Andriano, Joseph. Our Ladies of Darkness: Feminine Daemonology in Male
Gothic Fiction. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,
1992.
A study of the beautiful and deadly female fiend (esp. supernatural
and psychological frameworks) in 19th Century Gothic fiction.
Bernstein, Stephen. "Form and Ideology in the Gothic Novel." Essays in
Literature 18 (1991): 151-65.
A materialist critique that uses
Althusser and Foucault to read the Gothic novels as reproducing an ultimately
conservative an anti-individualist ideology.
Blondel, Jacques. "On 'Metaphysical Prisons.'" Durham University
Journal 32 (1971): 133-8.
Discusses literal and figurative
imprisonment as recurrent themes in art and literature. Historicist approach.
Brooks, Peter. "Virtue and Terror: The Monk." English Literary
History 40(1973): 249-63.
Explores The Monk in its relation to
the historical context where Reason had lost prestige and the Sacred has lost
its power.
Byrd, Max. "The Madhouse, the Whorehouse, and the Convent." Partisan
Review 44 (1977): 268-78.
Describes madhouse, whorehouse and convent
as largely equivalent structures that represent a metaphoric reigning in of
unreason and human desire.
Castle, Terry. "The Spectralization of the Other in The Mysteries of
Udolpho." The New 18th Century. Ed. Felicity Nussbaum and Laura
Brown. New York: Routledge, 1987.
Uses Freud and Todorov to describe the
depiction of the supernatural in Radcliffe's novel.
Clery, E.J. "The Supernatural Explained." The Rise of Supernatural
Fiction, 1762-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Connects the socio-historical position of women (esp. Radcliffe) to her
position as author in dealing with the supernatural, mystery, and reason.
Cohan, Stephen. Introduction to The Plays of James Boaden. New
York: Garland, 1980, xxiii-xxvi.
Survey of Cohan's life and dramatic
works.
Conger, Sydney M. "Sensibility Restored: Radcliffe's Answer to Lewis's
The Monk." Gothic Fictions: Prohibition/ Transgression. Ed.
Kenneth W. Graham. New York: AMS, 1989. 113-150.
Connects both authors to
gendered definitions of sensibility and then highlights their differences.
Cox, Jeffrey. Introduction to Seven Gothic Dramas, 1789-1825.
Athens, OH: Ohio UP, 1992, 52-56.
Overview of Cox's life and dramatic
works.
Doody, Margaret Anne. "Deserts, Ruins and Troubled Waters: Female Dreams
in Fiction and the Development of the Gothic Novel." Genre 10 (1977):
529-72.
A long and comprehensive article that discusses the role female
dreams in eighteenth-century literature by Richardson, Burney, and many others.
Argues that Radcliffe legitimized the dream vision for both male and female
characters.
Evans, Bertrand. Gothic Drama from Walpole to Shelley.
University of California Publications in English. Vol. 18. Berkeley: UC
Press, 1947. 49-50.
A general survey of Gothic-period drama.
Fisher, Benjamin Franklin. The Gothic's Gothic: Study Aids to the
Tradition of the Tale of Terror. New York: Garland, 1988.
General
survey; arranged by author and by subject.
Fitzgerald, Lauren. "Gothic Properties: Radcliffe, Lewis, and the
Critics." The Wordsworth Circle 24:3 (Summer 1993):
167-170.
Focuses on the Gothic tale "which emerges from critical accounts
of the literary relationship of Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Gregory Lewis."
Foust, R.E. "Monstrous Image: Theory of Fantasy Antagonists." Genre
13 (1980): 441-53.
Uses theories of the uncanny to discuss the monstrous
doubling in Frankenstein and Grendel. Psychoanalytic approach.
Frank, Frederick S. Gothic Fiction: A Master List of 20th Century
Criticism and Research. Westport: Meckler, 1988.
General survey;
arranged nationally, includes English, American, French, German.
-----. "The Gothic Vathek: The Problem of Genre Resolved."
Vathek and the Escape from Time: Bicentenary Revaluations, ed. Kenneth W.
Graham, (New York: AMS Press, 1990): 157-172.
"The paper develops an
argument for a Gothic Vathek, a work that is structurally, thematically,
and symboically in harmony with the central motifs of an emergent Gothic
tradition."
-----. Guide to the Gothic: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism.
Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1984.
General survey; arranged nationally and
with special subject areas.
Freud, Sigmund. "The Uncanny." The Standard Edition of the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. & trs. James Strachey. Vol.
XVII. London: Hogarth, 1953, pp. 219-252.
Describes the uncanny
experience in terms of doubling, death, and uncertainty about the distinction
between reality and unreality. Treats the uncanny as both a psychological and a
literary phenomenon.
Geary, Robert F. "From Providence to Terror: The Supernatural in Gothic
Fantasy." The Fantastic in World Literature and the Arts: Selected Essays
from the Fifth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Ed.
Donald E. Morse. New York: Greenwood Press, 1984.
Explores Rudolf Otto's
analysis of the numinous in various Gothic texts, including The Castle of
Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, and The Monk.
-----. The Supernatural in Gothic Fiction: Horror, Belief and Literary
Change. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.
Discusses Otto's
conceptions of the numinous and the (de)sacralization of the ideology of authors
and audience.
Gilbert, Sandra and Gubar, Susan. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman
Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1984.
One of the founding works of feminist criticism
in the U.S. Chapter on Frankenstein focuses on the influence of gender
and Paradise Lost on Shelley's work.
Hallie, Philip. The Paradox of Cruelty. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan
UP, 1969.
Discusses themes of confinement and torture in Hogarth, Sade,
the Gothics, and others.
Hennelly, Mark M. "Melmoth the Wanderer and Gothic Existentialism."
SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 21:4 (Autumn 1981):
665-679.
Connects the concerns of the Gothic to those of Existentialism
and then uses this construct to frame Melmoth.
Hogle, Jerrold. "The Restless Labyrinth: Cryptonomy in the Gothic Novel."
Arizona Quarterly 36 (1980): 330-58.
Discussion of the treatment
of architecture and space in the major Gothic novels. Psychoanalytic approach.
Holland, Norman, and Leona Sherman. "Gothic Possibilities." New
Literary History 8 (1977): 278-94.
The authors explore
reader-response to the Gothic by discussing their own mental associations with
Gothic symbols like the castle and the vulnerable heroine. Psychoanalytic
approach.
Hume, Robert. "Gothic Versus Romantic." PMLA 84 (1969): 282-290.
An important article that describes the evolution of the Gothic into
Romanticism. Elaborates upon Radcliffe's "terror/horror" distinction.
Hyland, Peter. "Vathek, Heaven and Hell." Vathek and the Escape
from Time: Bicentenary Revaluations. ed. Kenneth W. Graham. New York: AMS
Press, 1990: 145-156.
Examines issues of Free Will and Total Depravity
(i.e. Does Vathek choose his own damnation?) and the connections of this
philosophical question to the Gothic genre.
Le Tellier, Robert. An Intensifying Vision of Evil: The Gothic Novel
(1764-1820) as a Self-Contained Literary Cycle. Salzburg: Universitat
Salzburg, 1980.
Discusses the shift from terror-oriented to
horror-oriented Gothic within the context of changing social attitudes about
good and evil.
Lyndenberg, Robin. "Gothic Architecture and Fiction: A Survey of Critical
Responses." The Centennial Review 22 (1978): 95-109.
Compares
critical responses to Gothic architecture and fiction.
Masse, Michelle. In the Name of Love: Women, Masochism, and the
Gothic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992.
A psychoanalytic
discussion of mostly 19th and 20th century Gothic, focusing on women's masochism
as a trope.
Maynard, Temple James. Introduction to The Plays of Robert Jephson.
New York: Garland, 1980. xiv-xvii.
Overview of Jephson's life and
writings.
McIntyre, Clara Frances. Ann Radcliffe in Relation to Her Time.
Yale Studies in English 62 (1923): 72-74.
Discusses contemporary
adaptations and interpretations of Radcliffe's major works.
McNutt, Dan. The Eighteenth-Century Gothic Novel: An Annotated
Bibliography of Criticism and Selected Texts. New York: Garland,
1974.
A valuable bibliography; comprehensive and well-organized.
McWhir, Anne. "The Gothic Transgression of Disbelief: Walpole, Radcliffe
and Lewis." Gothic Fictions: Prohibition/Transgression. Ed. Kenneth W.
Graham. New York: AMS, 1989. 29-47.
A study of the three authors in terms
of religious theology, supernatural beliefs and superstition.
Milbank, Alison. "Doubting Castle: The Gothic Mode of Questioning." The
Critical Spirit and the Will to Believe: Essays in 19th Century Literature and
Religion. Eds. David Jasper and T.R. Wright. New York: St. Martin's,
1989.
Particularly concerned with the work of Sheridan LeFanu, but also
addresses issues of the supernatural as depicted by "male" (Hogg, Godwin,
Maturin) and "female" (Racliffe and her followers) Gothic writers.
Miles, Robert. "The Gothic Aesthetic: The Gothic as Discourse." The
Eighteenth Century 32:1 (Spring 1991): 39-57.
"This essay offers
notes towards the 'genealogy' of a praticular strand--the 'Gothic
aesthetic'--where a chivalric past was idealized at the explicit expense of a
classical present."
Moers, Ellen. Literary Women,. New York: Anchor Press,
1977.
Another founding work of feminist criticism; where Moers coined the
term "Female Gothic." Discussion of Gothic focuses mostly on Radcliffe and
Shelley.
McWhir, Anne. "The Gothic Transgression of Disbelief: Walpole, Radcliffe
and Lewis." Gothic Fictions: Prohibition/Transgression. Ed. Kenneth W.
Graham. New York: AMS, 1989. 29-47.
A study of the three authors in terms
of religious theology, supernatural beliefs a nd superstition.
Milbank, Alison. "Doubting Castle: The Gothic Mode of Questioning." The
Critical Spirit and the Will to Believe: Essays in 19th Century Literature and
Religion. Eds. David Jasper and T.R. Wright. New York: St. Martin's,
1989.
Particularly concerned with the work of Sheridan LeFanu, but also
addresses issues of the supernatural as depicted by "male" (Hogg, Godwin,
Maturin) and "female" (Racliffe and her followers) Gothic writers.
Miles, Robert. "The Gothic Aesthetic: The Gothic as Discourse." The
Eighteenth Century 32:1 (Spring 1991): 39-57.
"This essay offers
notes towards the 'genealogy' of a praticular strand--the 'Gothic
aesthetic'--where a chivalric past was idealized at the explicit expense of a
classical present."
Nichols, Nina da Vinci. "Place and Eros in Radcliffe, Lewis, and Bronte"
in The Female Gothic, ed. Juliann Fleenor. Montreal: Eden Press,
1983.
Focuses on the link between Gothic place and setting and female
sexuality. Feminist approach.
Ozolins, Aija. "Dreams and Doctrines: Dual Strands in
Frankenstein." Science-Fiction Studies 2 (1975):
103-10.
Describes Frankenstein as simultaneously supernatural and
didatic. Discusses dreams (both Mary Shelley's and Victor Frankenstein's) and
the doppelganger theme.
Paulson, Ronald. "Gothic Fiction and the French Revolution." ELH 48
(1981): 532-54.
Analyzes the influence of the Terror within the major
"horror-Gothic" novels. Historicist approach.
Peck, Louis. A Life of Matthew G. Lewis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP,
1961, 73- 74.
Overview of Lewis' life and works; discusses both his
novels and his plays.
Platzner, Robert. "'Gothic Versus Romantic': A Rejoinder." PMLA 86
(1971): 266-74.
A heated response to Robert Hume's article (see above).
Poovey, Mary. "Ideology and the Mysteries of Udolpho."
Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts vol. 21 (1979):
307-330.
A discussion of the influence of 18th-century philosophy and
writing on Radcliffe's novel.
Porte, Joel. "In the Hands of an Angry God: Religious Terror in Gothic
Fiction." The Gothic Imagination: Essays in Dark Romanticism. Ed. G.R.
Thompson. Washington State University Press, 1974.
Views Gothic
literature as an expression and exploration of "religious malaise."
Punter, David. The Literature of Terror. London: Longman,
1980.
A chronological survey of the genre that begins with the "classic"
Gothic novels but also extends into the 19th century. Historicist approach.
Ranger, Paul. 'Terror and Pity Reign in Every Breast': Gothic Drama in
the London Patent Theatres, 1750-1820. London: Society for Theatre Research,
1991, 121-25.
General introduction to Gothic-period drama.
Richter, David H. "Gothic Fantasia: The Monsters and the Myths." The
Eighteenth Century 28:2 (Winter 1987): 149-170.
Reviews various
literary histories and commentaries on the Gothic and the construction of itself
as a genre.
Ronald, Ann. "Terror-Gothic: Nightmare and Dream" in The Female
Gothic, ed. Juliann Fleenor. Montreal: Eden Press, 1983.
A discussion
of dream-imagery and sexuality in Radcliffe and Charlotte Bronte.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. "The Character in the Veil: Imagery of the Surface
in the Gothic Novel." Publication of the Modern Language Association vol.
96:2 (1981): 255-270.
Refutes the widely held notion that sexuality in
the Gothic is submerged; suggests that many overtly sexual tropes are manifested
in surfaces, not depths.
-----. "Murder Incorporated: Confessions of a Justified Sinner."
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1985.
Views Hogg's novel as a Gothic text,
sets it into the context of its precursors, and studies it in terms of structure
(esp. the double).
Thornburg, Mary K. Patterson. The Monster in the Mirror: Gender and the
Sentimental/Gothic Myth in Frankenstein. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press,
1987.
A discussion of the mythology informing Shelley's novel, locating
the monster at the center of a masculine/feminine divide.
Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fantastic. Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1975.
Highly influential genre study of fantastic literature. Mentions
the Gothic in passing, but is more valuable for its general discussion of the
literary themes of self and other, life and death, and the "hesitation" between
reality and unreality.
Tracy, Ann Blaisdell. Patterns of Fear in the Gothic Novel
1790-1830. New York: Arno Press, 1980.
A thesis that explores fear as
it is found in the Gothic Novel (e.g. the unnameable, deceit, evil, demons, sin,
disaster, etc.).
Varma, Devendra. The Gothic Flame. New York: Russell & Russell,
1966.
One of the first serious critical surveys of the Gothic genre;
addresses such themes as the terror-horror split and "the quest for the
numinous." Frequently cited in other secondary literature.
Varnado, S.L. "The Idea of the Numinous in Gothic Literature." The
Gothic Imagination: Essays in Dark Romanticism. Ed. G.R. Thompson.
Washington State University Press, 1974.
A lengthy explanation of Rudolf
Otto's theories on the numinous and the application thereof to various Gothic
texts.
Voller, Jack G. "Todorov among the Gothics: Structuring the Supernatural
Moment." Contours of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Eighth
International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Ed. Michele K.
Langford. New York: Greenwood, 1994. 197-206.
Examines and revises
Todorov's structural approach to the Gothic.
Williams, Anne. "Male Gothic." Art of Darkness: A Poetics of
Gothic. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1995.
Details the conventions
of the male gothic with a focus on the psychoanalytic facets and the power of
the male, patriarchal gaze.
Winter, Kari. "Sexual/Textual Politics of Terror" in Misogyny in
Literature: An Essay Collection, ed. Katherine Ackley. New York: Garland
Publishing, Inc., 1992.
A fairly straightforward discussion of the
interplay between Radcliffe and Lewis regarding gender. Feminist approach.
Wolff, Cynthia. "The Radcliffean Gothic Model" in The Female
Gothic, ed. Juliann Fleenor. Montreal: Eden Press, 1983.
Discusses
the influence of Radcliffe's depiction of female sexuality on Austen, the
Brontes, and Judith Rossner.