Clive Bloom – författare

This highly accessible anthology of Gothic writings and criticism provides an essential guide to the genre. The second edition of this critically acclaimed book has been thoroughly revised to include material from the early gothic and a fresh set of contemporary essays, with a supporting timeline and thought provoking introductory material.

The study of Hollywood detectives has often overlooked the B-Movie mystery series in favour of hard-boiled film. Hollywood's Detectives redresses this oversight by examining key detective series of the 1930s and 1940s to explore their contributions to the detective genre.

American Drama offers a comprehensive introduction for students who require detailed but clear information on the dramatists included.

Dealing with a topic fraught with moral, political and sexual tensions, this volume provides a forum for a male/female dialogue concerning the history, dissemination and consequences of pornographic representation that will challenge established views and open doors to further exploration and debate.

This volume presents thirteen essays on the spy thriller in the twentieth century and includes a critical introduction to the subject. Each essay combines in a clear and understandable way, formal, historical, and aesthetic theory with sound practical criticism. Authors covered range from past masters such as Joseph Conrad and John Buchan to present masters such as Ian Fleming, Len Deighton and John le Carr, whilst subjects range widely from discussion of the formal characteristics of the genre to the conditions governing modern state surveillance and control, of which the spy novel is not only a symptom but also a warning. The book, which combines a comprehensive range of literary approaches, is the companion volume to Nineteenth-Century Suspense: From Poe to Conan Doyle, Twentieth Century Suspense: The Genre Comes of Age, Literature and Imperialism and American Crime Fiction, all available in the Insights Series.

American Drama offers a comprehensive introduction for students who require detailed but clear information on the dramatists included. It has much to offer the academic and serious reader and addresses the common concern that the unfamiliar names and forgotten voices of those who made a major contribution to the history of American drama have been unfairly neglected. A range of approaches and a wide selection of plays discussed make this volume a landmark in our appreciation and understanding of some of this century's greatest writers.

This collection of specially commissioned essays brings together leading scholars and critics to define the American modernist canon. Tracing its origins back to Walt Whitman, this radical poetry is inspired by the concept of democracy vital to the American dream and extends across America from east to west and in varying hues - imagist, objectionist, Beat. New theoretical approaches applied to a wide range of poets make this the most comprehensive survey of American modernist poetry available.

Providing a perceptive and thorough analysis of British literature within its historical, cultural and artistic context, this book covers the period between 1900 and 1929. It identifies the crucial, interwoven relationships between literature and the visual arts, modern poetry, popular fiction, journalism, cinema, music and radio.

British culture has changed almost beyond recognition since 1956. Angry young men have been displaced by Yuppies, Elvis by the Spice Girls, and meat and two veg by continental cuisine. What is more, as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales showed, the British are now more famous for a trembling lower lip than a stiff upper one. This volume, the last in the series, examines the transformations in literature and culture over the last forty years. An introductory essay provides a context for the following chapters by arguing that although there have been significant changes in British life, there are also profound continuities. It also discusses the rise of 'theory' and its impact on the humanities. Each essay in the volume concentrates on a facet of British culture over the last half century from painting to poetry, from the seriousness of the novel to the postmodern ironies of the computing age. What we get from this selection is not only an informed history of the relations between literature and culture but also a lively sense of cultural change, not least of which is the new found relationship between literature and other arts which ushers us into the new millennium.

‘Scary but enlightening’ - Christopher StoneMargaret Thatcher remains one of the United Kingdom’s most polarising prime ministers. This provocative investigation sheds light on the secret, internal ‘cold war’ that she waged against ‘the enemy within’; everyone she could not see eye to eye with. It was a campaign fuelled by paranoia on both the left and right of the political spectrum and fought with corruption, black propaganda, dirty tricks and even murder.Expertly juxtaposing notable events with today’s political arena, this new and updated edition of Thatcher’s Secret War surmises that although Thatcher’s ideals seem to have vanished, one remains: the power and importance of the extra parliamentary state and its surveillance methods and hidden powers in a new age of terrorism.

This follow up to Violent London deals in detail with the story behind the 2010 and 2011 riots both from the perspective of the protesters, rioters and from the point of view of the police and government. Bloom uses reportage, parliamentary, police and security briefings, as well as the voices and theory of modern protest, to tell the story.

The first in a three-volume sequence, this book covers the period between 1900 and 1929, providing a perceptive and thorough analysis of British literature within its historical, cultural and artistic context. It identifies the crucial, interwoven relationships between literature and the visual arts, modern poetry, popular fiction, journalism, cinema, music and radio. Much factual detail and a literary chronology guide the reader through the text.

British culture has changed almost beyond recognition since 1956. Angry young men have been displaced by Yuppies, Elvis by the Spice Girls, and meat and two veg by continental cuisine. What is more, as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales showed, the British are now more famous for a trembling lower lip than a stiff upper one. This volume, the last in the series, examines the transformations in literature and culture over the last forty years. An introductory essay provides a context for the following chapters by arguing that although there have been significant changes in British life, there are also profound continuities. It also discusses the rise of 'theory' and its impact on the humanities. Each essay in the volume concentrates on a facet of British culture over the last half century from painting to poetry, from the seriousness of the novel to the postmodern ironies of the computing age. What we get from this selection is not only an informed history of the relations between literature and culture but also a lively sense of cultural change, not least of which is the new found relationship between literature and other arts which ushers us into the new millennium.

From Kensington to the East End, under candlelight, gas lamp and then neon signs, London is both a bustling physical metropolis and a stirring psychic encounter. The most depraved depictions of London in fiction, film, poetry, television and theatre have irrevocably merged with the reality of its dark history, creating a phantasmagoria defined by murder, vice and the unnatural. In this panoptic look at the capital at its most eerie and macabre, Clive Bloom takes a tour of Gothic London's uncanny literature, arcane events and its infamous and imagined geographies.From David Bowie to T S Eliot, Thomas de Quincey to Aleister Crowley, the prophetess Joanna Southcott to the 'ghosts' of Abba and the worlds of Neil Gaiman and Clive Barker, these are the figures that populate a city lost in fog and blind alleys, where the dead can be raised, the living sacrificed and the clandestine thrive. Suturing together fact and fantasy, London Uncanny presents the urban landscape of the capital as a space of wonder and madness, haunted by its past and haunting the present. Stalking through disease and degeneracy, death and murder, spiritualism, lunacy and the occult, Bloom crafts a singular, integrated concept of a London where dreams and nightmares meet.

From regicides to revolutionaries; from fascists to anarchists; from Tom Paine to Tom Wintringham, this book is a history of noble ideals and crushing failures in which Clive Bloom takes us on a journey through British history, exploring our often rocky relationship with the ruling elite.A History of Britain's Fight for a Republic reveals our surprising legacy of terrorism and revolution, reminding us that Britain has witnessed centuries of revolt. This is a history encompassing three bloody civil wars in Ireland, the bombing campaigns by the IRA, two Welsh uprisings, one Lowland Scottish civil war, uprisings in Derbyshire and Kent, five attempts to assassinate the entire cabinet and seize London, and numerous attempts to murder the royal family.This new and revised edition takes the story of modern monarchy back to its origins in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and forward to the reign of Charles III and includes the story of the continuing struggle for democratic rights and republican values from medieval times up to the present struggle for Scottish and Welsh independence.

In the middle of the eighteenth century the Gothic became the universal language of architecture, painting and literature, expressing a love not only of ruins, decay and medieval pageantry, but also the drug-induced monsters of the mind. By explaining the international dimension of Gothicism and dealing in detail with German, French and American authors, Gothic Histories demonstrates the development of the genre in every area of art and includes original research on Gothic theatre, spiritualism, ghost seeing and spirit photography and the central impact of penny-dreadful writers on the genre, while also including a host of forgotten or ignored authors and their biographies. Gothic Histories is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the Gothic and its literary double, the horror genre, leading the reader from their origins in the haunted landscapes of the Romantics through Frankenstein and Dracula to the very different worlds of Hannibal Lecter and Goth culture. Comprehensive and up-to-date, it is a fascinating guide to the Gothic and horror in film, fiction and popular culture.

This is a comprehensive guide to the history of Gothic from the eighteenth century to the present day that includes original research. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the Gothic became the universal language of architecture, painting and literature, expressing a love not only of ruins, decay and medieval pageantry, but also the drug-induced monsters of the mind. By explaining the international dimension of Gothicism and dealing in detail with German, French and American authors, "Gothic Histories" demonstrates the development of the genre in every area of art and includes original research on Gothic theatre, spiritualism, 'ghost seeing' and spirit photography and the central impact of penny-dreadful writers on the genre, while also including a host of forgotten or ignored authors and their biographies. "Gothic Histories" is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the Gothic and its literary double, the horror genre, leading the reader from their origins in the haunted landscapes of the Romantics through Frankenstein and Dracula to the very different worlds of Hannibal Lecter and Goth culture.Comprehensive and up-to-date, it is a fascinating guide to the Gothic and horror in film, fiction and popular culture.

“Simply put, there is absolutely nothing on the market with the range of ambition of this strikingly eclectic collection of essays. Not only is it impossible to imagine a more comprehensive view of the subject, most readers – even specialists in the subject – will find that there are elements of the Gothic genre here of which they were previously unaware.”-              Barry Forshaw, Author of British Gothic Cinema and Sex and Film The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic is the most comprehensive compendium of analytic essays on the modern Gothic now available, covering the vast and highly significant period from 1918 to 2019. The Gothic sensibility, over 200 years old, embraces its dark past whilst anticipating the future. From demons and monsters to post- apocalyptic fears and ecological fantasies, Gothic is thriving as never before in the artsand in popular culture. This volume is made up of 62 comprehensive chapters with notes and extended bibliographies contributed by scholars from around the world. The chapters are written not only for those engaged in academic research but also to be accessible to students and dedicated followers of the genre. Each chapter is packed with analysis of the Gothic in both theory and practice, as the genre has mutated and spread over the last hundred years. Starting in 1918 with the impact of film on the genre's development, and moving through its many and varied international incarnations, each chapter chronicles the history of the gothic milieu from the movies to gaming platforms and internet memes, television and theatre. The volume also looks at how Gothic intersects with fashion, music and popular culture: a multi-layered, multi-ethnic, even a trans-gendered experience as we move into the twenty first century.

“Simply put, there is absolutely nothing on the market with the range of ambition of this strikingly eclectic collection of essays. Not only is it impossible to imagine a more comprehensive view of the subject, most readers – even specialists in the subject – will find that there are elements of the Gothic genre here of which they were previously unaware.”-              Barry Forshaw, Author of British Gothic Cinema and Sex and Film The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic is the most comprehensive compendium of analytic essays on the modern Gothic now available, covering the vast and highly significant period from 1918 to 2019. The Gothic sensibility, over 200 years old, embraces its dark past whilst anticipating the future. From demons and monsters to post- apocalyptic fears and ecological fantasies, Gothic is thriving as never before in the artsand in popular culture. This volume is made up of 62 comprehensive chapters with notes and extended bibliographies contributed by scholars from around the world. The chapters are written not only for those engaged in academic research but also to be accessible to students and dedicated followers of the genre. Each chapter is packed with analysis of the Gothic in both theory and practice, as the genre has mutated and spread over the last hundred years. Starting in 1918 with the impact of film on the genre's development, and moving through its many and varied international incarnations, each chapter chronicles the history of the gothic milieu from the movies to gaming platforms and internet memes, television and theatre. The volume also looks at how Gothic intersects with fashion, music and popular culture: a multi-layered, multi-ethnic, even a trans-gendered experience as we move into the twenty first century.

Whilst the gothic architecture of the Houses of Parliament and the new Puginesque churches upheld a Victorian ideal of sobriety, Christianity and imperial destiny, Gothic literature filed these new spaces with a dread that spread like a plague to America, France, Germany and even Russia.

Whilst the gothic architecture of the Houses of Parliament and the new Puginesque churches upheld a Victorian ideal of sobriety, Christianity and imperial destiny, Gothic literature filed these new spaces with a dread that spread like a plague to America, France, Germany and even Russia.

This book charts the publishing industry and bestselling fiction from 1900, featuring a comprehensive list of all bestselling fiction titles in the UK.

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of research on the Gothic Revival. The Gothic Revival was based on emotion rather than reason and when Horace Walpole created Strawberry Hill House, a gleaming white castle on the banks of the Thames, he had to create new words to describe the experience of gothic lifestyle. Nevertheless, Walpole’s house produced nightmares and his book The Castle of Otranto was the first truly gothic novel, with supernatural, sensational and Shakespearean elements challenging the emergent fiction of social relationships. The novel’s themes of violence, tragedy, death, imprisonment, castle battlements, dungeons, fair maidens, secrets, ghosts and prophecies led to a new genre encompassing prose, theatre, poetry and painting, whilst opening up a whole world of imagination for entrepreneurial female writers such as Mary Shelley, Joanna Baillie and Ann Radcliffe, whose immensely popular books led to the intense inner landscapes of the Bronte sisters. Matthew Lewis’s The Monk created a new gothic: atheistic, decadent, perverse, necrophilic and hellish. The social upheaval of the French Revolution and the emergence of the Romantic movement with its more intense (and often) atheistic self-absorption led the gothic into darker corners of human experience with a greater emphasis on the inner life, hallucination, delusion, drug addiction, mental instability, perversion and death and the emerging science of psychology. The intensity of the German experience led to an emphasis on doubles and schizophrenic behaviour, ghosts, spirits, mesmerism, the occult and hell. This volume charts the origins of this major shift in social perceptions and completes a trilogy of Palgrave Handbooks on the Gothic—combined they provide an exhaustive survey of current research in Gothic studies, a go-to for students and researchers alike.

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of research on the Gothic Revival. The Gothic Revival was based on emotion rather than reason and when Horace Walpole created Strawberry Hill House, a gleaming white castle on the banks of the Thames, he had to create new words to describe the experience of gothic lifestyle. Nevertheless, Walpole’s house produced nightmares and his book The Castle of Otranto was the first truly gothic novel, with supernatural, sensational and Shakespearean elements challenging the emergent fiction of social relationships. The novel’s themes of violence, tragedy, death, imprisonment, castle battlements, dungeons, fair maidens, secrets, ghosts and prophecies led to a new genre encompassing prose, theatre, poetry and painting, whilst opening up a whole world of imagination for entrepreneurial female writers such as Mary Shelley, Joanna Baillie and Ann Radcliffe, whose immensely popular books led to the intense inner landscapes of the Bronte sisters. Matthew Lewis’s The Monk created a new gothic: atheistic, decadent, perverse, necrophilic and hellish. The social upheaval of the French Revolution and the emergence of the Romantic movement with its more intense (and often) atheistic self-absorption led the gothic into darker corners of human experience with a greater emphasis on the inner life, hallucination, delusion, drug addiction, mental instability, perversion and death and the emerging science of psychology. The intensity of the German experience led to an emphasis on doubles and schizophrenic behaviour, ghosts, spirits, mesmerism, the occult and hell. This volume charts the origins of this major shift in social perceptions and completes a trilogy of Palgrave Handbooks on the Gothic—combined they provide an exhaustive survey of current research in Gothic studies, a go-to for students and researchers alike.

Gothic London: Occult Societies and Ghostly Whispers is the first in depth study of the capital and its gothic and occult organizations and individuals. It is also a book filled with the uncertainties and otherworldliness of the London landscape. It contains whispers and rituals, strange apparitions, apocalyptic visions, alien voices, dark shadows, vampiric dreamscapes, and uncanny vanishings; this is a London where the material hides the immaterial and where both exist at the same time on different etheric plains. This is, indeed, the London of the occult, not merely the London of astral projections into outer planes of consciousness or even to outer-space planets, but also underground travel in the labyrinths of the Tube network and time-warped visions of apocalyptic endings. This is also the London of the occulted or hidden, which waits to be revealed behind the facades of concrete or glass.

On a bleak November morning in 1929, the body of a woman was discovered on a hillside on Iona in the Inner Hebrides. It soon became a gothic mystery. The woman was Norah Fornario, who called herself Netta or used her magical name of Mac Tyler. She had been on the island conjuring the Green Ray in order to contact the Sidhe, the human-sized fairies that she believed lived in the hillside. This is the first full-length academic biography of the supernatural world of female occultism in the 1920s and the many strange connections related to Fornario’s death, including her work with Dion Fortune, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Fairy Investigation Society, psychic vampires, the creation of the early counterculture of Glastonbury and the ‘discovery’ of the Holy Grail. Garbled versions of her life abound on YouTube, and Fornario has now become a central figure for alternative lifestyles. This is her story recreated through careful investigation of her magical reading and ceremonial practices, and of her family and her journey to Scotland. She was the only person who is known to have died through a magic ceremony.