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A Companion to the Gothic (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture)

This Companion is a standard reference work for scholars and students of the Gothic from its origins to the present day. Providing stimulating insights into Gothic writing, its history and genealogy, it offers coverage of criticism of the Gothic and of the various theoretical approaches it has inspired and spawned.
The Gothic (Blackwell Guides to Literature)

David Punter, Glennis Byron
This guide provides an overview of the most significant issues and debates in Gothic studies.
- Provides an overview of the most significant issues and debates in Gothic studies.
- Explains the origins and development of the term Gothic.
- Explores the evolution of the Gothic in both literary and non-literary forms, including art, architecture and film.
- Features authoritative readings of key works, ranging from Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto to Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho.
- Considers recurrent concerns of the Gothic such as persecution and paranoia, key motifs such as the haunted castle, and figures such as the vampire and the monster.
- Includes a chronology of key Gothic texts, including fiction and film from the 1760s to the present day, and a comprehensive bibliography.
The Literature of Terror: A History of Gothic Fictions from 1765 to the Present Day, Vol. 1: The Gothic Tradition

David Punter

This two-volume set (the other half is Volume 2: The Modern Gothic) by David Punter is more than simply a history of the gothic form in American and British literature. It's an ambitious attempt to redefine the word gothic so that it encompasses most of fantastic fiction and film for the past 200 years under a unifying theme: a preoccupation with fear. This is, of course, an extremely broad definition, so don't be surprised if you find yourself taking the theoretical sections of the book with a grain of salt. Also, since the book was first written in the late 1970s, much of the discussion of language and symbol relies on rather outdated Marxist and Freudian theories. Punter apologizes for the latter in the preface to the second edition, saying that rather than doing a massive revision, he decided to "leave it largely as an 'unrestored' period piece, with its own characteristic style, silhouette, and mood"--while adding additional material on the contemporary gothic.
Those caveats aside, however, The Literature of Terror is mostly successful as a comprehensive study. And it's an enormously useful reference for anyone with a more than passing interest in horror literature. Plus, it benefits from being the work of a single author: Punter is an extremely well-read scholar who perceives fascinating connections between a wide variety of books and films, and he explains his ideas lucidly enough that you can judge for yourself how far you agree with them.
Some of the high points are Punter's overview of what the word gothic means in other fields (such as architecture); his summaries of the roles of graveyard poetry, the sentimental novel, and the theory of the sublime in the development of the gothic concept; and his inclusion (as gothic and even horror writers) of such notables as Isak Dinesen, William S. Burroughs, Thomas Pynchon, J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Thomas Hawkes, and Robert Coover. If that's not enough to tempt you, the footnotes and bibliography alone offer ample yet well-chosen pointers to authors whose entertaining fiction you may not have discovered yet.
Best of all, The Literature of Terror is written in English--that is, not loaded down with annoying words such as transgressive and trope that mar so much of postmodern criticism. You can browse for information about specific authors or dip into it at your leisure without losing the thread. And for an academic work, it's darn fun to read. (Be sure to get both Volume 1 and Volume 2.) --Fiona Webster
Spectral Readings: Towards a Gothic Geography

The essays in this book explore some of the most significant current issues concerning the terrain of the Gothic and the Gothic perspective, offering a variety of possible answers to the crucial question: what is Gothic? The collection begins by addressing general issues about the location and structure of Gothic; this is followed by various considerations of Gothic as a specific historical phenomenon, linked with specific aspects of British, American, and European society; and, finally, by an exploration of Gothic writing during recent decades.
The Midnight Bell: A German Story, Founded on Incidents in Real Life (Gothic Classics)

Francis Lathom

Young Alphonsus Cohenburg enters his mother's bedroom and finds her covered in blood. She tells him his uncle has murdered his father, and orders him to flee Cohenburg castle forever to save his own life!
A disconsolate exile, Alphonsus wanders the earth seeking the means of survival, first as a soldier, then a miner, and finally as sacristan of a church, where he meets the beautiful Lauretta. They wed and establish a home together, and everything seems to promise them a happy future. But their domestic tranquillity is shattered, when a band of ruffians kidnaps the unfortunate Lauretta! Alphonsus must solve the mystery of Lauretta's disappearance and the riddle of his mother's strange conduct. And when he hears that ghosts inhabit Cohenburg castle, tolling the great bell each night at midnight, the mystery only deepens....
One of the greatest of all Gothic novels, The Midnight Bell (1798) features a blend of fast-paced action and spine-tingling suspence, pervaded throughout by a tone of profound melancholy. This edition, the first in forty years, features a new introduction by David Punter, one of the world's foremost experts on Gothic literature.
Gothic Pathologies: The Text, the Body, and the Law

David Punter

Covering classic texts such as "Frankenstein" and "Wuthering Heights" and contemporary fiction by authors including Iain Banks and William Gibson, this study focuses on the opposition between the Gothic tradition and the law, suggesting that at all points it produces transgression.