Includes bibliographical references (p. [199]-215) and index.

Introduction: Recognizing the dead -- Dead woman wailing: Edgar Allan Poe's "The fall of the house of Usher" -- Dead woman dictating: Henry James's The turn of the screw -- Dead woman rotting: William Faulkner's As I lay dying -- Dead woman cursing: Alice Walker's In search of our mothers' gardens -- Dead woman wanting: Toni Morrison's Beloved -- Dead woman heckling: Tony Kushner's Angels in America -- Dead women gossiping: Randall Kenan's Let the dead bury their dead -- Dead women healing: Ana Castillo's So far from God -- Dead woman coming of age: Alice Sebold's The lovely bones -- Dead woman singing: Suzan-Lori Parks's Getting mother's body -- When dead women don't talk: Maxine Hong Kingston's "No name woman".