Introduction: Spectres, spectrums and spectrality: new directions in comparative literature
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Accepted Version
Date
2025-06-25
Authors
Kennedy, Laura
Milne, Rachel
Spear, Charlotte
Towers, Daisy
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Volume Title
Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
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Abstract
In this half issue, we draw upon understandings of spectres, spectrums, and spectrality as a means with which to widen avenues of critical inquiry and consider more balanced and multifaceted understandings of the world through literature, poetry and film. This thematic focus allows us to challenge binary thinking and to embrace ambiguity and liminality, in order to consider narratives that resist fixed and rigid interpretations. By approaching literature through this spectral lens, we can critique and reflect on the ways in which complex identities can be represented in new ways. Engaging with spectres of the past that haunt these texts, through manifestations of cultural traumas and political conflicts, yet focusing on the opportunities in thinking spectrally within Comparative Literature, thus enables this half issue to broaden the gaze of critical inquiry, allowing for more nuanced and inclusive understandings of our place in the world.
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Keywords
Polarization , Contemporary social, economic and political life , The past , Critical inquiry
Citation
Kennedy, L., Milne, R., Spear, C. and Towers, D. (2025) 'Introduction: Spectres, spectrums and spectrality: new directions in comparative literature', Comparative Critical Studies, 22(2), pp.147-155. https://doi.org/10.3366/ccs.2025.0559
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© 2025, British Comparative Literature Association. 'This is the Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Edinburgh University Press in Comparative Critical Studies, 22(2), pp.147-155. The Version of Record is available online at: http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/ccs.2025.0559