| Title | : | Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth: The Gothic Anthropocene |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 145296727X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781452967271 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 372 |
| Publication | : | First published June 28, 2022 |
| Awards | : | Bram Stoker Award Best Nonfiction (2022) |
What can the Gothic teach us about our current geological era? More than just spooky, moonlit castles and morbid graveyards, the Gothic represents a vibrant, emergent perspective on the Anthropocene. In this volume, more than a dozen scholars move beyond longstanding perspectives on the Anthropocene--such as science fiction and apocalyptic narratives--to show that the Gothic offers a unique (and dark) interpretation of events like climate change, diminished ecosystems, and mass extinction.
Embracing pop cultural phenomena like True Detective, Jaws, and Twin Peaks, as well as topics from the New Weird and prehistoric shark fiction to ruin porn and the "monstroscene," Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth demonstrates the continuing vitality of the Gothic while opening important new paths of inquiry. These essays map a genealogy of the Gothic while providing fresh perspectives on the ongoing climate chaos, the North/South divide, issues of racialization, dark ecology, questions surrounding environmental justice, and much more.
Fred Botting, Kingston U; Timothy Clark, U of Durham; Rebecca Duncan, Linnaeus U; Michael Fuchs, U of Oldenburg, Germany; Esthie Hugo, U of Warwick; Dawn Keetley, Lehigh U; Laura R. Kremmel, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Timothy Morton, Rice U; Barry Murnane, U of Oxford; Jennifer Schell, U of Alaska Fairbanks; Lisa M. Vetere, Monmouth U; Sara Wasson, Lancaster U; Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan U.
Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth: The Gothic Anthropocene Reviews
-
Fascinating collection of essays on the Anthropocene in all its many, monstrous forms, and the ways we interpret or can read it in literature in film. Some of these essays are obviously the product of academics having fun with their research, Schell's "Monstrous Megalodons of the Anthropocene: Extinction and Adaptation in Prehistoric Shark Fiction, 1974-2018" in the first half of the collection, and Morton and Graulund's "Got a Light? The Dark Currents of Energy in Twin Peaks: The Return" in the back half both come to mind in that regard.
Other essays deal in the heavier side of studying the Anthropocene, covering topics like the climate crisis, mass extinction, and impending geologic and humanitarian events the likes of which have not been seen in recorded history. There is some bleak stuff covered here, but each essay and academic takes a new and interesting approach to their facet of the Anthropocene in this sweeping study from University of Minnesota Press that is sure to become a staple for those studying the gothic and the earth. -
I thought Sara Wasson’s essay was really a standout. Lots of interesting concepts which were relevant in discussion and worked nicely into the wider web of literature in this topic but I do feel as though there was some repetition of the basic concepts through which left less space for more unusual analysis. Definitely recommend though!
