Gothic: An Illustrated History

Description

Crumbling ruins, undead fiends, dark alleys and forests teeming with horrors seen and unseen: the tendrils of the Gothic have crept out of the architecture of churches, mosques and grand houses and into suburban malls, overcrowded cities, the deserted corners of the world and beyond, taking the shape of monsters from Beowulf to Gojira, Cthulhu or the wendigo to our own terrifying, warped reflections. Across time, form and media, this book traces the weaving path of the Gothic from the shadows of history to the very heart of popular culture today. With over 350 illustrations

Roger Luckhurst is the author of The Invention of Telepathy, 1870-1901 (2002), The Mummy's Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy (2012), and Zombies: A Cultural History (2015), and has edited several classic Gothic novels by Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson and H. P. Lovecraft. He is the Geoffrey Tillotson Professor of Nineteenth Century Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.

'Wonderful. A book as vivid, strange and rich as its topic' - China Mieville 'A compelling read' - On Magazine 'Roger Luckhurst sets forth an extensive, macabre taxonomy of the protean genre and its hallmark "pleasant shivers," dark tendrils grasping through time and space to ensnare gloomy castles, suburban shopping malls and even the most desolate - though maybe not quite unoccupied - reaches of the cosmos ... Luckhurst manages to balance granular detail ... with liveliness and charm' - The New York Times 'A lavish publication of more than 350 arresting images that sparkle with colour much as the pages of text bristle with dark pull-quotes ... Luckhurst's prose is irresistible ... No one will come away from this book without a reinvigorated sense of gothic forms and possibilities in the twenty-first century' - The Times Literary Supplement 'This book is a must-have ... The book's scope is impressive, extending out to a number of iconic films, the writing is beautiful and the illustrations lavish ... A delightfully comprehensive resource' - Teach Secondary