The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction

A thorough and accessible guide to the Gothic genre.

Jerrold E. Hogle (Edited by)

9780521791243, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 August 2002

354 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.64 kg

'… if you want to brush up on your origins and expand your literary knowledge or just want something new to think about [this is] a good place to start.' Bite Me

Gothic as a form of fiction-making has played a major role in Western culture since the late eighteenth century. In this volume, 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.

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.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]