A01=Alyssa Q. Johnson
Author_Alyssa Q. Johnson
Category=DS
Category=DSBF
Category=DSK
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
forthcoming
Gothic Romance
Nineteenth-century Religion and Literature
Protestantism
Religious Fanaticism
The Gothic
Vampire
Product details
- ISBN 9781399570176
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 31 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This book argues that fanaticism becomes a Gothicised literary discourse that uniquely monitors the boundaries of ‘acceptable’ religion, depicting the consequences of excessive, uncritical devotion as inherently Gothic. This discourse, termed Gothic fanaticism, has the potential to make specific, incisive critiques about religion and, more troubling, to depict alternative faith practices and beliefs as monstrous. The book explores Gothic fiction’s Protestant fanatics and the slippery uses of the discourse of failed religion in a century marked with religious upheaval. It seriously considers what makes a literary character a fanatic, why religious extremism appeals to many, how the shapes of extremism operate in Gothic literature, and how fanaticism can become weaponised against fanatics themselves.
Alyssa Q. Johnson is Assistant Professor of English at Charleston Southern University in Charleston, S.C.
