Gothic Fanaticism: Protestant Anxiety in Nineteenth-Century Fiction

This book argues that fanaticism becomes a Gothicised literary discourse that uniquely monitors the boundaries of ‘acceptable’ religion, depicting the consequences of excessive, uncritical devotion as inherently Gothic. This discourse, termed Gothic fanaticism, has the potential to make specific, incisive critiques about religion and, more troubling, to depict alternative faith practices and beliefs as monstrous. The book explores Gothic fiction’s Protestant fanatics and the slippery uses of the discourse of failed religion in a century marked with religious upheaval. It seriously considers what makes a literary character a fanatic, why religious extremism appeals to many, how the shapes of extremism operate in Gothic literature, and how fanaticism can become weaponised against fanatics themselves.