Speaking the Language of the Night : Aspects of the Gothic in Selected Contemporary Novels

This study contributes to the emerging field of Global Gothic. It focuses on the survival and evolution of Gothic subgenres and tropes in selected contemporary novels, produced in geographies and histories far away from its Western cradle. Some Gothic features identified as universal such as the relationship between space and character, the sublime, the process of Othering, uncanny doubles and the dissolution of identity are explored. This study maintains that the novels under scrutiny, written by a wide variety of authors such as Adiga, Desai, Ishiguro, Müller, Pamuk, Roberts and Rushdie, facilitate a fruitful dialogue between West and East under the sign of Gothic. A diverse critical apparatus is employed, including texts from Bhabha, Kristeva, Deleuze and Guattari, Derrida, Mishra and others. This study contributes to the emerging field of Global Gothic. It focuses on the survival and evolution of Gothic subgenres and tropes in selected contemporary novels, produced in geographies and histories far away from its Western cradle. Some Gothic features identified as universal such as the relationship between space and character, the sublime, the process of Othering, uncanny doubles and the dissolution of identity are explored. This study maintains that the novels under scrutiny, written by a wide variety of authors such as Adiga, Desai, Ishiguro, Mueller, Pamuk, Roberts and Rushdie, fa Tales Of Labyrinths: The White Tiger And The Postcolonial Metamorphosis Of Gothic -- From Behind The Iron Curtain: Herta Müller's Female Gothic -- Lost In Bombay And Istanbul: Urban Gothic In Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram And Orhan Pamuk's The Black Book -- Blurring Boundaries In Never Let Me Go -- The Sublime Of The Intimate Others: Salman Rushdie's Shame -- Refracting Spaces In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre And Anita Desai's Fire On The Mountain. Adriana Raducanu. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Tales of Labyrinths – The White Tiger and the Postcolonial Metamorphosis of Gothic From Behind the Iron Curtain: Herta Müller’s Female Gothic Lost in Bombay and Istanbul: Urban Gothic in Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram and Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book Blurring Boundaries in Never Let Me Go The Sublime of the Intimate Others: Salman Rushdie’s Shame Refracting Spaces in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain Bibliography Index This study explores Global Gothic and comparative literature by contextualizing Gothic tropes such as the sublime, the uncanny, the double and the setting in contemporary novels written by Adiga, Desai, Ishiguro, Muller, Pamuk, Roberts and Rushdie. Gothic criticism is accompanied by a cultural, historical and ideological analysis of the narratives.