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A review by rlbrock
Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and the New Supernatural by Victoria Nelson
4.0
I very much wanted to dislike this book for two reasons -- 1. The use of the K -- please. 2. This bit from the preface: "I have made no attempt to survey the present of Gothick scholarship [is there any GothicK scholarship?] and position my own thinking within it, thereby omitting mention of many current key thinking in this vast, rick and exciting field" (xii-xiii).
Um, someone should tell this lady how scholarship usually works. I'm going to go with intellectually arrogant to describe the tone. And, that pretty much remains throughout (although to a much lesser degree).
However, she's got some great observations and is a damn fine close reader. She's clearly familiar with the genre and cultural history and folds them into her arguments quite smoothly (for the most part, there were several spots when the narrative more or less stopped to provide a history lesson). Also, I would really like to see her engage with some of what's out there; Edmundson's *Nightmare on Main Street,* for instance. That discussion could be fascinating.
I really feel like I should reread and think further about her ideas -- particularly where they might mesh with my own (for I, of course, have my own Gothic project). So, in the end I found this well worth the time and intellectual effort.
Um, someone should tell this lady how scholarship usually works. I'm going to go with intellectually arrogant to describe the tone. And, that pretty much remains throughout (although to a much lesser degree).
However, she's got some great observations and is a damn fine close reader. She's clearly familiar with the genre and cultural history and folds them into her arguments quite smoothly (for the most part, there were several spots when the narrative more or less stopped to provide a history lesson). Also, I would really like to see her engage with some of what's out there; Edmundson's *Nightmare on Main Street,* for instance. That discussion could be fascinating.
I really feel like I should reread and think further about her ideas -- particularly where they might mesh with my own (for I, of course, have my own Gothic project). So, in the end I found this well worth the time and intellectual effort.