Full Description
Disability is central to the Gothic imagination. Few accounts of Gothic literature, however, interpret this genre with attention to experiences of disability, or to the socially determined aspects of disability, such as physical environments or disabling cultures. Disability and the Gothic: The Nineteenth Century examines the place of Gothic in the fundamentals of disability theory, tracing how Gothic became emblematic of problematic accounts of disability within Disability Studies. From here, it traces the subsequent development of Gothic Disability Studies into a subfield. The main sections of this Element offer close readings that illustrate a range of modes in which Gothic bodies and minds articulate and shift their relationship to the aesthetic and affective frameworks of the nineteenth century. The book aims to show that while disability frequently represents the Other in Gothic texts, the Gothic imagination also prompts us to think of disabled people in manifold ways.
Contents
1. Disability Studies and the Gothic; 2. Disability and the Gothic Body; 3. Gothic Madness and Neurodiversity; 4. Reclaiming Gothic: Concluding Questions; References.
