The gothic reader
history, fear and trembling
pp. 136-152
in: Käte Mitchell, Nicola Parsons (eds), Reading historical fiction, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstract
A typical Gothic scene: a young girl sits alone in a darkened room lit only by a guttering candle, her fearful gaze directed not at the text she has been reading, but over her shoulder. It is as if the very act of reading itself can raise a spectre from the past.