Neo-Victorian Ghosts: Haunting, Spectres, and Spectrality in Sarah Waters' Affinity

This paper explores the multifaceted roles of spectres within Sarah Waters’ neo-Victorian novel Affinity (1999). Largely based on Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology, this analysis focuses on four main areas: spectres as symbols of lost identities, spectres as manifestations of hidden lesbian desires, spectres of the deceased, and the transmission of haunting from one person or object to another. The analysis reveals that the figure of the spectre represents a kaleidoscope of different phenomena, all unified by the ever-present intrusion of the past in the present. The article also considers Derrida’s understanding of mourning and the role of language in the transmission of haunting.