Shakespearean Gothic

Gothic Literary Studies

by Christy Desmet (Editor), Anne Williams (Editor)

As evidenced by the vampires, werewolves, and other frights overrunning the best-seller lists, the Gothic remains immensely popular. This collection of essays traces the roots of the Gothic to an unexpected source: eighteenth-century interpretations of Shakespeare. Through close attention to literary, cultural, and historical detail, the contributors demonstrate that even as Shakespeare was being established as the supreme British writer, he was also being cited as justification for early Gothic writers’ abandonment of literary decorum and their interest in the supernatural.

Genres: Gothic, Nonfiction, History, Shakespeare, Literary Criticism

286 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2009

Reviews

[Helen Mears]

My two favourite things in literature are Shakespeare and The Gothic so it was hard to go wrong with this. Bardolatry was an invention of the Gothic age and the two are inextricably linked. This book discusses Shakespeare's influence on The Gothic and also how his own writings can be seen as Gothic.