Contemporary Gothic (Reaktion Books - Focus on Contemporary Issues) [Paperback]

Catherine Spooner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1861893019 | ISBN-13: 978-1861893017

Modern Gothic culture alternately fascinates, horrifies, or bewilders many of us. We cringe at pictures of Marilyn Manson, cheer for Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and try not to stare at the pierced and tattooed teens we pass on the streets. But what is it about this dark and morbidly morose aesthetic that fascinates us today? In Contemporary Gothic, Catherine Spooner probes the reasons behind the prevalence of the Gothic in popular culture and how it has inspired innovative new work in film, literature, music, and art. 

Spooner traces the emergence of the Gothic subculture over the past few decades and examines the various aspects of contemporary society that revolve around the grotesque, abject, and artificial. The Gothic is continually resituated in different spheres of culture, she reveals, as she explores the transplantation of the “street” Goth style to haute couture runway looks by fashion designers. The Gothic also appears in a number of surprisingly diverse representations, and Spooner considers them all, from the artistic excesses of Jake and Dinos Chapman to the fashions of Alexander McQueen, and from the mind-bending films of David Lynch to the abnormal postmodern subjects of Joel-Peter Witkin’s photography.

In an engaging way, Contemporary Gothic argues that this style ultimately balances a number of contradictions—the grotesque and incorporeal, authentic self-expression and campiness, mass popularity and cult appeal, comfort and outrage—and these contradictions make the Gothic a crucial expression of contemporary cultural currents. Whether seeking to understand the stories behind the TV show Supernatural or to extract deeper meanings from modern literature, Contemporary Gothic is a lively and virtually unparalleled study of the modern Gothic sensibility that pervades popular culture today.

(20070122)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Why won''t Goth die? In Contemporary Gothic, Catherine Spooner performs a critical vivisection of the Goth subculture aesthetic to isolate the reasons why it eternally resurfaces in marginal and mainstream contemporary culture. Cutting through the subculture''s conventions and clichés, Spooner examines Goth''s roots in the gothic literary tradition while deftly deconstructing some of the more visible examples of Gothic pervasiveness. . . . Spooner also eloquently demonstrates that even commercially marketed and consumed Goth culture provides a vital intelligent, critical counterpoint to the pop, sparkle and giggle of mass popular culture."—Art Review

 

 

(Art Review 20070106)

"Interesting and accessible."--Glasgow Herald

 

 

(Alastair Mabbott Glasgow Herald 20070615)

"Refreshingly free of the kind of heavy theoretical jargon that would make even the palest goth blanch in dismay."—Chronicle of Higher Education

 

(Mikita Brottman The Chronicle Review )

About the Author

Catherine Spooner is a lecturer in English at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. She is the author of Fashioning Gothic Bodies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Reaktion Books (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861893019
• ISBN-13: 978-1861893017
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,179,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Gothic

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the prevalence of the gothic in today's popular culture, April 8, 2007

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contemporary Gothic (Reaktion Books - Focus on Contemporary Issues) (Paperback)

In this book on popular culture, Spooner writes about how "Gothic narratives have escaped the confines of literature and spread across disciplinary boundaries to infect all kinds of media, from fashion to advertising to the way contemporary events are constructed in mass culture." This is evident in the clothing worn by many punk-rock musicians, the prevalence of tattoos and body piercing, and the popularity of horror movies. But Spooner not only engages in an entertaining inventory of the diverse manifestations of the gothic in contemporary culture, but also delves into the historical and literary roots of the gothic and reasons for its attraction and persistence. In its idiomatic, inimitable way, the gothic represents the potent psychic themes of subconscious memories of the past and ties to the dead, the creation of the "other" (e. g. Frankenstein's monster), the fragmentary self, the mutability of the body, and one's own death and reincarnation. The gothic does not resolve anxieties "both personal and collective" attending these, however. Spooner's general perspective is that it is a way of dealing with the anxieties. The periodic reawakening of the gothic usually originate among younger people for its graphic imagery connoting unconventionality and a degree of rebelliousness. Spooner is a lecturer in literature at England's Lancaster University and author of the 2004 book "Fashioning Gothic Bodies." Her sure hand with the wide range of subject matter makes for an especially lucid exploration of the vein of the gothic in today's pop and youth cultures.