Applying theory to literary history and to the present, Queer Others in Victorian Gothic: Transgressing Monstrosity explores intersections in nineteenth-century British representations of sexuality, gender, class and race. From such mid-century authors as Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and J. Sheridan Le Fanu to the fin-de-siècle writers Florence Marryat and Vernon Lee, this study examines how Victorian writers utilized gothic horror as a proverbial 'safe space' in which to grapple with taboo social and cultural issues, and considers also the continuities in our current assumptions of an age that was monolithic in its disdain for those who were 'other'.
Ardel Haefele-Thomas is a Victorian and Queer Studies scholar who currently holds the position of Chair of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at City College of San Francisco.