The Gothic

There are many interpretations of the word 'Gothic'. Nick Groom explores the rich history and chronology of the term, bringing together various underlying and disparate elements to clarify its meaning. By examining its history, he argues that we can better interpret and understand society today.

Professor Nick Groom is Chair in English at the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, and Director of ECLIPSE: the Exeter Centre for Literatures of Identity, Place, and Sustainability. He has published widely for both academic and popular readerships, and is the author and editor of many books, most recently The Forger's Shadow (2002), Thomas Chatterton: Selected Poetry (2003), and The Union Jack (2006).

Introduction: A history of the Gothic in thirteen chapters
1: Origins of the Goths
2: The ascent to heaven
3: The iconoclasts
4: The revenge of the dead
5: Liberty gothic
6: Gothic whiggery
7: The Sixties
8: The descent into hell
9: The poetics of blood
10: The gothic dream
11: New England goths
12: Goths at the movies
13: First and last and always
Further reading