The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction

The Gothic is wildly diverse. It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture, supernatural fiction, cult horror films, and a distinctive style of rock music. It has influenced political theorists and social reformers, as well as Victorian home decor and contemporary fashion. Nick Groom shows how the Gothic has come to encompass so many meanings by telling the story of the Gothic from the ancient tribe who sacked Rome to the alternative subculture of the present day. This unique Very Short Introduction reveals that the Gothic has predominantly been a way of understanding and responding to the past. Time after time, the Gothic has been invoked in order to reveal what lies behind conventional history. It is a way of disclosing secrets, whether in the constitutional politics of seventeenth-century England or the racial politics of the United States. While contexts change, the Gothic perpetually regards the past with fascination, both yearning and horrified. It reminds us that neither societies nor individuals can e

Professor Nick Groom is Chair in English at the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, and Director of ECLIPSE: the Exeter Centre for Literatures of Identity, Place, and Sustainability. He has published widely for both academic and popular readerships, and is the author and editor of many books, most recently The Forger's Shadow (2002), Thomas Chatterton: Selected Poetry (2003), and The Union Jack (2006).