Publisher Description

The Cambridge Companion to American Gothic offers an accessible overview to both the breadth and depth of the American Gothic tradition. This subgenre features works from many of America's best-known authors: Edgar Allan Poe, Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Henry James, Edith Wharton, William Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor. Authored by leading experts in the field, the introduction and sixteen chapters explore the American Gothic chronologically, in relation to different social groups, in connection with different geographic regions, and in different media, including children's literature, poetry, drama, film, television, and gaming. This Companion provides a rich and thorough analysis of the American Gothic tradition from a twenty-first-century standpoint, and will be a key resource undergraduates, graduate students, and professional researchers interested in this topic.

Author Biography

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock is an author or editor of twenty books. These include The Age of Lovecraft (2016, co-edited with Carl Sederholm) that won the 2017 Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Edited Collection in Popular Culture and American Culture from the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association, The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters (2014) that won the 2014 Rue Morgue magazine award for 'Best Non-Fiction Book', and The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema (2012) that won the 2013 International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Lord Ruthven Assembly Award for Best Non-Fiction title.

Table of Contents

Introduction. The American Gothic Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock; Part I. Periods: 1. Early American Gothic (Puritan and New Republic) Faye Ringel; 2. Romanticism and the American Gothic Alfred Bendixen; 3. American Gothic realism and naturalism Monika Elbert; 4. Modernist American Gothic John Paul Riquelme; 5. Contemporary American Gothic Justin D. Edwards; Part II. Identities and Locations: 6. Race and the American Gothic Ellen Weinauer; 7. American female Gothic Diane Long Hoeveler; 8. Queer American Gothic Ardel Haefele-Thomas; 9. American frontier Gothic Elizabeth Jane Wall Hinds; 10. Southern American Gothic Charles L. Crow; 11. Urban American Gothic Lenny Cassuto; Part III. Genre and Media: 12. The Gothic in American children's literature Karen Coats; 13. Gothic American poetry Travis D. Montgomery; 14. Gothic American drama Heather S. Nathans; 15. Gothic American film and TV Carol Margaret Davidson; 16. Gothic American gaming Tanya Krzywinska; Index.

Review

'… this volume is in fact a strong and valuable resource … is essential reading and an unmissable resource for scholars of the eighteenth century.' Sören Hammerschmidt, Eighteenth-Century Studies
'… this volume works well to familiarize newcomers to the discipline yet also offers something for more established scholars … the book delivers a very comprehensive and representative account of the subject matter.' Rebecca Janicker, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

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This Companion offers a thorough overview of the diversity of the American Gothic tradition from its origins to the present.

Review Quote

'... this volume is in fact a strong and valuable resource ... is essential reading and an unmissable resource for scholars of the eighteenth century.' S

Promotional "Headline"

This Companion offers a thorough overview of the diversity of the American Gothic tradition from its origins to the present.

Description for Bookstore

This Companion offers an accessible overview to the diversity of the American Gothic that will be of use to undergraduates, graduate students, and professional researchers. The introduction and sixteen chapters explore this topic chronologically, in relation to different social groups, and in different genres and media.

Description for Library

This Companion offers an accessible overview to the diversity of the American Gothic that will be of use to undergraduates, graduate students, and professional researchers. The introduction and sixteen chapters explore this topic chronologically, in relation to different social groups, and in different genres and media.

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