A companion to the gothic

The Gothic has become in recent years an enormously popular and respected field of study.

Courses dealing wholly or partly with Gothic writing are now standard in English and cultural studies departments across the world.

In response to this extraordinary growth and expansion, David Punter has compiled a Companion designed to become the standard reference work for scholars and students.

As well as providing a series of stimulating insights into Gothic writing, its history and genealogy, the volume also offers comprehensive coverage of criticism of the Gothic and of the various theoretical approaches it has inspired and spawned.

The Companion consists of 25 substantial essays, arranged in five sections: Gothic Backgrounds: The "Original" Gothic: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Transmutations: Ideas about the Gothic: and the Continuing Debate.

These are accompanied by a substantial introduction and a bibliography of primary and secondary materials.

Each essay is written by a leading scholar in the field.In addition to providing accounts of major authors and texts, the essays explore European and American dimensions of Gothic: Gothic painting: the British ghost story: horror fiction: psychoanalytic, historicist and feminist approaches to the Gothic: Gothic cinema: and issues of counterfeit, madness and magic realism in relation to Gothic materials.