Women’s Authorship and the Early Gothic

Disgrifiad

This edited collection examines Gothic works written by women

authors in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with a

specific focus on the novels and chapbooks produced by less widely

commercially and critically popular writers. Bringing these authors to

the forefront of contemporary critical examinations of the Gothic,

chapters in this collection examine how these works impacted the

development of ‘women’s writing’ and Gothic writing during this time.

Offering readers an original look at the literary landscape of the period

and the roles of the creative women who defined it, the collection

argues that such works reflected a female-centred literary subculture

defined by creative exchange and innovation, one that still shapes

perceptions of the Gothic mode today. This collection, then, presents

an alternative understanding of the legacy of women Gothic authors,

anchoring this understanding in complex historical and social contexts

and providing a new world of Gothic literature for readers to explore.