Unsafe spaces: Coercion, control, and the domestic in the ghostly Gothic tales of E. Nesbit

Heholt, Ruth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6963-6427 (2025) Unsafe spaces: Coercion, control, and the domestic in the ghostly Gothic tales of E. Nesbit. In: Ghosts and the Gothic. Manchester University Press, Manchester, pp. 153-167. ISBN 9781526181923

Text (Chapter 7 in 'Ghosts and the Gothic') Chapter 7 Ruth Heholt.docx - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 16 March 2027. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (65kB) | Request a copy

Abstract / Summary

Although for the most part ‘sunny’, even E. Nesbit's famous children’s books include themes of loss and grief; families are torn
apart, ghosts return, and supernatural beings cause mischief. But
it is in her short supernatural tales that things turn really dark –
returning ghosts (both male and female) demand sex; there are
appalling ghostly rapes, and terrifying abductions. These terrible
stories of violence and revenge focus on relationships, marriage,
and the family. They are very personal stories of what can happen
when the familial ‘utopia’ shatters. This chapter focuses on these
explorations of the home and the family; on gendered relationships and an idealised version of patriarchal control

Item Type:	Book Section
ISBN:	9781526181923
Subjects:	Literature
Department:	School of Communication
Depositing User:	Ruth Heholt
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2025 11:50
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2025 11:50
URI:	https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/id/eprint/6215

View Record (staff only)