The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction

Gothic as a form of fiction-making has played a major role in Western culture since the late eighteenth century. Here fourteen world-class experts on the Gothic provide thorough and revealing accounts of this haunting-to-horrifying type of fiction from the 1760s (the decade of The Castle of Otranto, the first so-called ‘Gothic story’) to the end of the twentieth century (an era haunted by filmed and computerized Gothic simulations). Along the way, these essays explore the connections of Gothic fictions to political and industrial revolutions, the realistic novel, the theatre, Romantic and post-Romantic poetry, nationalism and racism from Europe to America, colonized and post-colonial populations, the rise of film and other visual technologies, the struggles between ‘high’ and ‘popular’ culture, changing psychological attitudes towards human identity, gender and sexuality, and the obscure lines between life and death, sanity and madness. The volume also includes a chronology and guides to further reading.

• Comprehensive and completely up-to-date introduction to the Gothic, from late eighteenth-century fiction to classic film to contemporary cybergothic • Varied essays by leading world experts in this area of enquiry which is increasingly popular in courses etc. • Accessible, even racy, style alongside high academic standards

Preface; Contributors; Chronology; 1. Introduction: The ‘Gothic’ in Western culture Jerrold E. Hogle; 2. The genesis of ‘Gothic’ fiction E. J. Clery; 3. The 1790s: the effulgence of the Gothic Robert Miles; 4. The continental Gothic Terry Hale; 5. Gothic fictions and Romantic writing in Britain Michael Gamer; 6. The Scottish and Irish Gothic David Punter; 7. English Gothic theatre Jeffrey N. Cox; 8. The Victorian Gothic in English novels and stories, 1830–85 Alison Milbank; 9. The rise of American Gothic Eric Savoy; 10. Gothic fiction at the turn of the century, 1885–1930 Kelly Hurley; 11. The Gothic on screen Misha Kavka; 12. The colonial and post-colonial Gothic Lizabeth Paravinisi-Gebert; 13. The contemporary Gothic Steven Bruhm; 14. Aftergothic (consumption, machines, and Black Holes) Fred Botting; Guide to further reading; Index.

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