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Contemporary Women's Gothic Fiction: Carnival, Hauntings and Vampire Kisses PDF

273 Pages·2016·3.014 MB·English
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CONTEMPORARY WOMEN’S GOTHIC FICTION Gina Wisker Palgrave Gothic Series Editor Clive   Bloom English and American Studies Middlesex University, UK This series of gothic books is the fi rst to treat the genre in its many inter- related, global and ‘extended’ cultural aspects to show how the taste for the medieval and the sublime gave rise to a perverse taste for terror and horror and how that taste became not only international (with a huge fan base in places such as South Korea and Japan) but also the sensibility of the modern age, changing our attitudes to such diverse areas as the nature of the artist, the meaning of drug abuse and the concept of the self. The series is accessible but scholarly, with referencing kept to a minimum and theory contextualised where possible. All the books are readable by an intelligent student or a knowledgeable general reader interested in the subject. Editorial Advisory Board Dr Ian Conrich, University of South Australia Barry Forshaw, author/journalist, UK Professor Gregg Kucich, University of Notre Dame, USA Professor Gina Wisker, University of Brighton, UK Dr Catherine Wynne, University of Hull, UK Dr Alison Peirse, University of Yorkshire, UK More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14698 Gina   Wisker Contemporary Women’s Gothic Fiction Carnival, Hauntings and Vampire Kisses Gina   Wisker Centre for Learning & Teaching University of Brighton East Sussex, United Kingdom University of South Africa University of Southern Queensland Palgrave Gothic ISBN 978-1-137-30348-6 ISBN 978-1-137-30349-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-30349-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953848 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Stuart Aylmer / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a really enjoyable experience writing this book and I thank colleagues at Palgrave Macmillan and Clive Bloom for their patience and support, and the hard work of Michelle Bernard, Alison Curry and Liam Wisker in various aspects of research and fi nessing. My Gothic literature students at the universities of Brighton, Anglia Ruskin and Cambridge have been wonderful in responding to early drafts of parts of the book as we’ve discussed the literature, and friends in the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association, the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and the International Gothic Association have shared insights which have made this a better contribution to Gothic criticism. Finally, thanks to Roxy who sat through all of it just hoping for a walk. v C ONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Angela Carter: Living in Gothic Times 3 3 3 Margaret Atwood and Canadian Women’s Gothic—Spite, Lies, Split Selves and Self-Deception 6 3 4 Cultural Haunting: Toni Morrison and Tananarive Due 91 5 Postcolonial and Cultural Haunting Revenants—Letting the ‘Right’ Ones in 117 6 Testing the Fabric of Bluebeard’s Castle: Postcolonial Reconfi gurations, Demythologising, Re-Mythologising and Shape-Shifting 133 7 Vampire Bites 157 8 Vampire Kisses 187 vii viii CONTENTS 9 Ghostings and Hauntings: Splintering the Fabric of Domestic Gothic 2 07 10 Opening the Gates to Darkness: Gothic Diversity 2 35 Bibliography 2 53 Index 2 61 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Contemporary Gothic has made horror respectable. As a literary form studied in universities, enamoured of critics, when contemporary Gothic combines the edgy enlightenment of queer theory, and postcolonialism, with the multiple perspectives and angles of diversity of origin, sexuality and culture, this broad scope offers a disconcerting enrichment. Gothic is everywhere. Through its relentless questioning, it exposes dis-ease and discomfort, sometimes only to reinforce the complacencies it disrupts, but more thrillingly, very often leaving writers and readers more aware and less comfortable. As Marie Mulvey-Roberts comments, ‘Gothic life, like that of a giant poisonous plant with far-reaching tendrils, has found its suste- nance by feeding off the credulities of its reader. This hot-house hybrid is constantly mutating, making new growths out of old as in its propensity for parody and pastiche. What remains consistent, according to Angela Carter), is the retention of “a singular moral function—that of provoking unease”’ (Mulvey-Roberts 1 998 , p. xvii). So why do contemporary women write the Gothic? And what are the essential links between feminist perspectives and critiques, and the con- temporary Gothic written by women? I want this book to explore and celebrate contemporary women’s liter- ary Gothic, the contradictions and the richness of ways in which contem- porary women writers, both established and new, conventional and radical, use the opportunities afforded by the Gothic to engage with culture, imagination and their arguments. The Gothic undercuts and destabilises © The Author(s) 2016 1 G. Wisker, Contemporary Women’s Gothic Fiction, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-30349-3_1 2 G. WISKER single readings, as it does its own conventions, and in this spirit I will ques- tion how we read them, draw attention to an ongoing dialogue between the texts and indicate what readings are offered by a growing body of critics, popular and academic. We need to appreciate the diverse panoply of the Gothic which has been seen perversely as both ubiquitous and neg- ligible in contemporary society and contemporary writing. So why is the literary Gothic the focus of this book? It is because it has designs upon us. The Gothic, at least in its literary form, shakes up and problematises tired ways of perceiving and expressing normality by disrupt- ing the everyday world of residual compliance. It disturbs, upsets, ironises and parodies our deeply held beliefs and our safe but constraining narratives of, among others, progress, identity, power, family, safety and love. Many of those issues have a particularly nuanced meaning for, and effect on, women, and contemporary women writers of the Gothic are particularly concerned with those bedazzling and constrictive narratives of security, safety and col- lusion which society peddles and which the Gothic undercuts and queries. Dis-ease and uncertainty are key coordinates in Gothic literature. Like bees and wasps fertilising the garden, its disturbance is, I argue, ultimately good for us because it shakes us out of blinkered complacencies and encourages questioning. Even the unpalatable insights the Gothic serves us can be fruit- ful. However, like wasps in particular, it can pack a cruel sting, since defamil- iarisation, instability and contradiction are often uncomfortable. As such, the Gothic can be transformative, since the act of destabilising can trigger critical or even promote new radical thinking. Not surprisingly, it might not be welcome in certain repressive regimes. Owing to this critical edge, it causes us to rethink and reconsider the world around us. Much of its cur- rent popularity, even necessity in terms of literary study, derives precisely from that sting, that disturbance which leads to transformative thinking. There are several voices in this book. One is my own, because much of what I am discussing is my own response to the texts and authors I have chosen and my response to developments in contemporary women’s Gothic, based on my reading of texts and critics, and from discussions with students over the years. The word ‘we’ has been used to indicate how we are part of a readership with rights to comment on these texts, which facilitate our engagement with cultural and personal issues. I use ‘we’ too in recognition of the readers, critics and students who might fi nd this book useful. An academic scholarly voice is focalised in the expectation that this book will be part of a useful, informed and ongoing critical dis- cussion with other scholars in this rapidly growing fi eld.

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