ABSTRACT
Gothic fiction emerged as a popular genre in British fiction in the period 1760–1820. It had revivals and a late life, although the stage at which Gothic veers off into detective fiction, horror, or science fiction is a blurred one. Contrasting with its ordered, Classical alternative and predecessor, Gothic is associated with new forms and content, including mythical or semi-mythical settings, social transgression, hyperbolic sensualism, sensationalism, and disturbing disjuncture of narrative where no one is sure of what they are seeing or feeling; even the narrators are victim. The readership is participant to the effects, kept in suspense, rendered unsure, fearful (Hurley, 2002; Punter, 1996a).
