A Century of Weird Fiction, 1832-1937: Disgust, Metaphysics, and the Aesthetics of Cosmic Horror

by Jonathan Newell

Overview

A Century of Weird Fiction, 1832-1937 explores the aesthetics of the unthinkable in weird fiction, tracing a twisted entanglement of ontology and aesthetics. Drawing on recent speculative philosophy and affect theory, the study argues that weird fiction exploits the viscerality of disgust to confront readers with the intertwinement of the human and nonhuman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786835444
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	07/17/2020
Series:	University of Wales Press Horror Studies Series
Edition description:	1
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Newell is an Instructor at Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia. His research focuses on aesthetics and metaphysics in weird fiction, horror and the Gothic.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

1 Introduction Metaphysical Malignancies 1

2 The Putrescent Principle Edgar Allan Poe 23

3 Ecstasies of Slime Arthur Machen 57

4 Horrible Enchantmenrs Algernon Blackwood 95

5 Disgusting Powers William Hope Hodgson 131

6 Daemonology of Unplumbed Space Howard Phillips Lovecraft 163

Conclusion The Wisdom of the Unhuman 201

Endnotes 205

Bibliography 225

Index 235

Editorial Reviews

"Timely and astute. . ."

Review 19

Jonathan Newell’s rigorous analysis reveals how weird fiction has anticipated and influenced important movements in contemporary philosophy. This book offers striking new critical insights, giving a fresh perspective on Lovecraft as well as illuminating critically neglected writers such as William Hope Hodgson. Newell writes with depth, sensitivity and flair, and A Century of Weird Fiction is sure to become a key text for scholars working across Gothic and Horror Studies, as well as those with an interest in contemporary philosophy.”

 

Chloé Germaine Buckley

This book is ‘disgusting’ in that word’s etymological sense: it ‘turns’ our ‘taste’ toward the affective disruptions of human life. Newell moves among classical and contemporary philosophy, canonical and contemporary weird fiction, theory and close reading, to articulate precisely the sliminess of our being. A critical tour de force!"
 

Steven Bruhm

Jonathan Newell’s rigorous analysis reveals how weird fiction has anticipated and influenced important movements in contemporary philosophy. This book offers striking new critical insights, giving a fresh perspective on Lovecraft as well as illuminating critically neglected writers such as William Hope Hodgson. Newell writes with depth, sensitivity and flair, and A Century of Weird Fiction is sure to become a key text for scholars working across Gothic and Horror Studies, as well as those with an interest in contemporary philosophy.”

 

Chloé Germaine Buckley