Degeneration, Normativity and the Gothic at the Fin de Siècle

This exciting new study looks at degeneration and deviance in nineteenth-century science and late-Victorian Gothic fiction. The questions it raises are as relevant today as they were at the nineteenth century's fin de siecle: What constitutes the norm from which a deviation has occurred? What exactly does it mean to be 'normal' or 'abnormal'?

Stephan Karschay examines the prominent questions posed by degeneration theorywhat causes human deviance and how can it be detectedby tracing the complex development of degeneration theory . Degeneration, Normativity and the Gothic at the Fin de Siècle offers readers a productive place to begin interdisciplinary endeavors in Gothic literature, science, and the genealogy of degeneration theory. (Sharla Hutchison, English Literature in Transition, Vol. 59 (3), January, 2016)

Autorentext

Stephan Karschay is Lecturer in English Literature and British Cultural Studies at the University of Passau, Germany. His main research interests are the relationship between literature and science in the nineteenth century, the Gothic in literature and film, and the cultural representation of scandal.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Degeneration and the Victorian Sciences 3. Detecting the Degenerate: Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan 4. Othering the Degenerate: Bram Stoker's Dracula and Richard Marsh's The Beetle 5. Normalising the Degenerate: Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Marie Corelli's The Sorrows of Satan 6. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index