The Gothic body : sexuality, materialism, and degeneration at the fin de siècle

Summary: This book accounts for the resurgence of Gothic, and its immense popularity, during the British fin de siecle. Kelly Hurley explores a key scenario that haunts the genre: the loss of a unified and stable human identity, and the emergence of a chaotic and transformative "abhuman" identity in its place. She shows that such representations of gothic bodices are strongly indebted to those found in nineteenth-century biology and social medicine, evolutionism, criminal anthropology, and degeneration theory. Gothic is revealed as a highly productive and speculative genre, standing in opportunistic relation to nineteenth-century scientific and social theories.

Record details

ISBN: 0521607116 (pbk.)
ISBN: 0511821018 (e-book)
ISBN: 9780511821011 (e-book)
ISBN: 9780521552592
ISBN: 0521552591
ISBN: 1107784360 (electronic bk.)
ISBN: 9781107784369 (electronic bk.)
Physical Description: 1 online resource (xii, 203 pages)
remote
Publisher: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Multi-User.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-199) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Introduction: The Abhuman -- Pt. I. The Gothic Material World. 1. The revenge of matter. 2. Symptomatic readings -- Pt. II. Gothic Bodies. 3. Evolutionism and the loss of human specificity. 4. Entropic bodies. 4.1. Degenerate sub-species. 4.2. Abjecting whiteness: H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. 5. Chaotic bodies. 5.1. The body as palimpsest. 5.2. "Generalized animalism": Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau -- Pt. III. Gothic Sexualities. 6. Uncanny female interiors. 6.1. "The inner chambers of all nameless sin": Richard Marsh's The Beetle. 7. Abjected masculinities. 8. Narrative chaos. 8.1. The Three Imposters: Arthur Machen's urban chaosmos.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction Note:	Access requires VIU IP addresses and is restricted to VIU students, faculty and staff. Access restricted by subscription.
Source of Description Note:	Description based on print version record.