Comic Gothic - (Edinburgh Companions to the Gothic) by Avril Horner & Sue Zlosnik

About the Book

Extends the body of scholarship on Comic Gothic to cover contemporary texts, new media and texts from other cultures

Book Synopsis

The Edinburgh Companion to Comic Gothic explores the role of irony, satire, parody, pastiche and the absurd in Gothic texts dating from the eighteenth century up to the present day. Its particular focus on the use of Comic Gothic in social media and popular culture make it a distinctive and original contribution to Gothic studies that will be especially welcomed by undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Review Quotes

Clear and comprehensive, Comic Gothic builds on Horner and Zlosnik's Gothic and the Comic Turn, which examined the Gothic's disruptions of fear and horror by situations rife with comic potential. Comic Gothic not only features a historical sweep from the 18th to 21st centuries but also expands its scope to include essays on American, Canadian, Indian, New Zealander, Thai, and Jewish Gothic modes. [...] Overall, this collection offers readers many fascinating points of entry into the comedic affect of a genre typically presented through the affects of horror and fear.

Summing Up: Highly recommended.

The Gothic has to do with the dark, but ever since the days of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey it has also had its comic side, revelling in exaggeration, melodrama, pastiche, satire and the absurd, as this brilliant collection of essays demonstrates across a satisfyingly wide range of periods and styles.