Scarecrow Press
Pages: 376
Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼
978-0-8108-7228-8 • Hardback • December 2012 • $172.00 • (£133.00)
978-0-8108-7478-7 • eBook • December 2012 • $163.00 • (£127.00)
William Hughes is Professor of Gothic Studies at Bath Spa University. He is the author or editor of 14 books, including Beyond Dracula: Bram Stoker’s Fiction and its Cultural Context and Fictions of Unease: The Gothic from Otranto to The Ex-Files. He also served as joint president of the International Gothic Association and is the founder editor of the Association’s journal, Gothic Studies.
As noted in the introduction, the term gothic is culturally complex, and its meanings have varied greatly across the 400 years of its persistence in the English language. This compact volume spans the history of gothic literature from its appropriation in the mid-eighteenth century to the recent publication of the Twilight series. Hughes, professor of gothic studies at Bath Spa University, interprets the term literature liberally; among the 200 entries, Scooby-Doo and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are represented, along with The Castle of Otranto and The Turn of the Screw. The A–Z entries cover a variety of works (books, magazines, movies, and television shows are all represented) as well as central figures (Robert Bloch, Angela Olive Carter, Edgar Allan Poe) and a number of different themes and literary conventions (Doppelgánger, Ghost stories, Gothic hero, Southern gothic, Queer gothic). There is a good deal of international information here as well (Australian gothic, Irish gothic, India). Entries range from a paragraph to two pages and include a wealth of see also references in bold.
— Booklist
This dictionary is a good introduction to themes, authors, and terminology of Gothic literature for high school and undergraduate students. Hughes (Bath Spa Univ., UK) puts his extensive knowledge of this genre to good use in this broad work. The dictionary itself features a chronology, a substantial and informative introduction to the Gothic, a dictionary of terms, and a concluding bibliography. The latter is worth noting. Hughes breaks down entries for further reading by topic and Gothic author, rather than arranging entries by author's last name. This arrangement will
allow users of this dictionary to find further reading on their topics very easily. As the title indicates, this dictionary focuses on literature, as opposed to the recently revised The Handbook of the Gothic, edited by Marie Mulvey-Roberts (2nd ed., CH, Feb'10, 47-3001), which broadened its focus to include topics like film. Despite this, the two works have considerable crossover; many terms about the Gothic appear in both. In fact, Hughes contributed entries to the Handbook. The Historical Dictionary will be useful for libraries that lack a reference guide for the Gothic or libraries looking to update their reference collection. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and
general readers.
— Choice Reviews