Nathaniel Leach Cape Breton University

Search for other papers by Nathaniel Leach in
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
The Ethics of Excess in Melmoth the Wanderer
Abstract only
Log-in for full text

This article argues that Charles Maturins Melmoth the Wanderer embodies an ethical attitude towards its representations of Gothic violence and horror in the way that it self-reflexively stages its horrific scenes. By confronting its readers with a shifting distance from such violent scenes, the novel exposes readers to their own desire for and victimization by Gothic horror. While previous critics have tended to see Maturins novel as either glorying amorally in its excessive Gothic representations, or as recuperating its scenes of horror with a moral message, this article sees its ambiguous and undecidable attitude towards these scenes as embodying its ethical standpoint, a standpoint that challenges the illusion of literary coherence and that exposes its readers’ implication in the horror that lies traumatically within, and not safely outside, language.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.

 

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 944 577 32
Full Text Views 57 4 0
PDF Downloads 37 2 0