Reading Gothic Fiction: A Bakhtinian Approach

This is the first full-length study of Gothic to be written from the perspective of Bakhtinian theory. Through discussions of works like Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho, Matthew Lewis's The Monk, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Howard presents a new view of Gothic which enables her to intervene in feminist discussions of the genre, which have claimed it as specifically female. She suggests a way in which feminists can appropriate Bakhtin to make politically effective readings, while acknowledging that these readings do not exhaust the novels' possibilities of meaning and reception. Drawing on the most up-to-date debates in literary theory, this is a sophisticated and scholarly analysis of a genre that has consistently challenged literary criticism.