The "carefully-constructed screen": phantasmagorical strata in the ghost stories of M.R. James

The ghost stories of M. R. James often feature antiquarian protagonists engaging in archaeological excavation that disrupts accumulated layers. Scattered artifacts blur past/present distinctions so the two are experienced simultaneously. This temporal disruption is allied with a transfigured perception of the landscape, as the disturbance of the ground activates a specter; the penetration of sealed cavities in the earth creates a rift akin to the resurfacing of repressed trauma under psychoanalysis. This archaeological and psychological stratification is extended via metaphorical allusions to the assembled images of the magic lantern. The chapter engages with stratified representations of landscape aligned with neurological levels of consciousness and spectral phantasmagoria, demonstrating that the buried, repressed and hidden are encrypted within these physical, psychological and translucent layers. In conclusion, excavating back to reread James through layers of subsequent influence, for instance in television adaptations of his work and in the plays of Nigel Kneale, demonstrates how a phantasmagorical stratification was used to examine a desacralized modernity.