Nostalgia or Perversion? Gothic Rewriting from the Eighteenth Century until the Present Day - Hardcover

Isabella Van Elferen

9781847182470: Nostalgia or Perversion? Gothic Rewriting from the Eighteenth Century until the Present Day

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184718247X ISBN 13: 9781847182470

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007

Nostalgia or Perversion? Gothic Rewriting from the Eighteenth Century until the Present Day presents an interdisciplinary approach to an important aspect of Gothic texts, films, and music: that of rewriting. From the eighteenth-century Gothic novel to present-day vampire films and Goth music, the genre is characterised by its nostalgic reflection on past worlds, narratives, and identities. Gothic nostalgia is often accompanied by a transgressive drive, resulting in perversions of the rewritten past the modern vampire is no longer embodied evil but an attractive dandy, while Goth subcultures reflect on Victorian aesthetics but pervert them by adding fetishist elements. Gothic nostalgia transforms the past, turning it upside down, foregrounding its background, and corrupting its order. In this volume an international group of philosophy, literature, film, and music scholars investigates the instrumental role of nostalgia and perversion in the Gothic s rewriting of the past. If elements of both nostalgia and perversion are operative in Gothic rewriting, how are they connected? How do they play out in differing media? How do they change audiences views on the relationships between binaries such as past and present, other and self, and norm and deviation? Nostalgia or Perversion brings together the early Gothic novel, present-day female and black Gothic literature, Goth subculture and music, and the imagery of horror films and comic books, thus broadening the definition of Gothic from a literary genre to a gesture of pervasive cultural criticism. The interdisciplinary analysis of nostalgia and perversion in Gothic rewriting uncovers wholly new insights into the artistic and social functions of the Gothic, making the volume useful to both scholars and students. As the essays reflect on academic as well as popular texts and media, it is also accessible to general readers. 'Nostalgia or Perversion provides a sophisticated analysis of how the Gothic radically rewrites the past, not as nostalgia but as a calculated act of transgression. The past and how its reconstructions break down the boundaries between real and unreal, and normal and abnormal, is examined across a range of different media, including novels, films, comic books, television and music. The essays in this collection also address how this issue shapes Gothic formulations of race, sexuality, and gender. Both ambitious in scope and focused and rigorous in its analysis, this book provides a critically important re-evaluation of the Gothic tradition.' Andrew Smith, University of Glamorgan (UK).

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Review:

"Nostalgia or Perversion provides a sophisticated analysis of how the Gothic radically rewrites the past, not as nostalgia but as a calculated act of transgression. The past and how its reconstructions break down the boundaries between real and unreal, and normal and abnormal, is examined across a range of different media, including novels, films, comic books, television and music. The essays in this collection also address how this issue shapes Gothic formulations of race, sexuality, and gender. Both ambitious in scope and focused and rigorous in its analysis, this book provides a critically important reevaluation of the Gothic tradition." - Andrew Smith, University of Glamorgan (UK)."

About the Author:

Amanda K. Baumle, J.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Houston. She specializes in demography, social inequality, and the sociology of law. Prior to obtaining her Ph.D. in sociology at Texas A&M University, she earned a J.D. from the University of Texas and practiced labor and employment law. Her current research explores issues involving the demography of sexual orientation, labor demography, and gender inequality in the legal practice. In these areas, she has published a variety of books, articles, and book chapters examining issues of inequality and discrimination, as well as the manner in which the law might be activated as a means to challenge existing inequalities. She recently completed a coauthored book, The Demography of Sexual Orientation, which draws on 2000 U.S. Census data to examine the manner in which sexual orientation affects a variety of demographic processes.

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