“Pure Existence”: The Search for Reality in John Banville’s Ghosts

Through a close examination of three key passages, this essay seeks to highlight hidden affinities between John Banville's novel Ghosts and the mystical foundation of the world's religions. The essay argues that through the divergent cultural phenomena of postmodern fiction and ancient religious mythologies the same quarry – reality – is being sought. This reality is pre-linguistic and cannot be directly spoken or written but only approached indirectly by way of fictions and mythologies and rituals. The idea is explored through a creative conflict at play between the terms significance and meaning. Although no specific religion is exclusively relied upon in the argument, the Hindu concepts of Atman and aham (representing the true self and the ego self, respectively) are employed to interpret much of the behaviour and feeling of the novel's protagonist, Freddie Montgomery. Questions are explored concerning the comparative reality quotient of actuality and the imagination as expressed through art.