Hauntings in Hispanic Fiction

Ghost stories evoke both fear and delight in readers, listeners, or viewers. But beyond entertaining us, tales of haunting can reveal memories, traumas, and social figures that an individual or society has repressed or maybe just never noticed before. For example, a ghostly apparition may serve to remind a nation of historical violence that it has sought to forget. Or it may represent a silenced social figure clamoring to be heard from the margins. In this course we will explore haunting as a theoretical concept and storytelling device. To do so we will analyze a variety of ghostly narratives - both literary and cinematic - from the Hispanic world. As we summon these fictional phantoms and work to interpret their messages, we will situate each text within its particular cultural, sociopolitical, and intellectual contexts.