Locating the gothic in British modernity / Sam Wiseman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wiseman, Sam, author.

Contributor:

JSTOR (Online Service)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--20th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

Modernism (Literature)--Great Britain.

Modernism (Literature).

Great Britain.

Gothic revival (Literature)--Great Britain.

Gothic revival (Literature).

Place (Philosophy) in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 257 pages.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Clemson, SC : Clemson University Press, 2019.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The late-Victorian era has been extensively researched as a period of Gothic literature, and this study seeks to build upon this body of work by connecting the content of such studies to the early decades of the twentieth century, which are less often seen in terms of Gothic or supernatural literature. Beginning with the quintessentially urban Gothic space of fin de siècle London, as represented in classic texts such as Dracula and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan, the study proceeds to ask how the themes and energies which emerge in this moment evolve throughout the early twentieth century. In the ghost stories of authors like M.R. James, the Edwardian era witnesses an uncanny return to the rural English landscape, in which modernity encounters the re-emergence of suppressed fears and forces. After World War One, London again experiences a renewal of Gothic themes, with figures such as D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot representing the city as a stricken and desolate space, haunted by the trauma and ghosts of the recent conflict. That legacy of violence and loss is also evident in rural representations of place in the 1920s and 1930s, along with a renewed interest in supernaturalism and paganism found in authors like Sylvia Townsend Warner and Mary Butts. Ultimately, this study argues, this period of dramatic social and cultural change is shadowed by a corresponding evolution in Gothic literary representation, whether that is expressed through modernist experimentation or more conventional narrative forms.

Contents:

1 The Strangely Mingled Monster: Gothic Invasions, Occupations, and Outgrowths in Fin de Siècle London p. 13

I Invading the Metropolis p. 14

II In Darkest England p. 26

III City of Nightmares p. 38

IV Half-town and Half-country p. 50

2 The Old Subconscious Trail of Dread: Shadows, Animism, and Re-Emergence in the Rural World p. 63

I A Flare of the Pit p. 64

II The Whirlpool of Dreaming Life p. 75

III On the Borderlands of Fear p. 84

IV Counter-sites p. 95

3 In the Black Ruins of the Frenzied Night: Spectral Encounters in Wartime and Postwar London p. 109

I A Richer Feast of Horror p. 110

II Hosts of Homeless Ghosts p. 123

III The Detested Habitation of the Dead p. 132

IV Grey Labyrinths p. 141

4 From the Waste Land to the Dark Tower: Revitalizing the Rural Gothic in the Interwar Period p. 153

I Tales of Empty Houses p. 154

II Restoring the Ghostly Groves p. 166

III Dark Enchantments p. 176

IV Marshland and Granite, Heather and Stone p. 187.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-248) and index.

Electronic reproduction. New York Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781942954903

1942954905

Publisher Number:

99983671412

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.