Women and the Gothic revitalises the long-running debate about women, the Gothic and identity. Containing fourteen original essays by established scholars and emerging critics in the field, it prioritises the concerns of woman as reader, author and critic. Recognising that since the 1970s theorisation of gender has become increasingly sophisticated and has resulted in a long interrogation of the category ‘women’, the contributors in this volume tackle the resulting conundrums in lively essays that explore Gothic works – from established classics to recent films, novels and digital games- from ... More

Women and the Gothic revitalises the long-running debate about women, the Gothic and identity. Containing fourteen original essays by established scholars and emerging critics in the field, it prioritises the concerns of woman as reader, author and critic. Recognising that since the 1970s theorisation of gender has become increasingly sophisticated and has resulted in a long interrogation of the category ‘women’, the contributors in this volume tackle the resulting conundrums in lively essays that explore Gothic works – from established classics to recent films, novels and digital games- from feminist and/or post-feminist perspectives. The result is a book that combines rigorous close readings with elegant use of theory in order to question some ingrained assumptions about women, the Gothic and identity. Part One examines family dynamics in the Gothic, focusing on female roles and identities from the late eighteenth century onwards: the girl child; the heroine figure seeking escape; the oppressed wife and the sometimes monstrous mother. In Part Two the focus is female transgression, with essays on the body, the spectralisation of femininity, women and the law, female vampirism and the myths of female ‘wickedness’. The final part opens up new directions in critical thinking about women, Gothic and the contemporary world, addressing queer identities, old age and gender in the virtual world.