英文摘要 |
As the “spectre of the self,” the ghost implies the individuality of a person in the pre-Reformation era. After the decease of the body, the ghost still keeps the memory and personality of the deceased person. Therefore, it can be regarded as the remains of their traits and personhood. In this paper, I would like to point out that ghosts are produced by the “technologies of spirit.” The nineteenth century spiritualism and telegraph, I will argue, are the new technologies that produce ghosts which are similar to a non-linear, nonindividual, and non-human flow. Adopting the method of media archaeology, I will trace how the “technologies” of spiritualism and telegraph decentralized both authorship and anthropocentrism. Hand in hand, they went so far to restructure the modern ghost. Moreover, often noted for his craze for cutting-edge technologies, Charles Dickens wrote his ghost stories with Victorian hypomnemata in mind. In this essay, A Christmas Carol, “The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain,” and “The Signal-Man” will be investigated to illustrate how the individuality and personality that used to indicate old ghosts have been liquidized and dehumanized into a flow of modern ghosts. |