Signs Taken for Wonders: Essays in the Sociology of Literary Forms

The Good Liberal and the Scoundrel Author

“…We learn that she's not a scholar or a maidservant, and that she's lived in the college most of her life, formally looked after by the scholars, but more emotionally connected to the servants. In this we learn that she's a character derived from classic nineteenth century realism: she is an Oliver Twist figure, apparently orphaned, displaced from her rightful inheritance and place in the social hierarchy, but in the end, rightfully restored to her position and privilege in a way that fails to effect a wider fragmentation of the hierarchy (Moretti 1983). We learn that Lyra is excited by danger, and by transgressing rules (unlike her daemon): hiding behind the chair in the retiring room 'she was pleasurably excited' (Northern Lights 6).…”

Monster Anthropology in Australasia and Beyond

“…Many of this volume's chapters address the often-noted pattern that monsters are a focus of desire as well as fear (cf. Moretti 1983). Burnt Woman's face is half-beautiful and half-disfigured, and Alimardanian reports that her terrifying overtures toward men also carry an undercurrent of excitement.…”

Writing Russell Belk: excess all areas

“…Certain salient themes are traditionally associated with the genre, principally excess, monstrosity, irony and the supernatural (Botting, 1996;Hughes, 2006;Moretti, 2005). The opening sentence of Botting's best-selling primer, for example, ostentatiously announces, 'Gothic signifies a writing of excess'.…”