E-Book Content
SPECTRAL READINGS Also by Glennis Byron LETITIA LANDON: The Woman behind LEL DRACULA: The New Casebook (editor) DRACULA (editor) NINETEENTH-CENTURY STORIES BY WOMEN REIMAGINING WOMEN: Representations of Women in Culture (editor with Shirley Neuman) Also by David Punter THE LITERATURE OF TERROR: A History of Gothic Fictions from 1760 to the Present Day ROMANTICISM AND IDEOLOGY (with David Aers and Jon Cook) BLAKE, HEGEL AND DIALECTIC THE HIDDEN SCRIPT: Writing and the Unconscious THE ROMANTIC UNCONSCIOUS: A Study in Narcissism and Patriarchy GOTHIC PATHOLOGIES: The Text, the Body and the Law INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL STUDIES (editor) WILLIAM BLAKE: Selected Poetry and Prose (editor) WILLIAM BLAKE: The New Casebook (editor) Spectral Readings Towards a Gothic Geography Edited by Glennis Byron and David Punter First published in Great Britain 1999 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40226-7 ISBN 978-0-230-37461-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230374614 First published in the United States of America 1999 by ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-22223-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Spectral readings : towards a Gothic geography / edited by Glennis Byron and David Punter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-22223-9 (cloth) 1. Gothic revival (Literature) 2. Fiction—History and criticism. 3. Horror tales—History and criticism. 4. Gothic revival (Literature)—Great Britain. 5. English fiction—History and criticism. 6. Gothic revival—United States. 7. American fiction– –History and criticism. 8. Women and literature. I. Byron, Glennis, 1955– . II. Punter, David. PN3435.S73 1999 809.3'8729—dc21 98–52329 CIP Selection and editorial matter © Glennis Byron and David Punter 1999 Introduction © David Punter 1999 Text © Macmillan Press Ltd 1999 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1999 978-0-333-69909-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 08 9 07 8 06 7 05 6 04 5 03 4 02 3 01 2 00 1 99 Contents List of figures vii Notes on contributors viii Introduction: of apparitions David Punter 1 Part I Theory: regions of the Gothic 1 The Gothic production of the unconscious Fred Botting 11 2 Ceremonial Gothic David Punter 37 3 The nurture of the Gothic, or, how can a text be both popular and subversive? William Veeder Part II Heartlands: the British nineteenth century 4 Lost cities: London’s apocalypse Alexandra Warwick 5 Hell is a city: symbolic systems and epistemological scepticism in The City of Dreadful Night David Seed 6