Queer Gothic
Book Review
Queer Gothic. By George E. Haggerty. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 2006. ix + 231 pp. ISBN 0-252-07353-3.
Written by George Haggerty, Queer Gothic examines the different representations of sexuality throughout the Gothic from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century. Divided into three parts, Haggerty explores sexuality, culture, and intertwining of both in Gothic fiction. Employing the works of authors such as Lewis, Shelley, James, Radcliffe, and Kristeva, to support his argument, Haggerty argues that gothic fiction evokes a queer world that attempts to transgress the binaries of sexual decorum.
Part one begins with the history of sexuality. Haggerty uses works from Lewis, Radcliffe, and Maturin to demonstrate the different relations of sexuality and how they challenged the cultural system. The notions of incest and same sex desire were equally distasteful, however, "gothic fiction attempts to rewrite psychic reality for the purposes of extending its own erotic power" (10). Borrowing the theory of dominant fiction by Silverman, Haggerty states that "gothic fiction remains as queer as it is, and it also suggests why and how gothic remains to challenge the status quo and at the same time to expand its purview" (32). The proceeding chapter goes on to talk about the relationship of psychology and gothic fiction. Using Freudian notions, works are analyzed with Freud notion of the originary loss of the mother. Because of this loss, the characters in novels such as The Monk, Zastrozzi, and The Italian are subjective to the brutalization of sexual violence. Part one ends with the discussion of sodomy and its dark identity. Haggerty explains that identification is crucial to the sodomite because if one cannot recognize him the sodomite will be mistaken as a friend.
In the second part of Queer Gothic, Haggerty moves on to the topic of culture in gothic fiction. Chapter four focuses on the issue of Catholicism and its role...
View Full Essay