Series: Elements in the Gothic

Disability is central to the Gothic imagination. This Element draws together disability and Gothic literature in ways that show the interplay between them. The first chapter offers a brief history of Critical Disability Studies, and the manner in which Gothic has been integral to the evolution of disability theory. It shows the increasing centrality of the Gothic to the development...

Gothic Dementia: Troubled Minds in Gothic Timelines introduces Gothic studies as a valuable lens through which to critically consider how we think about dementia. It argues that the Gothic's foundational narrative techniques can model approaches to similar dementia symptoms, such as chronological confusion, fragmentation, cyclical storytelling, repetition, unreliable narrators, unstable identities, uncanny behaviours, and Otherness. If we can navigate these...