Scottish Women's Gothic and Fantastic Writing
Fiction since 1978
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Published:16th Sep '10
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Scottish Women's Gothic and Fantastic Writing considers four thematic areas of the supernatural - quests, dangerous women, doubles and ghosts - each explored in one of the four main chapters. Being the first critical work to bring together contemporary women's writing and the Scottish fantasy tradition, the volume pioneers in-depth investigation of some previously neglected texts such as Ali Smith's Hotel World; Alice Thompson's Justine; Margaret Elphinstone's longer fiction, as well as offering new readings of more popular texts including A.L. Kennedy's So I am glad, Emma Tennant's The Bad Sister and Two Women of London. Underlying the broad scope of this survey are the links - both explicit and implicit - established between the examined texts and the Scottish supernatural tradition. Having established a connection with a distinctively Scottish canon, Monica Germana points to the ways in which the selected texts simultaneously break from past traditions and reveal points of departure through their exploration of otherness as well as their engagement with feminist and postmodernist discourses in relation to the questions of identity and the interrogation of the real. Key Features * Original in scope and theoretical approach * Covers high profiles figures such as A L Kennedy, Muriel Spark and Emma Tennant as well as emerging authors such as Ali Smith and Alice Thompson * Contribution to scholarship in the areas of genre, gender and nation theory
This is an excellent book -- thoughtful, insightful and provocative. Germana presents us with a range of texts never before treated together -- texts both exemplary and extraordinary -- and weaves them into a new version of Scottish women's cultural history. She wears her immense learning and scholarship well and lightly, and provides an account which is both highly readable and also steeped in literary and historical erudition. A truly signal achievement. -- David Punter, University of Bristol The book is written lucidly and coherently, Germana grounding her findings in a wide-reaching theoretical framework which gives her work broad and appreciable cultural resonance ! Germana achieves an impressive depth and scope of analysis ! Both enlightening and significant. The Gothic Imagination Reclaiming Scotland as the 'split' site of women's Gothis writing, a counter-canon, is a subversive thing for Germana to do. I can only hope her excellent study sparks more works in this vein. -- Lesley McDowell Scottish Review of Books This is an excellent book -- thoughtful, insightful and provocative. Germana presents us with a range of texts never before treated together -- texts both exemplary and extraordinary -- and weaves them into a new version of Scottish women's cultural history. She wears her immense learning and scholarship well and lightly, and provides an account which is both highly readable and also steeped in literary and historical erudition. A truly signal achievement. The book is written lucidly and coherently, Germana grounding her findings in a wide-reaching theoretical framework which gives her work broad and appreciable cultural resonance ! Germana achieves an impressive depth and scope of analysis ! Both enlightening and significant. Reclaiming Scotland as the 'split' site of women's Gothis writing, a counter-canon, is a subversive thing for Germana to do. I can only hope her excellent study sparks more works in this vein.
ISBN: 9780748637645
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 478g
216 pages