete with funky pictures. favourite bits include the three living and the three dead (‘take hede unto my fygure here abowne’ on pg. 32 is my new favourite poem), georgiana houghton’s paintings and fanny lynes, the cock lane ghost (sounds like a them there character), and i always love victorian spiritualism. i did find it quite dense but that might be bc i don’t generally read non-fiction. i did think it seemed quite centred in the south of england, too, rather than covering the entirety of britain. still, super interesting and i really enjoyed it! desperately want to know how susan owens would analyse hit bbc sitcom ghosts.
January 20, 2023
An interesting - if brief - study of the figure of the British ghost in fiction. I enjoyed reading this book. The author has a great style, and it flows well. I also enjoyed the many illustrations. I did think that there was an element of missing information/explanation, however. For example, Owens never explains what 'Britain' means in the study. She also never justifies her starting point in the middle ages when there is a wealth of earlier ghostly material in antiquity. These are just two examples. They are nevertheless critical questions to the book. I still found it fascinating how our understanding of ghosts has changed over time, though. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with a cultural interest in the paranormal.
December 11, 2025
Susan Owens walks us through the cultural development of the ghost through the lens of British art and literature. Beginning with references as early as 731AD, she takes us through the 1500s to current day developments. Color plates and literary quotes allows the reader to readily explore the journey Owens takes us on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It did help me understand some of the things we take for granted about ghosts, such as their transparency and the idea of haunted houses. This book is entertaining, but it is not a book of ghost stories. Rather it is a way to understand how the ideas of ghosts has changed with human development. If you are an artist, writer, or other creative with an interest in ghosts, I believe you will uncover some well hidden inspiration in this book.
August 19, 2017
The Ghost: A Cultural History was a fascinating read from start to finish. I loved how Owens used social history and the arts to detail the changing attitudes towards ghosts through the ages. The wide range of source material was especially pleasing, with examples ranging from paintings to poems to plays. Personally, I found the earlier chapters the most illuminating, but that's probably because the information from the Victorian era onwards was already familiar to me. This is an easy and delightful read that will please a wide audience: general ghost fans, social historians, arts lovers, and students of folklore.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley.
December 1, 2019
The Ghost is a cultural reflection on, well, ghosts, and their role in British art and literature history, going as far back as five thousand years ago. Notable--and personal favorites --works of literature such as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol are touched upon, and I really enjoyed the variety of interpretations that the “ghost” have gone through over the centuries. My favorite takeaway from this book is that, similar to films and television, ghosts seem to be one of the only supernatural entities to carry on in nearly any story throughout the years. In other words, they’re timeless.
September 1, 2020
I really struggled with how to rate this book. It contains an incredible out of knowledge and examples of the history and cultural context of ghosts throughout England. Its clear a lot of research and care went into this book, and there are many beautifully crafted passages. However, parts of this book, especially in the first half, were a slog to read. Parts are quite dense with example after example after example, and many times I struggled to understand how each story fit together. While at times clunky, overall this book contains a treasure trove of knowledge any British history buff or ghost lover should definitely add to their arsenal.
October 31, 2023
This book is a history of ghosts in England, starting with the early modern period, when England was converting from Catholicism to Protestantism, and many traditional ideas about the supernatural were falling by the wayside. Each chapter begins with this period, then goes on to the Romantic Era (the golden age of supernatural horror), and discusses present day related issues. It is a well-written book, but it is organized thematically, and many of the themes don't really work very well. I found that the author would jump from topic to topic from one chapter to another, but there was overall very good material in the book, which made it worthwhile.
September 21, 2017
Really enjoyable, well researched and very digestible study of mainly English ghosts from the medieval hauntings of Edith and Etheldreda up to the present day more paranormal output of Susan Hiller and Julie Myerson.
I loved the straightforwardness (& humour) of the older ghosts: open up their graves and they'd give you a thump for your efforts, close the door on them and they'd kick it down rather than waft insubstantially through the wall (that apparently comes later thanks to the advent of watercolour as an art material) but altogether a fascinating read.
I loved the straightforwardness (& humour) of the older ghosts: open up their graves and they'd give you a thump for your efforts, close the door on them and they'd kick it down rather than waft insubstantially through the wall (that apparently comes later thanks to the advent of watercolour as an art material) but altogether a fascinating read.
September 25, 2017
I have always been fascinated by ghosts. Therefore I was very intrigued when I discovered this book. It has a great view on ghosts, and lists how the view have changed throughout the years. It does not take the discussion if they exist or not, and do not patronise any reader and their belief. This is one of the best characters of the book, you can read it no matter your opinion and end up with your own conclusion. This because it is filled with history and stories.
A great read under a blanket in the autumn storms.
*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
A great read under a blanket in the autumn storms.
*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
March 30, 2018
Really enjoyable and informative. It was a bit too heavily focused on art for me... primarily the book is about representations of ghosts in art (with some references to literature and then at the end a couple of paragraphs about other mediums e. g. television). I still enjoyed it and found it interesting but I don't have a huge interest in art. The stuff about literature was fascinating and I just wanted more of that. I especially enjoyed the bits about the Victorian period, and I also liked the anecdotes about 'real' accounts of hauntings that inspired some of the works.
January 4, 2018
This is a very interesting study of ghost stories throughout history. I enjoyed both the tales themselves and the analysis of them. The book withholds judgment on whether ghost experiences are real, but there certainly have been a lot of them! If you are interested in the background in addition to ghost tales, you will enjoy this book.
I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 3, 2018
A well researched and organised book looking at the way Ghosts have changed throughout British history. From being used to keep people on the right moral path to their uses in entertainment. Owens also examines how their appearances changed over time in peoples descriptions and in works of art and literature. I found the first part of the book looking at the 'Ghost' in the medieval period particularly fascinating. Overall this is a great and informative read and would recommend to anyone who has an interest in cultural history, British history or Ghosts and the supernatural.
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