Reading Gothic Fiction: A Bakhtinian ApproachThis is the first full-length study of Gothic to be written from the perspective of Bakhtinian theory. Dr Howard uses Bakhtin's concepts of heteroglossia and dialogism in specific historical analyses of key works of the genre. Her discussions of Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho, Matthew Lewis's The Monk, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein demonstrate that the discursive ambiguity of these novels is not inherently subversive, but that the political force of particular discourses is contingent upon their interaction with other discourses in the reading process. This position enables the author to intervene in feminist discussions of Gothic, which have claimed it as a specifically female genre. Dr Howard suggests a way in which feminists can appropriate Bakhtin to make politically effective readings, while acknowledging that these readings do not exhaust the novels' possibilities of meaning and reception. Drawing on the most up-to-date debates in literary theory, this is a sophisticated and scholarly analysis of a genre that has consistently challenged literary criticism. |
Contents
WOMEN AND THE GOTHIC | 53 |
ANN RADCLIFFES | 106 |
JANE AUSTENS | 145 |
Copyright | |
4 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic Ambrosio Ann Radcliffe Antonia argues Bakhtin Castle Catherine century Charles Robert Maturin claims Coleridge conventions critics cultural dialogic discourses eighteenth eighteenth-century Emily Emily's English Essay example fantastic fear feelings Female Gothic feminine Feminism feminist Frankenstein Further references appear gender genius genre German Godwin Gothic fiction Gothic novels Gothic romances Gothic texts Heroine heteroglossia History Ibid imagination interpretation intertextual Jane Austen Kiely language Lewis Lewis's literary London Lorenzo MacAndrew male Mary Shelley Mary Shelley's Matthew G Mikhail Bakhtin mind modern Monk monk's Montoni moral Mysteries of Udolpho myth narrative narrator nature Northanger Abbey Novel in England Novelists Old English Baron Otranto Oxford parody poem political Poovey Punter Radcliffe's readers Review Richardson Robert satire scene sensibility Sentimental sexual Shelley social St Aubert story Sturm und Drang sublime subversive supernatural tale taste Theory tion University Press Valancourt virtue Walpole Wollstonecraft woman women writers writing York young