Overview

This is an in depth exploration of how the Gothic literature boom of the late-eighteenth century was a response and reaction to the expansion of the British empire, and to the continued periods of war in the second half of the century. The Gothic has often been discussed in relation to the French Revolution as a literature of terror, but The Gothic at War demonstrates how the works of Gothic writers such as Horace Walpole, Charlotte Smith and Ann Radcliffe were also a literature of conflict. This study places a particular focus on masculinity and national identity, analysing how the representations of war and the figure of the soldier in the Gothic of the era allowed women writers in particular to explore anxieties about manliness and nationality.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lauren J. Nixon
Publisher:   University of Wales Press
Imprint:   University of Wales Press
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781837722648

ISBN 10:   1837722641
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   15 June 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Reclaiming Ancient Glories?: Military masculinity and the rise of the Gothic Chapter One: ‘His gallant and indefatigable behaviour’: Horace Walpole, Henry Seymour Conway, and finding the soldier in The Castle of Otranto Chapter Two: Champions of Virtue: Effeminacy, chivalry and national virtue in Clara Reeve’s The Old English Baron Chapter Three: ‘That which is right’: Fashioning the soldier as hero in the early works of Ann Radcliffe Chapter Four: ‘Tinsel ornaments’: Revolution, Gothic realties, and Charlotte Smith’s anti-war novels Chapter Five: ‘He is just what a young man ought [not] to be’: Anxiety, conflict and failed masculinity in Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho Chapter Six: ‘I am not what I am’: Fractured masculinities and female distress in The Midnight Bell and Clermont Conclusion: ‘This comes of the peace’: War and the Gothic beyond the Napoleonic Bibliography

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Author Information

Lauren J. Nixon works for the Directorate of Research Culture and Environment at Nottingham Trent University. She co-hosts The Ghoul Guides, a podcast creating Gothic pop-culture content.

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