Contesting the Gothic: Fiction, Genre and Cultural Conflict, 1764–1832

Cambridge Studies in Romanticism

by James Watt

This historically grounded account of Gothic fiction takes issue with received accounts of the genre as a stable and continuous tradition. Charting its vicissitudes from Walpole to Scott, Watt shows the Gothic to have been a heterogeneous body of fiction, characterized at times by antagonistic relations between writers or works. Watt examines the novels' political import and concludes by looking ahead to the fluctuating critical status of Scott and the Gothic, and perceptions of the Gothic as a monolithic tradition, which continue to exert a powerful hold.

Genres: Nonfiction, 18th Century, Academic, Literary Criticism

220 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 1995

Reviews

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A study who's author explores the rifts, divisions and schisms between the different authors working in the early days of the Gothic novel. Watt's argument is that there was no one harmonious growth of the genre with the authors working together with shared elements, but rather the main authors approached their works from various directions and as such their texts differ wildly. This short analysis focusses on Horace Walpole, Matthew Lewis, Ann Radcliffe, and Walter Scott, while acknowledging a handful of others along the way. It's a brisk and logical read, and Watt makes a lot of sense by picking out the disparities between each author.