The Gothic and the Rule of the Law, 1764-1820

This book is the first full-length theoretical and historical study of the relation between early Gothic fiction and an emerging modern rule of law. The work identifies not only a political and cultural, but also an ontological relation between what critics have conceptualized as 'Gothic' and the nature and function of modern juridical power.

Autorentext
SUE CHAPLIN is Senior Lecturer in English at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, where she specialises in Romantic-era writing and Gothic fiction. She is the author of Law, Sensibility and the Sublime in Eighteenth-Century Women's Fiction (2004).

Inhalt
Acknowledgements Introduction: Thresholds Fictions of Origin 'Written in the Black Letter': The Gothic and/in the Rule of Law Spectres of Law in The Castle of Otranto Clara Reeve and the Problem of Romance The Law's Gothic Space: Sophia Lee's The Recess A Maternal Tale Unfolds: Radcliffean Gothic A Supplement: Gaston de Blondeville Before the Law: Godwin's Caleb Williams In Excess: St Leon and Melmoth the Wanderer Conclusion: Frankenstein - Reproducing the Gothic Bibliography Index