This book has examined a range of different Gothic texts (and non-textual media such as radio and film) from the eighteenth century onwards. The aim has been to provide an overview of the Gothic combined with some close analysis of particular texts. Such an introduction to the Gothic is, by definition, merely the starting point for further discussion, rather than the last word.
This study has examined texts which are often included on the Gothic curriculum (as well as looking at some texts which are usually not), although it is important to note that what typically constitutes a Gothic canon is subject to change. The growing availability of texts which had been difficult to obtain, the production of new contributions to Gothic scholarship, and the addition of what became new landmark Gothic texts and films help to develop the curriculum. The teaching of Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis, for example, can now be supplemented because of the republication of texts by other authors in the period. Since 2005 Zittaw Press have published some hitherto difficult to obtain copies of eighteenthcentury novels. They have also reprinted (since 2003) an extensive series of Blue Books which were popular shortened versions of Gothic narratives first published in the early nineteenth century.1 In addition, source material from the Sadleir-Black collection of early Gothic fiction, housed at the University of Virginia, is now available on microfilm from Adam Matthews Publications.2 These new means of easy access to sources which were once almost the