Visible Yet Immaterial: The Phantom and the Male Body in Ghost Stories by Three Victorian Women Writers

This chapter considers the ghosts that become visible to white men, but it also examines the phenomena of the appearance of white men as ghosts. It references the work of three women writers of ghost stories from across the Victorian period: Catherine Crowe, writing in the early Victorian era, Rhoda Broughton from the middle of the age, and Edith Nesbit’s late Victorian tales. Exploring the question of men and ghosts through the work of these three popular women writers, we can trace the way that ghosts and ghost sightings reflect on Victorian ideas of masculinity