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Pre-order. Available Jan 07 2027
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Description

Exploring current debates in creative writing about the borders between fiction and creative nonfiction, this collection of essays draws on concepts of the uncanny and hauntology to challenge, subvert and transgress the boundary between forms. Hauntology, as originally defined by Derrida, challenges the certainties of ontology, in a similar way to debates about truth in creative nonfiction; by bringing together authors that undermine the fiction/nonfiction binary, Haunted Writing considers the ways in which real events and experiences haunt writers as they craft their work. Offering insight into how the past – both personal and historical – is experienced and understood in the present, this book includes writing from a diverse group of established and emerging authors who situate their work on genre boundaries and discuss their own creative practice to show how their writing 'haunts' real events.

With essays covering a range of ideas from subjectivity, intersectionality and challenging dominant versions of history, to braiding personal and researched stories, playfulness, experimentation and creating stories from archival documents, this beautifully written collection intervenes in contemporary discussions in creative writing and culture surrounding ownership, appropriation and ethics. Bringing a fresh voice and new perspectives to ever-present questions within creative writing, Haunted Writing uncovers how the past is a spectre that disrupts contemporary writing.

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  • PDF/UA-2, 1.4
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

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The publication contains no hazards

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Has alternative text descriptions for images

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  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction – by the editors
Section One: Haunting Documents
1. “His Melancholy Decease”: the haunted archive and its fictional afterlives in a meandering history of Peel Park, Salford. Ursula Hurley, University of Salford.
2. Echoing through the Archive: Poetry as Archival Intervention. Chloe Hanks, York St John University
3. Co-authoring with forgotten voices: remix-writing as a methodology to reimagine lost lives. Clare Harvey, Coventry University.
4. The Norgesian Mind Manifold Memories Await Us. Kirsten Norrie, Independent Writer.

Section Two: Haunting Places
5. At the Threshold: the uncanny meeting point of family history and the short story. Helen Pleasance York St John University.
6. Haunting Lives: Spectres in the Shadows. Emma Kirby, Cardiff University.
7. Between the Chain Links: Geopoetic Expression as Crossing-Point. R.L. Francis, University of Wolverhampton.
8. Iter II. Anthony Cartwright University of the West of England.

Section Three: Haunting Others
9. My Vanishing Twin and The Mirrored Reality that Sings: Ghosts of Those Who Never Came to Be. Anayis N. Der Hakopian, Independent Writer.
10. The Pretenders: Phantoms and Intergenerational Trauma. Francesca Liauw, Independent Writer.
11. Bringing the Dead Back to Life: the challenges of authenticity in creative nonfiction Toby Norways, University of Bedfordshire.
12. Method Writing: a performative approach to blend fiction and nonfiction in a roman-à-clef. Keren Poliah, University of Salford.

Section Four: Haunting Selves
13. The Double as Other: The Ethics of Autofictional Self-Encounters. Natasha Bell, Goldsmiths University.
14. Haunted Bodies in Breast Cancer Autopathography: Blue Breast. Michelle Ryan, Université d'Angers.
15. Haunting Motherhood: Autotheory as borderless writing. Lynley Edmeades University of Otago.
16. Joshua in the Sky: writing in the borderland. Rodge Glass, University of Strathclyde.
17. Narrative Aporias and Lost Futures. Robert Edgar, York St John University
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Jan 07 2027
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Pages 288
ISBN 9781350560055
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 15 bw illus
Series Bloomsbury Spectres, Hauntings and Horrors
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Helen Pleasance

Helen Pleasance is Senior Lecturer in Creative Wri…

Anthology Editor

Helen Pleasance

Helen Pleasance is Senior Lecturer in Creative Wri…

Anthology Editor

Helen Pleasance

Helen Pleasance is Senior Lecturer in Creative Wri…

Anthology Editor

Helen Pleasance

Helen Pleasance is Senior Lecturer in Creative Wri…

Anthology Editor

Robert Edgar

Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular C…

Anthology Editor

Robert Edgar

Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular C…

Anthology Editor

Robert Edgar

Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular C…

Anthology Editor

Robert Edgar

Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular C…

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