What Doireann Ní Ghríofa is Reading Now, and Next
In her new book, Said the Dead, Doireann Ní Ghríofa is “the Reader,” a third-person protagonist. “In the asylum edgelands, she stumbled on a ghost story,” Ní Ghríofa writes.
In her recently published book titled Said the Dead, Doireann Ní Ghríofa introduces a protagonist referred to as the Reader, who is described in the third person. The narrative follows this character as she explores a ghost story discovered in the asylum edgelands, a term used to describe marginal or liminal spaces near former psychiatric institutions. The story unfolds as the Reader pieces together clues from coincidence (happenstance) and signs interpreted as omens (augury). These terms refer to unplanned events and perceived symbols believed to foretell the future, respectively. The book’s title, Said the Dead, suggests a focus on voices or stories emerging from the deceased, framing the narrative around themes of memory, history, and the unseen.
The protagonist’s journey in *Said the Dead* revolves around uncovering the specifics of a ghost story she encounters. The narrative emphasizes her pursuit of details, driven by a combination of curiosity and a sense of fate. The term *ghost story* here is used broadly to describe a tale involving supernatural elements or the lingering presence of the dead, rather than a traditional horror narrative. The *asylum edgelands* serve as a setting that evokes themes of abandonment, forgotten histories, and the blurred boundaries between past and present. The protagonist’s method of following *clues of happenstance and augury* implies a non-linear, intuitive approach to uncovering the story, where random events and perceived signs guide her investigation.
