Gothic Pathologies: The Text, the Body and the Law

by D. Punter

Overview

This is a wide-ranging book about aspects of the Gothic, from classic texts such as Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights to contemporary fiction by Iain Banks, William Gibson and many others. It approaches the texts through looking at the opposition between the Gothic and the law, suggesting ways in which Gothic at all points produces transgression. It looks at horror fiction by, for example, Stephen King and Robert Bloch, as well as stories from China and Hong Kong, and suggests new ways in which contemporary literary and psychological theory might relate to and address the Gothic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333658024
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	08/19/1998
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	251
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x (d)

About the Author

DAVID PUNTER is Professor of English Studies at the University of Stirling, where he has been since 1988. Previously he was Professor and Head of Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a past President of the British Association for Romantic Studies and Chair of the Council for College and University English. He has published extensively on Gothic, romantic and contemporary writing, as well as on literature and psychoanalysis.

Table of Contents

Gothic Origins: The Haunting of the Text The Gothic and the Law: Limits of the Permissible Laws which Bind the Body: The Case of the Monster Re-enactments of the Primal Scene: The Example of Zastrozzi Regimes of Terror: From Robespierre to Conrad Identification and Gender: The Law of Ligeia A Descent into the Body: Wuthering Heights Psycho pathology: Contamination and the House of Gothic Laws of Recollection and Reconstruction: Stephen King The Body Sublime: Liu Suola's King of Singers Gothic After/Words: Abuse and the Body Beyond the Law

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and other approaches, Punter (English, U. of Stirling, Scotland) proposes a new theory of the relations between writing and loss. In each chapter he looks at a different corpus of Gothic literature from the 18th century to the present, among them classics such as Frankenstein andWuthering Heights, modern authors including Stephen King and Robert Bloch, and postmodern writing by William Gibson and Don DeLillo. He also compares Chinese fictions that have affinities with the European Gothic tradition. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

'This book maintains David Punter's well-earned stature as a major teacher of us all about the most basic drives in Gothic writing, ones that he reveals with new intensity and power in this provocative and complex study.' - Gothic Studies

'A rich work of critical bricolage...Punter's intensely political engagement.' - Steven Bruhm, Romanticism On the Net

From the Publisher