The Media and Medium in Charles Dickens's “The Signalman”: The Junction of Electricity and Spirit

Abstract

“The Signalman”, a short story by Charles Dickens can be distinguished from other ghost stories. What makes this short story special is its focus on railways and the telegraph. This is a complex ‘network’ where ghosts appear in the story and to which the work itself belongs, for “The Signalman” was published as a part of Mugby Junction.

Employing media theory analysis, this paper re-reads “The Signalman” as a novel that echoes a Britain of the nineteenth century where new networks of railways and electrical wires enabled the rapid transit and mass communication. The new and revolutionary flow of information was mysterious and beyond the understanding of ordinary people. It was almost something spiritual. Dickens represented this enigma in “The Signalman” as the junction of ghosts and the latest media. The author's consciousness towards this junction can be found in the other chapters he wrote for Mugby Junction. Through this book, the protagonist improves his understanding of this junction. Our focus on technological media and spiritualistic mediums would give nineteenth century ghosts a certain definition: a piece to fill an unexplainable space in a complex of lines of information. Networks offer ghosts a place to appear, and people recognize a network through ghostly images.