Domestic Gothic: Genre and Nation in Charlotte Smith's The Old Manor House

Abstract

Abstract'The Gothic novel' is by no means a coherent entity, but it has its genesis in a turn to an imagined past. In considering late 18th-century Gothic fiction, the impact of the broader historico-political discourse surrounding the Gothic should be taken into account. Understanding this as a diverse and contested genre preoccupied with national history refocuses attention on a range of texts that are usually considered atypical of the Gothic, and turns a spotlight on novels that use Gothic tropes in domestic, British settings.