Gothic returns : the Hound of the Baskervilles

Allan, JM 2017, 'Gothic returns : the Hound of the Baskervilles' , in: The Cambridge Companion to Sherlock Holmes , Cambridge Companions to Literature , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

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Abstract

In bringing together the scientific detective and the supernatural beast of ancient legend, The Hound of the Baskervilles occupies a liminal position, poised between the rational positivism of detective fiction and the uncanny ambiguity of the Gothic. While these two genres appear, on the face of things, to be antithetical in method and intent, it is now widely recognised that they share a common ancestry, albeit one that was denied by early critics of detective fiction. It is important to note, however, that Doyle’s novel establishes, and indeed relies upon, a binary between science and superstition – the rational and the irrational – if only to reveal the boundary between them to be as slippery and permeable as the mire itself. This chapter will, therefore, explore the interaction of the very different topographies – geographical, psychological and symbolic – that dominate Doyle’s most famous and successful novel.

Item Type:	Book Section
Editors:	Allan, JM and Pittard, C
Schools:	Schools > School of Arts & Media > Arts, Media and Communication Research Centre
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Series Name:	Cambridge Companions to Literature
ISBN:	9781316609590
Depositing User:	JM Allan
Date Deposited:	14 Nov 2017 14:20
Last Modified:	17 Mar 2020 11:55
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/44312

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