The Gothic Vision: Three Centuries of Horror, Terror and Fear

by Dani Cavallaro

Overview

The Gothic Vision examines a broad range of tales of horror, terror, the uncanny and the supernatural, spanning the late-eighteenth century to the present, and of related theoretical approaches to the realm of dark writing. It argues that such narratives are objects for historical analysis, due to their implication in specific ideologies, whilst also focusing on the recurrence over time of themes of physical and psychological disintegration, spectrality and monstrosity. Central to the book's argument is the proposition that fear is a ubiquitous phenomenon, capable of awakening consciousness even as it appears to paralyze it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826478894
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/21/2005
Series:	Continuum Collection Series
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Dani Cavallaro is a freelance writer specializing in literary studies, critical and cultural theory and the visual arts. Her publications include The Gothic Vision, Critical and Cultural Theory and Cyberpunk and Cyberculture.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	vii
	The Frame of Reference: Theoretical Debates on Horror, Terror and Fear	1
Part 1	Darkness
	Introduction	21
1	Dark Places	27
2	Dark Times	38
3	Dark Psyches	48
Part 2	Haunting
	Introduction	61
4	The Rhetoric of Haunting	65
5	Spectral Forms	75
6	Haunting Settings	85
Part 3	Narrative and the Self
	Introduction	97
7	Words and Visions	103
8	Textual Identities	113
9	Storytelling as Therapy	123
Part 4	Child and Adult
	Introduction	135
10	Families	141
11	The Abandoned Child	150
12	Childhood and Otherness	160
Part 5	Monstrosity
	Introduction	171
13	Vampires	179
14	Hybrid and Grotesque Bodies	190
15	The Abject	199
	Epilogue	207
	References	215
	Index	229

Editorial Reviews

Mentioned, Todays Books 'Book Register', June 2006--Sanford Lakoff

'If you are into horror, death and destruction, this is a must...this volume will tell you all you need to know about the rhetoric of horror. An invaluable and fascinating book for students' The Lecturer

'A thorough, well-written overview of Gothic literature from the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764) to the present (Stephen King, Anne Rice, Patrick McGrath). I would use it as a compulsory text for undergraduates.' Anne Williams, Professor of English, University of Georgia

From the Publisher