Supernatural Sublime

RaÚl RodrÍguez-HernÁndez is an associate professor of Spanish, comparative literature, and film and media studies at the University of Rochester. He is the author of Mexico’s Ruins: Juan Garcia Ponce and the Writing of Modernity. Claudia Schaefer is the Rush Rhees Chair and a professor of Spanish, comparative literature, and film and media studies at the University of Rochester. She is the author of several books, including Lens, Laboratory, Landscape: Observing Modern Spain and Bored to Distraction: Cinema of Excess in End-of-the-Century Mexico and Spain.

“The human psyche envisions the future in terms of hopes and fears. This volume skillfully explores the ghosts of those fears. A welcome work, indispensable for understanding the gothic supernatural in films from Spain and Mexico over six decades.”-AndrÉs Lema-HincapiÉ, coeditor of Despite All Adversities: Spanish-American Queer Cinema  “Finally, a long-awaited comparative examination of the supernatural in Mexican and Spanish horror and hybrid films. These case studies illuminate historical and contemporary sociopolitical problems through highly readable yet philosophical close readings grounded in film analysis. An indispensable and exciting contribution to genre studies.”-Sergio de la Mora, author of Cinemachismo: Masculinities and Sexuality in Mexican Film “The pairing of Mexican and Spanish films leads to innovative readings that move beyond the framework of the national to identify the potency of supernatural tropes and motifs in posing questions about the limits of science and reason in tackling the most important themes regarding the nature and meaning of human existence. The authors bring to bear an impressive grounding in psychoanalysis, Marxist theory and analysis, and other relevant thought from a variety of fields.”-Kathleen Vernon, coeditor of A Companion to Pedro AlmodÓvar

• IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: Porous Landscapes of the Modern World: The Witch as Sublime IntruderChapter 2: Haunted Houses: Inheriting the SupernaturalChapter 3: The Fascination and Danger of Schools for GirlsChapter 4: A Desperate Longing for Order: The Masks of InnocenceChapter 5: Patterns of Temporal Terror: A Repetition Compulsion?Conclusion: Sublime AfterimagesBibliography