The Supernatural Media Virus : Virus Anxiety in Gothic Fiction Since 1990

Since the 1990s, the virus and the network metaphors have become increasingly popular, finding application in a broad range of everyday discourses, academic disciplines, and fiction genres. In this book, Rahel Sixta Schmitz defines and discusses a trope recurring in Gothic fiction: the supernatural media virus. This trope comprises the confluence of the virus, the network, and a deep, underlying media anxiety. This study shows how Gothic narratives such as House of Leaves or The Ring feature the supernatural media virus to negotiate as well as actively shape imaginations of the network society and the dangers of a globalized, technologized world. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Age of Virus Anxiety 1. The Virus, the Network, and the Supernatural Media Virus 1.1 Theories of Metaphor 1.2 The Viral Metaphor: The Spread of the Virus Across Disciplines 1.3 The Ubiquity of the Network Metaphor and the Emergence of the Network Society 1.4 The Virus in the Network Society: The Supernatural Media Virus as a Gothic Trope 2. Ghostwatch and the Advent of the Network Society 2.1 The Ghost Story as a Critique of Society and its Media 2.2 Blurring Fact and Fiction: Uncanny Mass Media 2.3 Gothic Conventions in Times of Increasing Interconnection 3. House of Leaves, the Network Paradigm, and the Abstract Supernatural Media Virus 3.1 Lost in the (Textual) Labyrinth: The Multimodal Transmedia Narrative 3.2 Alienation, Homelessness, and the Instability of the Text 3.3 The Supernatural Media Virus as Inherent Network Accident 4. The Moral Dimension of the Supernatural Media Virus in the Ring Franchise 4.1 Ring as a Cross-Cultural Example of the Supernatural Media Virus 4.2 Japanese Horror Traditions: The Kaidan and Globalgothic 4.3 The Metropolis as a Figuration of the Network Society 4.4 The Evolution of Ring’s Viral Vector: The Media’s Moral Dilemma 5. The Digital Supernatural Media Virus and the Network Apocalypse in Kairo and Pulse 5.1 Media Anxiety in 21st Century Digital Gothic 5.2 Disconnection, Disintegration, Disembodiment: The Human Individual in the Digitalized Network Society 5.3 Permanent Surveillance and Networked Ghosts: Digital Media as Viral Vectors Conclusions: Future Mutations of the Supernatural Media Virus Bibliography Film, Television, and Web Series Video Games Audio Works Literature Since the 1990s, the virus and the network metaphors have become increasingly popular, finding application in a broad range of everyday discourses, academic disciplines, and fiction genres. In this book, Rahel Sixta Schmitz defines and discusses a trope recurring in Gothic fiction: the supernatural media virus. This trope comprises the confluence of the virus, the network, and a deep, underlying media anxiety. This study shows how Gothic narratives such as House of Leaves or The Ring feature the supernatural media virus to negotiate as well as actively shape imaginations of the network society and the dangers of a globalized, technologized world. Gothic;,Horror;,Media;,Virus;,Network,Society;,Literature;,Film;,Literary,Studies;,American,Studies;,British,Studies Gothic,Horror,Media,Virus,Network Society,Literature,Film,Literary Studies,American Studies,British Studies