Gothic Fiction/Gothic Form

George E. Haggerty

ISBN 10: 0271006455 / ISBN 13: 9780271006451

Published by Penn State University Press October 1990, 1990

About this Item

Minor rubbing and edge wear to cover, with light reader wear to pages. Still great condition. Dust jacket has minor surface and edgewear. The top of the DJ back cover has a small tear and the front, top Right corner has a tear. Remainder mark on the bottom edgeblock. There is a sticker stain on the front cover. Stock photos may not look exactly like the book.

Seller Inventory # 1014952

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Gothic Fiction/Gothic Form
• Publisher: Penn State University Press October 1990
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0271006455
• ISBN 13: 9780271006451
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good - Cash
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • General Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

This work offers a new perspective on Gothic fiction and reassesses its place in literary history. After defining his concept of "affective form" and summarizing the problematic assumptions behind recent critical approaches to the Gothic, George Haggerty introduces a startling theoretical discussion of the Gothic Tale, and he explains in what ways the tale, as a form with identifiable affective properties, is ideally suited to Gothic concerns. Having established a direct relation between this study and recent discussions of narratology and generic identity, Haggerty develops his argument as it applies to major Gothic works in both England and America, including works by Walpole, Radcliffe, Lewis, Maturin, Shelley, Bronte, Poe, Hawthorne, and James. He examines the Gothic Tale as a form that resolves the inconsistency and incoherence of many Gothic novels and offers even the best of them a center of focus and a way of achieving their fullest affective power.

In this study, the Gothic Tale emerges as a means of heightening the emotional intelligibility of Gothic fiction and answering Walpole's confused desire to unite "two kinds of romance" in the Gothic. It is a form that can answer the ontological and epistemological, as well as the structural, challenge of the Gothic writers. From its first hints within the Gothic novel as an alternative literary mode offering the Gothicists various expressive advantages to its eerie success in a work such as James's "The Jolly Corner," the Gothic Tale offers insight into generic distinction and literary expression. This is a major statement about an important literary form.

About the Author

George Haggerty is Associate Professor of English, University of Califormia at Riverside.