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Palgrave Macmillan

Short Stories, Knowledge and the Supernatural

Machado de Assis, Henry James and Guy de Maupassant

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  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Amândio Reis

    1. Centre for Comparative Studies, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

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  • Offers a comparative approach to the supernatural short fiction of Machado de Assis, Henry James and Guy de Maupassant
  • Brings together three different linguistic and cultural worlds to explore transnational patterns in this genre
  • Argues that the birth of the modern short story coincided with modern ideas of the supernatural in the late 19th century

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Mapping the Transatlantic Supernatural Story

    • Amândio Reis
    Pages 1-24

  3. Machad o de Assis and the Doors of Fiction

    • Amândio Reis
    Pages 25-89

  4. Henry James , from Ghost Stories to Ghost Texts

    • Amândio Reis
    Pages 91-148

  5. Guy de Maupassant : Doubt, Dogma, and the Dead

    • Amândio Reis
    Pages 149-218

  6. Conclusion: The Metaliterary Supernatural Story

    • Amândio Reis
    Pages 219-234

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 235-250
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Keywords

About this book

This book proposes a comparative approach to the supernatural short stories of Machado de Assis, Henry James and Guy de Maupassant. It offers an alternative to predominantly novel-centric and Anglo-centric perspectives on literary pre-modernism by investigating a transnational and multilingual connection between genre, theme and theory, i.e., between the modern short story, the supernatural and the problem of knowledge. Incorporating a close analysis of the literary texts into a discussion of their historical context, the book argues that Machado, James and Maupassant explore and reinvent the supernatural short story as a metafictional genre. This modernized and innovative form allows them to challenge the dichotomies and conventions of realist and supernatural fiction, inviting their past and present readers to question common assumptions on reality and literary representation.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Centre for Comparative Studies, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Amândio Reis

About the author

Amândio Reis is a Research Fellow and member of the Centre for Comparative Studies at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is the editor-in-chief of Compendium: Journal of Comparative Studies. He has taught comparative literature, Romantic poetry and painting, and contemporary and late nineteenth-century short fiction. His work is mostly focused on narrative theory, comparative literature, and interarts studies, with a special focus on the late nineteenth century and transatlantic modernisms.

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