Context and The Woman in Black Inquiry Question: How does context affect a literary work? Starter activity What do these different book covers tell you about the story within them?

What do we mean by ‘Context’? Can be defined as: 1. The time and place within which a text (in this case a novel) is written. Other contextual details that are important: 2. The author’s personal background 3. The time and place that a novel is set

Context: Susan Hill… This, the first ghost story I wrote began as a challenge to myself. I decided I would see if I could bring off a full-length ghost story and I began by making a list of essential ‘ingredients.’ These included: 1 A haunted place. A lonely house or church 2. Atmosphere 3. Weather - fog or mist, dusk, twilight, drizzle…

4. A ghost - not as silly as it sounds. The ghost story is not necessarily a horror story and it must have a ghost, which is defined as the spirit of someone now dead which looks as they looked in life and which is seen by people still living. Context: Susan Hill…

Context: Susan Hill 5. The ghost must have a purpose - that seemed essential. There has to be a motive for the hauntings. It is not very interesting if a dark-robed monk walks through walls or a veiled lady drifts up and down a staircase frightening people but doing nothing much else and without any reason or purpose.

Victorians… Victorians were excellent at telling ghost stories and were fascinated in the idea of malicious character / person from history disrupting or terrorising the present. The Victorians were also intrigued by death and the possibility of an afterlife. Hill write a story in the tradition of the Victorian gothic and ghost stories, but she is a modern writer of the 21 st century.

Chapter One: Christmas Eve As we read Chapter One, annotate any sections or passages of the chapter that link to what you have learnt about the context of the novel so far.