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Chaplin, Sue. The Gothic and the Rule of Law, 1764-1820. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-230-50755-5. $79.95.
The Gothic novel offers sensationalism, horror, and perhaps most importantly an escape from the mundane reality of everyday life. However, Gothic novels also recognize and reflect the reality of economic, legal, and social oppression. According to David Punter, "eighteenth- century fiction, the 4Si te' of the Gothic, is obsessed with the law, with its operations, justifications, limits" (19). It is little wonder then that increasing attention is being paid to how the Gothic influences (and is influenced by) the law. However, while notable theorists of the Gothic, including Punter, have touched upon the subject in their work, Sue Chaplin's The Gothic and the Rule of Law is the first full-length theoretical and historical study that specifically concentrates on the relationship between early Gothic fiction and the modern rule of law. Chaplin's knowledge of the subject is impressive - her research and numerous previous publications in both the field of literature and of law give this book a firm foundation upon which she builds a clear and concise argument that successfully combines both disciplines.
The Gothic and the Rule of Law centers on the struggle between the law and the Gothic, especially the way in which romanticism undermines legal propriety. The collection of texts under consideration is extensive, and the book offers discussions of many well-known classics, including Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, Maturin's Melmouth the Wanderer, and Shelley's Frankenstein. Chaplin addresses a great deal of contemporary theory in this work, but this study is essentially Derridean. The book is organized into nine chapters, including both an introductory and concluding chapter. Each chapter begins with a statement of intent, with the body of the text developing Chaplin's argument (mostly through a brief analysis of one or two novels) , and the concluding paragraphs summing up Chaplin's findings. The introduction ("Thresholds") and the first two chapters ("Fictions of Origin" and "Written in the Black Letter: The Gothic and/in the Rule of Law") introduce the aims and objectives of the book, which include an examination of how contested legal issues were explored within notable Gothic novels, examples of the...