Queering the Gothic

209 Pages·2009·15.003 MB·English

by  William Hughes and Andrew Smith

Q QUEERING

Queering the Gothic is the first multi-authored book concerned
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with the developing interface between Gothic criticism
and queer theory. Considering a range of Gothic texts E
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produced between the eighteenth century and the present, THE GOTHIC
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the contributors explore the relationship between reading
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Gothically and reading Queerly, making this collection both an N
important reassessment of the Gothic tradition and a significant
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contribution to scholarship on queer theory.
Writers discussed include William Beckford, Matthew Lewis, T
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Mary Shelley, George Eliot, George Du Maurier, Oscar Wilde,
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Eric, Count Stenbock. E. M. Forster, Antonia White, Melanie

Tem, Poppy Z. Brite and Will Self. There is also exploration of G
non-text media including an analysis of Michael Jackson’s pop
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videos. Arranged chronologically, the book establishes links
between texts and periods and examines how conjunctions T
of ‘queer’, ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ can be related to, and are H
challenged by, a Gothic tradition. All of the chapters were I
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specially commissioned for the collection, and the contributors
are drawn from the forefront of academic work in both Gothic
and queer studies.
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Queering the Gothic will be of interest to academics, graduate g
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students and advanced undergraduates working on the
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Gothic, literary studies, queer studies, gender studies, critical s
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theory and cultural studies.
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WILLIAM HUGHES is Professor of Gothic Studies at Bath Spa University m
ANDREW SMITH is Professor of English Studies at the University of it
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Glamorgan where he is Co-Director of the Research Centre for
Literature, Arts and Science (RCLAS) (
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)
Cover image: Dante and Virgil in Hell (1850), William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825 –1905)

EdITEd by

william hughes aNd andrew smith
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Queering
the
Gothic
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Queering
the
Gothic
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edited by
William Hughes and Andrew Smith
manchester university press
manchester
Copyright © Manchester University Press 2009
While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press,
copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors, and no chapter may
be reproduced wholly or in part without the express permission in writing of both author
and publisher.
Published by Manchester University Press
Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7ja, UK
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
ISBN 978 0 7190 8643 4 paperback
First published by Manchester University Press in hardback 2009
This paperback edition first published 2011
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-
party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
for vic sage
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Contents
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Acknowledgements page ix
Notes on contributors xi
1 Introduction: Queering the Gothic
William Hughes and Andrew Smith 1
2 ‘Love in a convent’: or, Gothic and the perverse father of queer
enjoyment Dale Townshend 11
3 ‘Do you share my madness?’: Frankenstein’s queer Gothic
Mair Rigby 36
4 Daniel Deronda’s Jewish panic Royce Mahawatte 55
5 ‘That mighty love which maddens one to crime’: medicine
masculinity, same-sex desire and the Gothic in Teleny
Diane Mason 73
6 Gothic landscapes, imperial collapse and the queering of
Adela Quested in E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India
Ardel Thomas 89
7 Antonia White’s Frost in May: Gothic mansions, ghosts and
particular friendships Paulina Palmer 105
8 Devouring desires: lesbian Gothic horror Gina Wisker 123
9 ‘The taste of blood meant the end of aloneness’: vampires and
gay men in Poppy Z. Brite’s Lost Souls William Hughes 142
10 Michael Jackson’s queer funk Steven Bruhm 158
11 Death, art, and bodies: queering the queer Gothic in Will
Self’s Dorian Andrew Smith 177
Index 193
vii
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Acknowledgements
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We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who supported this project and
commented upon various parts of it. We would like to acknowledge the support
and encouragement of our colleagues at Bath Spa University and the University
of Glamorgan, and in particular would like to thank Professor Jeff Wallace and
Dr Bryony Randall for their comments on sections of the manuscript. We would
also like to thank the anonymous readers at Manchester University Press for their
helpful advice and Matthew Frost, senior commissioning editor at the Press, for
his continued enthusiasm for the project.
Finally, we would also like to thank Felicity Hidderley and Joanne Benson for
their tolerance and support throughout the editing of this project.
William Hughes and Andrew Smith