Haunting Imperial (Non)Sense: What Cannot Be Captured in the Victorian Ghost Story

December, 2025

~ Draft Resource in Process ~

Welcome to our anthology of select stories of haunting from the Victorian period, all of which engage with and explore the dynamics of imperialism and imperialist -- and empiricist -- mindsets. Gaps, ambiguity, and thwarted action characterize the hauntings that arise in these diverse narratives. When both "sense" and the senses fail, characters and readers alike are haunted by what they can experience, but not share or explain. Join us for a lingering look at the haunted side of the British Empire in the late nineteenth century.

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Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his work Jenny

This page will examine the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and specifically his poem Jenny. Rossetti was an extremely influential English artist and poet of the Victorian Era. As a founder of the Pre Raphaelites movement, Rossetti aimed to break free from the idealistic and “rigid” structure of traditional Victorian art.

Welcome to "Haunting Imperial (Non)Sense" ~ Introduction & Bibliography

December, 2025

DRAFT

 

One need not be a chamber—to be haunted—
One need not be a House—
The Brain—has Corridors surpassing 
Material Place—
* * *
Far safer, through an Abbey—gallop—
The Stones a’chase—
Than moonless—One’s A’self encounter—
In lonesome place—

Ourself—behind Ourself—Concealed—
Should startle—most—

* * *

Excerpts of “One need not be a chamber—” by Emily Dickinson

 

 

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