Globalgothic: International Gothic Series

This collection of essays redefines what gothic has become in the contemporary world, examining the idea of an emerging gothic that is inextricable from the broader global context in which it circulates. Simultaneously a continuation of the western tradition and a wholesale transformation of that tradition, 'globalgothic' expands the horizons of the genre in diverse new and exciting ways.

As these essays well demonstrate, gothic has energetically participated in the cultural flows that characterise globalisation. One of the more striking features of western gothic has always been its delight in consuming and recycling certain persistent motifs, and these flows have functioned both to reinvigorate and intensify this tendency by opening up multiple new fields of play. At the same time as it takes full advantage of the transcultural flows, however, globalgothic often exploits the flows precisely in order to give form to anxieties attendant upon the processes of globalisation. While the products made available through globalisation are eagerly appropriated, they are frequently exploited in order to articulate the processes of globalisation as monstrous, spectral, cannibalistic. Globalisation itself becomes a gothic manifestation.

Globalgothic contains essays from some of the leading scholars in gothic studies as well as offering insights from new scholars in the field. The contributors consider a wide range of different media, including literary texts, film, dance, music, cyberculture, computer games, and graphic novels.

This book will be essential reading for all students and academics interested in the gothic, in international literature, cinema, and cyberspace.