Postcolonial Gothic

Abstract

Contemporary postcolonial Gothic provides a language for reengaging with the political realities of the post/neo-colonial present, speaking truths that are structurally repressed elsewhere,especially the lived realities of twenty-first-century postcolonial societies in the face of systemic violence and the structural exclusion of minority voices. This chapter explores how the irrealist aesthetics of twenty-first-century postcolonial Gothic function as critical commentary on the systemic failings of the contemporary moment, linking these failings to a history of colonisation, yet going further than the critique of colonial discourse or epistemology that predominated in twentieth-century postcolonial Gothic literature and criticism. The subgenre of postcolonial Gothic has evolved to encounter new contexts wrought by environmental disaster and resurgent nationalism that require action in the present in order to create a usable future, to address new racisms emerging from neo-imperial and nationalistic movements, and to repurpose new monsters suited to systemic critique.

The Evolution of the Gothic Novel: A Qualitative Perspective

“…According to Ilott (2019), the Gothic literary subgenre has given Indian authors a way to examine the painful effects of colonialism and how they have affected the social, cultural, and political environment of their nation. With tales taking place in deserted colonial houses or haunted castles, the locations in Indian postcolonial Gothic literature frequently depict the conflict between the colonial and the local.…”

Decolonising Deep-Sea Gothic: Perspectives from the Americas

“…Notably, the Gothic has been seen as a genre allowing authors to represent the brutality of colonial and imperial practices: 'Postcolonial authors have frequently adopted the Gothic as a mode well suited to registering colonial violence and critiquing colonial discourse'. 13 Gothic, Horror, Scifi and other non-realist genres permit the highlighting of lived realities in formerly colonised spaces. The scenario of the alien invasion or abduction, the pandemic plot, monstrous threats sucking people's blood or devouring them and consuming land and seascapes: all embody different stages of colonial and imperial enterprises.…”