This is a wide-ranging book about aspects of the Gothic, from classic texts such as Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights to contemporary fiction by Iain Banks, William Gibson and many others. It approaches the texts through looking at the opposition between the Gothic and the law, suggesting ways in which Gothic at all points produces transgression. It looks at horror fiction by, for example, Stephen King and Robert Bloch, as well as stories from China and Hong Kong, and suggests new ways in which contemporary literary and psychological theory might relate to and address the Gothic.

'This book maintains David Punter's well-earned stature as a major teacher of us all about the most basic drives in Gothic writing, ones that he reveals with new intensity and power in this provocative and complex study.' - Gothic Studies

'A rich work of critical bricolage...Punter's intensely political engagement.' - Steven Bruhm, Romanticism On the Net

DAVID PUNTER is Professor of English Studies at the University of Stirling, where he has been since 1988. Previously he was Professor and Head of Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a past President of the British Association for Romantic Studies and Chair of the Council for College and University English. He has published extensively on Gothic, romantic and contemporary writing, as well as on literature and psychoanalysis.