Unit-2

Ghost Stories: Elizabeth Bowen: The Demon

Lover
Contents
• 1-An overview of ghost stories:

• 2-Characteristics of the Ghost stories:

• 3-Components of the ghost stories:

• 4: The Demon Lover: AN Introduction

• 5- Elizabeth Dorothea Biography

• 6-Synopsis of the Story

• 7-Characters of the story:

• 8-Themes of the novel

• 9-Style of writing:

• 10-Historical Context of the novel

• 11-An Analytical Perspective:

12: Summary
 1-An overview of ghost stories:

• A ghost story is a narrative that involves ghosts. In a broader sense, the term may
be used to refer to a story that is based more on imagination than on truth.

• Stories about the afterlife may be found in almost all forms of literature and
cultural contexts, ranging from traditional folktales and religious texts to
contemporary works of horror fiction.

• They can be utilised as standalone episodes or interpolated stories within a larger

narrative, such as in Lucius Apuleius's The Golden Ass, Geoffrey Chaucer's "

• The Nun's Priest's Tale," William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and a number of

Renaissance plays and gothic novels; alternatively, they can be the primary focus
of a work, such as the stories in Sheridan Le Fanu's "In a Glass Darkly," Henry
James' novella "
2-Characteristics of the Ghost stories:
3-Components of the ghost stories

• 1- Character
• 2- the dread of unknown
• 3-Emotions
• 4- Story Line
• 5- Killer Ending
4: The Demon Lover: AN Introduction

• In 1945, Elizabeth Bowen's collection of short stories titled The Demon Lover and Other Stories was released for
the first time in Britain. Ivy Gripped the Steps and Other Tales was the title given to the collection when it was
first released in the United States in the year 1946. Reviewers, without exception, gave it a positive reaction and
praised it for providing "a fully effective description of what war did to the mind and soul of the English people."

• This praise was expressed in the New Yorker. Critics believe that "The Demon Lover" exemplifies some of
Bowen's best abilities as a writer, and as a result, it is arguably the short story by Bowen that has been included in
the most anthologies throughout the years.

• After witnessing the Blitz, or aerial bombing, of London by the Germans during the years 1940-1941, Bowen
was motivated to create "The Demon Lover" during World War II.

• This event served as his inspiration. People in London were still reeling from the aftereffects of World War I
when they were confronted with the horrors of World War II. Therefore, the purpose of Bowen's narrative was to
try to embody the "war on top of war" attitude that was prevalent in London after the Blitz.
5- Elizabeth Dorothea Biography

• On June 7, 1899, Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen made her debut into the
world in Dublin, Ireland.
• During her early life, Bowen split her time between her family's residence
in Dublin and Bowen's Court, the estate that her Anglo-Irish parents owned
in County Cork, Ireland. Bowen is the daughter of Anglo-Irish aristocratic
parents.
• However, everything came to a stop when Bowen's father was sent to the
hospital for treatment of mental illness, and she and her mother moved to
England to remain with relatives until her father was well.
• In 1912, just before she and the rest of her family were about to be
reunited, her mother received a cancer diagnosis and passed away soon
thereafter.
6-Synopsis of the Story

• Mrs. Kathleen Drover has travelled back to London from the home she owns in the
countryside in order to retrieve some belongings from the home she and her husband had to
leave in 1940 and 1941 due to the bombing of London by the Germans.

• Mrs. Drover and her husband had to leave the city because of the German threat. When she
finally returns home, it is a muggy late-August day, and her street is almost completely
empty.
• As soon as she walks inside the home, she notices all of the telltale stains and dust that were
left behind when she and her family moved out. Because the bombing caused the home to
sustain considerable structural damage, she is concerned about its condition.
• It is a strange sight for her to see, considering that the caretaker was unaware of her return,
that her house was boarded up, and that all of her mail had been forwarded to the country
address. However, as she walks past the hall table in her home, she notices a letter addressed
to her that is sitting there.
7-:Characters of the story

• Mrs. Kathleen Drover

• The tale revolves on the views and actions of Mrs. Kathleen Drover. When she receives a letter addressed to her
in her abandoned London house, she thinks back to her erstwhile nameless soldier-lover during World War I. She
is intensely aware of her surroundings: the environment, weather, and notably, a feeling of strangeness. The letter
sitting on the table pushes her to contemplate the different possibilities for how the letter got there in the first
place.

• Because of the overwhelming sense of the strangeness of her situation, Mrs. Drover rushes upstairs to check
herself in the mirror: her “most normal expression was one of controlled worry, but of assent. . . [she] had . . . an
intermittent muscular flicker to the left of her mouth, but . . . she could. constantly maintain a demeanour that
was at once active and calm.” To her family Mrs. Drover is an image of stability and reliability. The letter
unnerves her, though, and she starts to pack things in a “rapid, fumbling-decisive way.” Although it is unclear if
she is tormented by the angry spirit of her soldier-lover or just neurotic, she fully breaks down at the conclusion
of the narrative.
Cont..
• Soldier-Lover

• Although we encounter the soldier-lover mainly via Kathleen

Drover’s recollections, he is a major figure. He treats her
thoughtlessly, forcing her palm uncomfortably against his uniform
breast buttons when she seeks to touch him and makes her a vow
that “I will be with you . . . sooner or later. You won’t forget it. You
need do nothing except wait.” He is declared “missing, assumed
killed” in combat in World War I.
8-Themes of the novel

• Doubt and Ambiguity:The issue of appearance versus reality is essential to “The

Demon Lover.” The dubiousness of the

• Media Adaptations: “The Demon Lover” was adapted for radio transmission on
August 27, 1946, and was read by Evelyn Russell.

• Identity: It seems that Mrs. Drover knows herself exclusively via her family’s
perspectives. She seems to them as a strong, confident lady, yet she has hidden
portions of herself deep in her own memories.

• Revenge:The contents of the letter may imply that the soldier-lover plans to fulfil
his twenty-five-year-old pledge to return and “be with” Mrs. Drover.
9-Style of writing

• The narrative is written in the third person using an omniscient point of view,
which provides the reader with a godlike viewpoint that is not constrained by time
or location and enables the reader to gaze into the brains of the protagonists.
• The main emphasis of the narrative is on Mrs. Drover and her point of view.
• In order to emphasise the depth of Mrs. Drover's emotions, the narrative may
sometimes shift to the first-person point of view or the perspective of a certain
character, and then it will flip back to the third-person point of view.
• This interrupts the flow of the story and gives the reader the opportunity to
immediately sense her thoughts.
10-Historical Context of the novel

• The short story collection The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1945), published in America as Ivy
Gripped the Steps and Other Stories (1946), was written between 1941 and 1944, while Bowen
worked in London at the Ministry of Information during the day and as an air-raid warden at night.

• She resided in London during the most intensive time of the German air onslaught during World
War II.

• Bombs with warheads of approximately one tonne started dropping on London on September 8,
1944, and later that year the V-2 (revenge weapon 2) bombs began to fall. More over one thousand
of them landed in Britain, killing over 2,700 people and injured 6,500.

• The setting of “The Demon Lover” is the desolate streets of London, whose people have fled the
destruction of their houses.
11-An Analytical Perspective:

• Bowen was often compared to other writers including Jane Austen, Henry James, Virginia Woolf,
and Katharine Mansfield by reviewers.

• These comparisons were made due to Bowen's acute awareness of details, atmosphere, and mood,
as well as her concentration on the viewpoints of female characters. However, particularly during
World War II, there has been a gradual shift toward less critical attention being paid to Bowen's
works.

• The difficulties that Mrs. Drover faces after returning to her empty home have been the subject of a
great deal of critical discussion.

• Issues about Mrs. Drover's delicate mental condition and suppressed memories, the link of demon
lover with war itself, and the fact that Bowen's work shares its title with a Gothic song are all topics
that have been the subject of ongoing debate and discussion among critics.
12-Summary:

 A ghost story is a narrative that involves ghosts. In a broader sense, the term may be used to
refer to a story that is based more on imagination than on truth.
 Stories about the afterlife may be found in almost all forms of literature and cultural
contexts, ranging from traditional folktales and religious texts to contemporary works of
horror fiction.
 To begin, you need to create characters who are interesting enough to care about. When
things start to go wrong for a character, there is a greater possibility that the audience will
identify with and empathise with that character. This is especially true if the character is
realistic.
 In 1945, Elizabeth Bowen's collection of short stories titled The Demon Lover and Other
Stories was released for the first time in Britain.
Cont..
 Ivy Gripped the Steps and Other Tales was the title given to the collection when it was first released in the
United States in the year 1946. Reviewers, without exception, gave it a positive reaction and praised it
 Mrs. Kathleen Drover has travelled back to London from the home she owns in the countryside in order
to retrieve some belongings from the home she and her husband had to leave in 1940 and 1941 due to the
bombing of London by the Germans.
 Mrs. Drover and her husband had to leave the city because of the German threat. When she finally returns
home, it is a muggy late-August day, and her street is almost completely empty.
 The narrative is written in the third person using an omniscient point of view, which provides the reader
with a godlike viewpoint that is not constrained by time or location and enables the reader to gaze into the
brains of the protagonists.
 The main emphasis of the narrative is on Mrs. Drover and her point of view. In order to emphasise the
depth of Mrs. Drover's emotions, the narrative may sometimes shift to the first-person point of view
Thank You