Horror fiction is as popular now as it was when Edgar Allan Poe reinvented the gothic genre in the 1840s, and in the late twentieth century Stephen King is the most read American author ever. This anthology presents classic and contemporary accounts of modern gothic horror writing from Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Clive Barker and many other authors, as well as essays from current literary scholars, providing an essential guide to the genre and the variety of approaches possible when discussing the literature of terror

Gothic Horror is the essential guide to the literature of terror. This completely revised new edition provides a comprehensive historical primer of essential gothic criticism from its origins in the eighteenth century through Frankenstein and Dracula to the worlds of Hannibal Lecter and Alien Invasion. The volume also includes a new set of contemporary essays with a supporting timeline, and an introduction by Clive Bloom providing an outline of the genre and situating it in its social and cultural context.

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.