Transatlantic approach: This project explores British and American texts in conversation together. Use of archival materials, which is relatively unusual within Gothic studies, and even in literary studies more generally. A focus on poetry, drama, and periodical writing, genres that are often ignored in the study of the Gothic. A focus on women’s work (both on the labor of women and on texts by women). A focus on local Gothic (especially in Lowell and Manchester), with a connection to larger international trends of the genre.

With 11 original essays, this edited volume examines 'chick flicks' within the larger context of 'chick culture' as well as women's cinema. The essays consider chick flicks from a variety of angles, touching on issues of film history, female sexuality, femininity, age, race, ethnicity, and consumerism.

As this exciting contribution to interdisciplinary studies in the arts shows, the art and architecture of the Middle Ages were reworked, reframed and reinterpreted in diverse ways from as early as the sixteenth century. In addition, the definition of “Gothic” art and architecture was used, questioned, and challenged in a range of literature from the Renaissance onwards. The diverse essays in Gothic Legacies: Four Centuries of Tradition and Innovation in Art and Architecture demonstrate that the Gothic spirit manifested itself in many visual forms, including furniture, set design, cathedrals, book illustration, and urban architecture. Edited by Laura Cleaver and Ayla Lepine, Gothic Legacies showcases new research by scholars who are united by an interest what “Gothic” could mean in particular contexts, and how it was used across different periods, cultures, and media. The book’s twelve essays are divided into thematic sections, which identify recurring themes in discussions of the “Gothic”. The authors explore debates around the understanding and use of spolia and ideas about heritage, the relationships between “Gothic” art and literature, and the invocation of concepts of the “Gothic” in opposition to other categorisations (notably Classicism and Modernism). In doing so they shed light on rich dialogues between the present and the past (real or imagined). Featuring interdisciplinary and international contributions from medieval and modern period scholars with fresh academic perspectives, this volume constitutes a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in how and why the art of the Middle Ages was to play such an important role in forming and revising personal, national, and international identities in subsequent works of art and architecture.

"I started this meditation on the first day of Lent. I hope to keep going every day until Easter. Each day I go fishing in the water of this internal voice. This week the water's still, this angled pen a blue sail; the hook is lazy in the estuary, the water the color of lapis. So what if I don't catch a fish? I said that I would fish; that's all I promised. I bait the hook with each day's discipline. I have no guarantees that there is anything at all to catch in these particular waters, that something beneath the surface won't grab my pen and pull me under." -- from Iconography When Susan Neville enrolls in an icon-painting class in the cellar of an Indianapolis monastery, she begins a journey into a fascinating hidden world where saints are fabricated of mineral and wood, yolk and blood, earth and time. The process is tedious, and she begins to make mistakes, to become impatient; she doesn't feel ready for the challenge. To prepare herself, Neville makes a vow to write during the 40 days of Lent. What emerges is a journal, a meditation, a series of confessions that we are invited to listen to as we follow Neville's sometimes painful attempts to reveal the truth and discover the mystery of her existence. In the layering of colors and moods, her writing is the spiritual equivalent of an icon. As she observes the world around her and applies the paint of language to her observations, she realizes that spirit and matter are not separate -- that now and then moments of meaning emerge from daily life, and the stillness and majesty of the universe shine through.