Review: Ford, Haunted Property (2020)

[truepenny]

Haunted Property: Slavery and the Gothic by Sarah Gilbreath Ford

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Literary criticism, focusing on the link between slavery and the gothic: "Just as the American dream of working your way to success is evidenced by property, the American nightmare that your success was stolen from others is evidenced by haunted property. The dream house with the picket fence and the haunted house with broken windows are part of the same narrative" (5). For the most part I found this a very solid piece of work, carefully thought through and carefully written. (I object a little bit to labeling Octavia Butler a "postmodern" writer because she writes about time travel, but on the other hand, whatever keeps people reading her books, and the chapter on Kindred and Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard: A Pulitzer Prize Winner---which I now need to find and read---is a good chapter.)

My favorite observation: "Characters often make stupid decisions in gothic narratives because they do not perceive that they are in a gothic narrative" (80). This explains just about every horror movie ever made.



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