9781837722822
Distributed for University of Wales Press
Gothic Precarity
Fear and Anxiety in Twenty-First-Century Fiction
From economic ruin to climate catastrophe—how the Gothic has become the literature of our precarious age.
Whether political, economic, or existential, precarity has become the defining condition of the twenty-first century. As traditional structures of security unravel, the Gothic has resurged as the perfect literary mode to explore this collective unease. Gothic Precarity is the first book of its kind to examine the intersection of Gothic fiction and precarity. Timothy Rideout masterfully examines how contemporary writers use elements of the uncanny and the monstrous to engage with the anxieties of our time.
This book explores how modern Gothic narratives tackle displacement, instability, and systemic violence—whether through vampires as symbols of ruthless capitalism in Mexico City or a spectral migrant trapped between worlds of political oppression. Through an exploration of works set in post-war Baghdad, climate-ravaged North America, and beyond, Gothic Precarity displays how today’s Gothic fiction gives form to the fears shaping our precarious world.
Whether political, economic, or existential, precarity has become the defining condition of the twenty-first century. As traditional structures of security unravel, the Gothic has resurged as the perfect literary mode to explore this collective unease. Gothic Precarity is the first book of its kind to examine the intersection of Gothic fiction and precarity. Timothy Rideout masterfully examines how contemporary writers use elements of the uncanny and the monstrous to engage with the anxieties of our time.
This book explores how modern Gothic narratives tackle displacement, instability, and systemic violence—whether through vampires as symbols of ruthless capitalism in Mexico City or a spectral migrant trapped between worlds of political oppression. Through an exploration of works set in post-war Baghdad, climate-ravaged North America, and beyond, Gothic Precarity displays how today’s Gothic fiction gives form to the fears shaping our precarious world.
280 pages | 5.43 x 8.5 | © 2025
Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Time of Gothic Precarity
Theoretical Framework
Definitions of Precarity
The Literary Gothic and Political Discourse
Fearful Precarity
Monstrous Precarity
Uncanny Precarity
Prevarication and Precarity
Structural Outline
Chapter One: The Genealogy of Precarity
The Origins of Precarity
Chinese Gothic
Gothic precarity and existential entrapment in Yiyun Li’s The Vagrants
Fear and the Uncanny in The Vagrants
Gothic Counter-Narratives in The Vagrants
Chapter Two: War Precarity
War Gothic
Neoliberal Wars, War Precarity and the ‘Shock Doctrine’
Fear and Monstrous Precarity in Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad
Uncanny Hesitation and Uncertainty in Frankenstein in Baghdad
Chapter Three: Economic Precarity
Economic Precarity
Vampiric Economics and Economic Vampires
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things and Mexican Precarity
Certain Monstrous Things
Un-Certain Dark Things
Chapter Four: Migrant and Refugee Precarity
Precarity’s migrants and refugees
Neoliberal Hauntology: ‘The failure of the future’
Gothic Narratives of Migration and Seeking Refuge
The Spectral Refugee in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s ‘Black-Eyed Women’
Chapter Five: Climatic Precarity
Gothic Ecology
A Neoliberal Climate Crisis
Monstrosity in Diane Cook’s The New Wilderness
The Uncanny Wilderness
The Fearfully Uncertain Wilderness
Conclusion: ‘We [still] live in Gothic times’
Concluding Findings
Bibliography
Theoretical Framework
Definitions of Precarity
The Literary Gothic and Political Discourse
Fearful Precarity
Monstrous Precarity
Uncanny Precarity
Prevarication and Precarity
Structural Outline
Chapter One: The Genealogy of Precarity
The Origins of Precarity
Chinese Gothic
Gothic precarity and existential entrapment in Yiyun Li’s The Vagrants
Fear and the Uncanny in The Vagrants
Gothic Counter-Narratives in The Vagrants
Chapter Two: War Precarity
War Gothic
Neoliberal Wars, War Precarity and the ‘Shock Doctrine’
Fear and Monstrous Precarity in Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad
Uncanny Hesitation and Uncertainty in Frankenstein in Baghdad
Chapter Three: Economic Precarity
Economic Precarity
Vampiric Economics and Economic Vampires
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things and Mexican Precarity
Certain Monstrous Things
Un-Certain Dark Things
Chapter Four: Migrant and Refugee Precarity
Precarity’s migrants and refugees
Neoliberal Hauntology: ‘The failure of the future’
Gothic Narratives of Migration and Seeking Refuge
The Spectral Refugee in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s ‘Black-Eyed Women’
Chapter Five: Climatic Precarity
Gothic Ecology
A Neoliberal Climate Crisis
Monstrosity in Diane Cook’s The New Wilderness
The Uncanny Wilderness
The Fearfully Uncertain Wilderness
Conclusion: ‘We [still] live in Gothic times’
Concluding Findings
Bibliography