Product Description

The popularity of Gothic fictions, themes and films suggests that the genre is the norm as much as the dark underside of contemporary cultural production. Having endured for over two hundred years and settled onto numerous respectable courses of study, the meaning and value of the Gothic seems due for reappraisal. The essays in this volume, written by critics whose work over the last twenty years has considerably advanced the understanding of the Gothic genre, reexamine its literary, historical and cultural significance: from Horace Walpole to Angela Carter and the X-Files, new and familiar texts are reassessed; common readings of Gothic themes and critical approaches to the genre are interrogated: Gothic finds itself integrally involved in the production of a modern sense of the nation; it continues to haunt legal discourses; it underpins social mythologies and ideologies; informs histories of sexuality and identity; offers curious substance to notions of community and culture, and raises questions of ethics and postmodernism. Professor FRED BOTTING teaches in the Department of English at Keele University.Contributors: DAVID PUNTER, ELISABETH BRONFEN, E.J. CLERY, ROBERT MILES, JEAN-JACQUES LECERCLE, LESLIE J. MORAN, HELEN STODDART, FRED BOTTING, JERROLD E. HOGLE.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2301522 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 190 pages

Review
A welcome addition to new historicist theory. - Essays in Criticism

An accessible and affordable book that will undoubtedly prove and indispensable addition to both Romantic and Victorian reading lists. - TLS

Elegant and streamlined, a miracle of compression. - Gothic Studies

The returns on reading this book are enormous. - In-between: Essays and Studies in Literary Criticism

About the Author
Professor Fred Botting teaches in the Department of English at Keele University.

Customer Reviews

Why I like Fred Botting
This book is fabulous if you are looking for a historical survey of Gothic which does not lose itself in the labyrinth of feminist theory. However, I think Botting spreads himself a bit too thin in attempting to cover works like Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" in one sentence. I loved this book for bringing out the evolution of Gothic from early works to the present.

Gives you a good understanding of Gothic Literature
This is an excellent starting point for those interested in getting a very broad but thorough understanding of Gothic literature. After reading this, you will feel confident in knowing the backbone of Gothic and what it entails.

(I might also add that this is a very well-written book; the author is easy to read and very knowledgeable.)

The Perfect Introduction
This is the perfect introduction to a study of both Gothic Literature and, by extension, 20th Century horror literature and cinema. The author walks a fine line between academic and accessible and keeps things moving along at a nice pace, covering 250 years in under 200 pages. The book is part of the Routledge "New Critical Idiom" series that sums up concepts from literary and critical theory in nice digestible servings. If you are an undergrad looking for a place to start your research or a non-academic who isn't afraid to get a little theoretical, I'd recommend this book highly.