Gothic Ireland: Horror and the Irish Anglican Imagination in the Long Eighteenth Century

by Jarlath Killeen

This book examines the formation of Anglican identity in Ireland throughout the long, 18th century. Beginning with the 1641 Rebellion, which constitutes the inaugurating event of Anglican Ireland, the book traces the convolutions of this identity through to the Act of Union in 1801. It argues that Gothicism is the basic modality in which Anglican Ireland found expression, and traces the themes and modes of Gothic writing in political tracts, philosophical pamphlets, graveyard poetry, aesthetic treatises, and Gothic novels. In linking these diffuse modes of writing through their common recourse to a Gothic language, this book produces a psycho-history of the Anglican mind.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2005

Reviews

[Catherine Judd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely useful, well-researched and intelligent discussions of the Irish gothic as well as the history of the gothic novel in general. Do not miss Dr. Killeen's chapter on Thomas Long's "History of Ireland" as well as Long's historical novel "Longsword" which may well be one of the first gothic novels of the 18th century although it is rarely credited as such.