ABSTRACT

While literary and theoretical interpretations of the Gothic frequently foreground fragmentation, the history and utilization of the Gothic as a transgeneric phenomenon reveals a desire for continuity, constancy, and unity. However, the "Gothic" is emblazoned across both texts, and this suggests some sort of parity that transcends the undoubted differences between the two narratives. Though approaching the term from different perspectives, both Dale Townshend and David Matthews have identified early uses of the word "Gothic" as a pejorative term for the medieval past. Throughout its history as a literary term, the word with which the adjectival Gothic has most commonly been paired is "romance". In several studies of the Gothic, scholars have expressed concerns about the proliferation of "Gothic" as a categorization of cultural production. Many of the extra-textual features are created through stage and cinema adaptations, reminding us of the way Gothic functions as a transmedia, as well as transgeneric, mode.