Spectrality in the works of Christoph Ransmayr

My dissertation examines novels by contemporary Austrian author Christoph Ransmayr (1954– ) to demonstrate that the literary-cultural figure of the “specter” is more multifaceted than previously thought, and is still helpful for understanding the ways in which the past and future are mediated in the present, perhaps especially in a hypermedial, information-flooded era. My readings are informed by the “spectral turn” in critical theory, which began with the publication of Jacques Derrida’s Spectres of Marx (1992). Scholars in myriad fields have since used a concept of spectrality based at least loosely on Derrida’s work to better understand textual relationships between past, present, and future; see e.g., Julian Wolfreys, Meera Atikinson, and Grace M. Cho. I modify current generalized notions of spectrality and argue that there are at least three types of specters in literature: 1. the ghost, i.e., the living embodiment of a dead person/thing; 2. the meta-specter, who appears through mediated means, e.g. through writing; 3. the mytho-specter, who exists in myth or in other narrations of collective cultural memory. These spectral types all appear in Christoph Ransmayr’s novels and help us better understand his postmodern negotiation of the relation between pasts and presents. Scholars of the specter should find these distinctions useful as it can provide a way for them to distinguish between various types of specters as well as show the ways in which they may be similar. My reading of Atlas of an Anxious Man (2012) demonstrates how specters enable a better understanding of the text’s relationship with history, mourning, and myth. Turning to The Flying Mountain (2006), I examine linguistic spectrality and its relation to present re-representations of past trauma. I then examine Ransmayr’s historical fiction, including The Dog King (1997), to show how the specter influences and is influenced by history. Finally, I examine his latest novel, The Lockmaster (2021), to illuminate the relation between spectrality and the Gothic. These readings all aim to further the understanding not just of the cultural figure of the specter, but also of Ransmayr’s works. Scholars of Ransmayr as well as of spectrality should find this project useful in showing the various ways in which Ransmayr utilizes the figure of the specter and the ways in which messages are passed throughout differing temporalities in his works.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

German

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Hader, Zachary Scott

Contributors dc:contributor

• Johnson, Laurie R
• Niekerk, Carl H
• Pinkert, Anke
• Hunt, Anna

• Spectrality
• Christoph Ransmayr
• specters
• ghosts
• haunting
• memory studies
• trauma studies

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Zachary Hader

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129402

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129402