Ghosts of Memory: The Return of the Spectral in Contemporary Neoslave Narratives

Given the relevance of the ghost in fantastic and speculative fiction, this paper seeks to interrogate the mobilization of the spectral as a main tool for enacting a process of historical revision and for the configuration of an alternative historical memory. Such inquiry will be developed through the analysis of two contemporary neo-slave narratives, Grace (2016) by Natashia Deón and Let Us Descend (2023) by Jesmyn Ward, that illustrate the current shift toward anti-realist representations of historical processes. Adopting the theoretical framework of spectrality studies, this examination will discuss the intersections of the spectral with aspects of gender, maternity and temporality. The multi-layered dimensions of ghosts and the bidirectionality of haunting deployed in these novels redefine the spectral as a subversive space of resistance and a chief literary mechanism to articulate a major socio-political reflection on the condition of Blackness in the United States at present.