From vampires to zombies, uncanny doubles to the demonically possessed, gothic tropes have played a significant role in shaping narratives of addiction in American culture. More recently, news stories have framed the opioid crisis and its impact on homeless populations in cities like Boston and Philadelphia as a “zombie apocalypse.” Such tropes can dehumanize already stigmatized populations, yet the gothic remains a mode uniquely suited for exploring concepts of addiction and the lived experiences of individuals, families, and communities affected by the condition. Whether it is the trauma-informed, intergenerational perspective of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, the abysmal depths of human desire and dangerous obsession in Kathe Koja’s The Cipher, or the body-melting horrors of consumer-capitalism in Larry Cohen’s satirical film The Stuff, the gothic offers a broad range of approaches to examine and rethink the psychological, social, and cultural coordinates of addiction.

This proposed panel welcomes abstracts on the American Gothic and addiction broadly conceived. We are particularly interested in how the Gothic reworks, deepens, or complicates common understandings of the condition, as well as how gothic strategies can engender compassion for the afflicted, rather than just horror. The in-person panel will be held at The Inaugural Symposium of the Society for the Study of the American Gothic at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts from March 21-23.

Please send a 200-word abstract and an abbreviated CV indicating academic affiliation and relevant teaching/research experience related to the topic of the presentation to Eric Bjornson (Ericlb@bu.edu) by October 27, 2023.