Locating the Gothic in British Modernity

Sam Wiseman

ISBN 10: 1942954891 / ISBN 13: 9781942954897

Published by Clemson University Digital Press, 2019

About this Item

The late-Victorian era hasbeen extensively researched as a period of Gothic literature, and this studyseeks to build upon this body of work by connecting the content of such studiesto the early decades of the twentieth century, which are less often seen interms of Gothic or supernatural literature. Beginning with the quintessentially urbanGothic space of fin de siĆ cle London, as represented in classic texts such as Dracula and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan, the study proceeds toask how the themes and energies which emerge in this moment evolve throughoutthe 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, withfigures such as D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot representing the city as astricken and desolate space, haunted by the trauma and ghosts of the recentconflict. That legacy of violence and loss is also evident in rural representationsof place in the 1920s and 1930s, along with a renewed interest insupernaturalism and paganism found in authors like Sylvia Townsend Warner andMary Butts. Ultimately, this study argues, this period of dramatic social andcultural change is shadowed by a corresponding evolution in Gothic literaryrepresentation, whether that is expressed through modernist experimentation ormore conventional narrative forms.

Seller Inventory # 0104701

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Locating the Gothic in British Modernity
• Publisher: Clemson University Digital Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1942954891
• ISBN 13: 9781942954897
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

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 sičcle 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.

About the Author

Sam Wiseman is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Erfurt and will be teaching at the university upon completion of this project. He has recently presented academic papers on M.R. James and Edith Nesbit, and is working on an article that will examine the role of tidal causeways in texts by Angela Carter, Susan Hill and Andrew Michael Hurley.