In one important way, the historical considerations that readers bring to the interpretation of other kinds of fiction do not apply to ghost stories. Ghost stories deal with situations that are outside of nature and, for that reason, outside of history. Ghosts and the emotions with which audiences read stories about ghosts exist in a realm that is not much affected by history, politics, and economy. At the same time, of course, writers live and work inside history, and the media with which writers practice their craft—language and literary genre—are very much shaped by historical factors. For these reasons, and not because Elsie Ashby's ghost is in some recognizable way a ghost of the 1930s, Wharton's "Pomegranate Seed" is a story whose historical and cultural background may be profit-ably explored.

For one thing, "Pomegranate Seed" is a story that presents...