The Queer Uncanny: New Perspectives on the Gothic

Gothic Literary Studies

by Paulina Palmer

The Queer Uncanny investigates the roles played by the concept of the uncanny, as defined by Sigmund Freud and other theorists, in representing lesbian, gay, and transgender characters in a selection of British, American, and Caribbean fiction published between 1980 and 2007. Paulina Palmer analyzes novels by Christopher Bram, Philip Hensher, Alan Hollingurst, Randall Kenan, Shani Mootoo, Sarah Schulman, Ali Smith, Sarah Waters, and Jeanette Winterson, among others, highlighting the inventive ways these authors recast traditional Gothic motifs from a queer perspective. Topics discussed include secrets and their disclosure, queer spectrality, the homely/unhomely house, the grotesque, lesbian social invisibility, transgender doubles, and the intersection between sexuality and race.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gothic, Horror, LGBT

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2012

Reviews

[ivi · Rating 4 out of 5]

teaaa

[dipandjelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

the section on sarah waters is a+++++ (i'm not gonna write an actual review for this because i wrote an actual honest to god academic book review on this for grad school so byeeee)

[Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a research paper I'm working on regarding the commodification of queer bodies in the Gothic. It was super interesting and a lot more fun of a read than I was expecting!