The first review for Gothic Remixed is out on the culture blog Sublime Horror, and I am very excited! In his review Daniel Pietersen suggests that we ‘live in a time of remixes […where] everything seems unpleasantly familiar’. He then explores how Gothic Remixed intervenes in these discussions, highlighting the book’s key arguments and concluding:
Gothic Remixed comes highly recommended not just for those interested specifically in the world of Frankenfiction but anyone who wants to look at authenticity, author privilege and how the present deals (or fails to deal) with the injustices of the past. For horror students specifically, the use of the gothic as a self-aware mode is highly interesting and there is much here on using juxtaposition and comparison to develop a sense of alienation – the eerie process through which the familiar is made strange – that is very useful. Additionally, I find it hugely welcome that de Bruin-Molé’s uses works which could initially be seen as populist and derivative to reveal an area of robust academic study.
With Gothic Remixed de Bruin-Molé has clearly outlined how, as she states in her conclusion, the Frankenfictions she dissects “force us to reckon with our past judgements, actions, and creations, making us responsible for what happens next and calling us to choose how we will respond. Like [Victor Frankenstein’s Creature], Frankenfictions carelessly destroy the things we hold dear, daring us to reply. Like the creature, they illuminate new opportunities and ways of looking at the world, echoing through history and fiction long after it has ceased to speak”
Read the full review (and check out the other great content) over on Sublime Horror. And please do pick up your own copy from Bloomsbury. If you are dying to read Gothic Remixed but are put off by the hefty hardback price tag, you can also read the PhD thesis that the book is based on for free while you wait for the paperback edition!