Morin, Christina2025-08-072025-08-072020The Cambridge History of the Gothic, Dale Townshend and Angela M. Wright (eds), 2020, pp. 359-375https://doi.org/10.34961/researchrepository-ul.28669430https://researchrepository.ul.ie/handle/10344/14495This chapter considers nineteenth-century Irish Gothic literary production, beginning with the Romantic-era ‘trade Gothic’ and culminating in the ghost stories of the fin de siècle. Acknowledging the significance of the texts that have now become synonymous with ‘the Irish Gothic’, the argument nevertheless probes the primary position they have been accorded in Irish literary historiography, questioning the process of literary canonisation that has marginalised large swathes of Irish Gothic writing. It thus offers an analysis of lesser-known texts that highlight the diverse range and scope of Irish engagement with the Gothic mode, from the ‘first wave’ Gothics (1790s to early 1800s) that were often condemned as mere imitations of Ann Radcliffe, to mid-century periodical publications that demonstrate the continued influence of the Gothic mode in Ireland even after the demise of ‘the Gothic novel’. It furthermore queries the understanding of Irish Gothic as a predominantly Protestant literary mode written almost exclusively by men, exploring the rich body of Catholic Gothic texts as well as the central contribution made by women writers to the mode’s development.enhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Irish gothicAnglo-Irish gothicgothic novelpopular literatureimitationgeneric labelsmulti-modalityLanguagecommunication and cultureThe gothic in nineteenth-century IrelandBook chapterhttps://doi.org/10.1017/9781108561082.017Material on these pages is copyright Cambridge University Press or reproduced with permission from other copyright owners. It may be downloaded and printed for personal reference, but not otherwise copied, altered in any way or transmitted to others (unless explicitly stated otherwise) without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. Hypertext links to other Web locations are for the convenience of users and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by Cambridge University Press.