Queering Contemporary Gothic Narrative 1970-2012

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction: Queering Contemporary Gothic

   • Paulina Palmer

   Pages 1-22

3. Ghosts and Haunted Houses

   • Paulina Palmer

   Pages 23-63

4. Uncanny Others: Vampires and Doubles

   • Paulina Palmer

   Pages 65-110

5. Tracking the Monster

   • Paulina Palmer

   Pages 111-149

6. Regional Gothic: Uncanny Cities and Rural Areas

   • Paulina Palmer

   Pages 151-173

7. Conclusion

   • Paulina Palmer

   Pages 175-179

8. Back Matter

   Pages 181-204

   PDF

This book explores the development of queer Gothic fiction, contextualizing it with reference to representations of queer sexualities and genders in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gothic, as well as the sexual-political perspectives generated by the 1970s lesbian and gay liberation movements and the development of queer theory in the 1990s.  The book examines the roles that Gothic motifs and narrative strategies play in depicting aspects of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex experience in contemporary Gothic fiction. Gothic motifs discussed include spectrality, the haunted house, the vampire, doppelganger and monster.  Regional Gothic and the contribution that Gothic tropes make to queer historical fiction and historiography receive attention, as does the AIDS narrative. Female Gothic and feminist perspectives are also explored. Writers discussed include Peter Ackroyd, Vincent Brome, Jim Grimsley, Alan Hollinghurst, Randall Kenan, Meg Kingston, Michelle Paver, Susan Swan, Louise Tondeur, Sarah Waters, Kathleen Winter and Jeanette Winterson. 

• Queer
• queer theory
• queer sexualities
• queer history
• historiography
• lesbian
• gay
• transsexuality
• intersex
• feminist
• LGBTI
• Gothic
• contemporary Gothic
• Gothic narrative
• spectrality
• ghosts
• haunting
• haunted house
• vampire
• doppelganger

“The narrative texts explored in this book range from historical novels to futuristic stories. … Queering Contemporary Gothic Narrative 1970-2012 is an excellent resource for those interested in the intersections between queer studies and gothic literary criticism.” (Tanya González, Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature STTCL, February, 2018)


“The scope of Queering Contemporary Gothic Narrative 1970–2012 is stunning because the text functions as an outstanding addition to queer theory focusing on Gothic narrative. However, it is also outstanding in the ways that Palmer brings together classic and well-known and researched queer Gothic stories alongside numerous new and lesser known contemporary works.” (Ardel Haefele-Thomas, Gothic Studies, Vol. 20 (1-2), 2018)

“Paulina Palmer’s  Queering contemporary Gothic builds on her earlier groundbreaking Lesbian Gothic and The Queer Uncanny offering new, exciting  research and explorations of a wide range of queer Gothic texts. Queering contemporary Gothic achieves a fine, scholarly balance between   challenging and extending established readings of some key familiar texts and  exploring, bringing to light less familiar, important texts.” (Gina Wisker, University of Brighton, UK)

• University of Warwick and Birkbeck College, London, United Kingdom

  Paulina Palmer

After retiring  from a  senior  lectureship  at Warwick University, Dr Palmer taught for the MA in Gender and Sexuality at Birkbeck, London University. Her publications include Contemporary Women’s Fiction: Narrative Practice and Feminist Theory;  Contemporary Lesbian Writing: Dreams, Desire, Difference;  Lesbian Gothic: Transgressive Fictions;  The Queer Uncanny: New Perspectives on the Gothic. She teaches at City Lit College, London.

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