The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction

by Nick Groom

Overview

The Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films, and a distinctive style of rock music. It has influenced political theorists and social reformers, as well as Victorian home décor and contemporary fashion. This Very Short Introduction captures the history of the Gothic from ancient times to the present. It covers the sack of Rome by the barbarian tribes, mediaeval architecture, popular culture in the sixteenth century (including ballads and Revenge Tragedy), political theories of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the rise of the Gothic novel, the Victorian Gothic Revival, and the influence of Gothic culture on film, music, and fashion. It includes familiar Gothic novels such Frankenstein and Dracula, while also covering Gothic gardening, slasher movies, and the current Goth scene. It is the only account of the Gothic that describes the entire history of the term, presenting it in all its richly complex and perversely contradictory glory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199586790
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/05/2012
Series:	Very Short Introductions
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	402,842
Product dimensions:	4.40(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Nick Groom is Chair in English at the University of Exeter, and Director of ECLIPSE: the Exeter Centre for Literatures of Identity, Place, and Sustainability. He is the author and editor of many books, most recently The Forger's Shadow, Thomas Chatterton: Selected Poetry, and The Union Jack.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A history of the Gothic in thirteen chapters1. Origins of the Goths2. The ascent to heaven3. The iconoclasts4. The revenge of the dead5. Liberty gothic6. Gothic whiggery7. The Sixties8. The descent into hell9. The poetics of blood10. The gothic dream11. New England goths12. Goths at the movies13. First and last and alwaysFurther reading