The ultimate presentation of the influence of the Gothic element on literature, cinema, theater, music, and fashion.
"Gothic is not simply a youth subculture, a depressive aesthetic, or a literary genre. It is a philosophical perspective – a worldview, as the Irish novelist Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu said in In a Glass Darkly. It is the world in photographic negative, inverted – here the paradoxical and the uncanny are commonplace, while in some way the usual is strange. Here the dark and the threatening exert an irresistible attraction.
The city of the dreadful night, that is the shadow of our modern world, is not confined to any place or time. It is the fog-haunted Victorian London trembling under the threat of Jack the Ripper’s blade. It is the Paris of the late 19th century, a glorious bohemian hell. It is the Berlin of the 1920s, where revelers with bloodshot eyes dance and drink in a desperate attempt to drown out the noise of the approaching military band. It is 20th century Los Angeles, the "city of night," a dream factory specialized in nightmares. It is a twilight kingdom that has become very familiar to me. I humbly suggest you follow me on this journey into the heart of darkness..."
(Gavin Baddeley)
Full of passion, history, and extreme expressions in its aesthetic, Gothic culture remains active and extremely popular through the centuries, continuously inspiring contemporary trends in the arts, culture, and fashion!
A book for every new enthusiast but at the same time a well-researched, well-written, and above all sharp presentation of historical and other elements from one of its most important representatives that will impress even the most initiated!
The Reverend of the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey and an experienced journalist with a career at Observer, Metal Hammer, The Independent, London Evening Standard, and BBC, Gavin Baddeley is undoubtedly a man who has variously provoked the media and conservative audiences and has remained for years a controversial yet significant figure in the global Goth community.
Alice Cooper, Ann Rice, Bela Lugosi, Black Sabbath, Boris Karloff, Bram Stoker, Carnival of Souls, Christopher Lee, Clive Barker, Cradle of Filth, Dead Can Dance, De Sade, Diamanda Galas, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Joy Division, Lord Byron, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Sisters of Mercy, Stephen King, The Cramps, Tim Burton, Vincent Price...
With dozens of references to films, music, books, and comics, among others, Baddeley sketches in detail the backbone of Goth culture!
