Our research themes
The history of Gothic fiction, poetry and drama
One of our research strengths is in English literature, especially the history of the Gothic literary aesthetic from the early modern period, through the eighteenth century to the present day.
Our researchers have published on topics that range from the role of architecture in eighteenth-century Gothic writing to Victorian ghost stories written by women, as well as the political and economic functions of Gothic cultural production in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Gothic screens and sounds
We also specialise in horror film. Our researchers have contributed to major critical debates in the field of horror studies, and have discussed the Gothic on screen in publications and in public engagement work with film festivals and other cultural organisations.
Our researchers have also explored the significance of sound and soundscapes to the Gothic mode, and have advanced critical and popular conceptualisations of haunted space.
Death studies
Our researchers have worked on the social context of death and disposal, in partnership with the Encountering Corpses research group and The Association for the Study of Death and Society.
We are interested in ethnographic approaches to burial and disposal, radical approaches to death studies and memorialisation in Gothic texts and Manchester cemeteries.
Decolonising the Gothic
Working with colleagues in the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies, we are interested in exploring the crossover between the Gothic, race and postcolonialism.
In June 2019, we hosted Absent Presences: Shifting the Core and Peripheries of the Gothic Mode, a conference that highlighted marginalised voices and figures in the field.
Public engagement
The Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies runs an International Gothic Summer School: an exciting series of lectures, workshops and seminars.
We also host a popular summer reading series, the Contemporary Gothic Reading Group.
Browse upcoming events on our Eventbrite page