UPDATE: Asian Gothic Literature (2/29/04; collection)
I am writing this to clarify some points concerning this proposed
project for a collection of critical writings on Asian Gothic
literature.=20
Firstly, a simplistic application of the Gothic to contemporary Asian
literature is discouraged. Although much Asian writing deals with issues
revolving around taboo, excess and transgression of various kinds, to
deem this as automatically Gothic would be uncritical.
Secondly, it is encouraged that a study of Gothic poetics and the way
they manifest itself in Asian text be undertaken. Some of the familiar
Gothic tropes like the repressed, the uncanny, the numinous, ghosts and
spectres, radical evil etc. can be explored, but again, with careful