Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin - Hardcover

Davenport-Hines, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 086547544X ISBN 13: 9780865475441

Publisher: North Point Pr, 1999

Synopsis

Illustrated with eight pages of color plates and scores of black-and-white illustrations, a ground-breaking investigation of the Gothic style in art and literature ranges from the seventeenth century to the contemporary rock band, The Cure.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Davenport-Hines is the author of five books, most recently Auden. His articles and reviews have appeared in many publications, including The Observer and The Times (London). He lives in London.

From Kirkus Reviews

Mad monks, maleficent marquises, monster movies, Mount Vesuvius, and more, all mix boisterously in this potboiling witches cauldron, creating a strange, often heady brew that is two parts popular history of the gothic, one part academic maundering, and for the most part, a passionate defense and exploration of humanitys insuppressible gothic impulses. According to Davenport-Hines (Auden, 1996, etc.), much of the long-running revival (almost 400 years and counting) of interest in things gothic can be traced to the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 and its aesthetic impact on the Neapolitan painter Salvator Rosa. Though Rosas wild landscapes, witches covens, and other such ``gothic'' subjects ran directly counter to the prevailing neoclassical Zeitgeist, aristocratic English aesthetes developed a taste for his work, and via gardening, architecture, and eventually literature, a movement was born. While Davenport-Hines defines Goths as persons who admire ``the Dark Ages, superstition and fear, or regard human identity as a masquerade of discontinuous, improvised performances,'' his embrace and understanding of the gothic at times seems overly broad, stretching to include almost anything nasty or even a bit off. At other times, hes maddeningly specific, spending dozens of pages, for example, delving into the histories of various British gothic ``power'' houses. In fact, he has an unhappy, parochial tendency to overweight all things English, making his account, thorough as it is, less than definitive. However, he does touch on all the expected gothic highlights, providing quick critical sketches of the usual suspects: Walpole, Sade, Goya, Piranesi, Poe, and Mary Shelley, as well as notable gothic design, movies, and ``moments.'' His lapidary, epigrammatic style and his keen analysis make all his tics, lacunae, and prejudices not merely bearable but even enjoyablea perfect gothic inversion. Like so many gothic novels and movies, flawed but compelling. (b&w illustrations throughout, 8 pages color) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: North Point Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 086547544X
• ISBN 13: 9780865475441
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 438