Reviews
"Like most of the subcultures to which people make allegiance in youth, but maintain to some degree in adulthood, Goth is a confluence off hobbyism and a passionate sense of the constructed self. This is well understood by those pieces in this intelligent collection of writings that are primarily documentary accounts of the authors' involvement in, and self-identification with, Goth, or those which celebrate the fashion, the music, and the books." --Roz Kaveny, "Times Literary Supplement", “Goth creates its distinctive way of life by appropriating materials from a vast array of cultural phenomena-post-punk music, gothic literary tradition, pre-Christian mythology, sexual nonconformity, aesthetic avant-gardes-all of which it adopts primarily as style. Goth style is thus both dizzyingly heterogeneous and instantly recognizable. It is hard to imagine a single book that could do this subculture justice; yet by assembling contributors from a range of disciplines and judiciously including many voices of subcultural participants themselves, Goth: Undead Subculture manages to depict, while also reflecting critically on, this subculture’s enduring appeal. This collection will be the definitive work on its topic.â€�-Tim Dean, author of Beyond Sexuality, "This collection of essays, focusing heavily on goth and gender, demonstrates the complexity of an often misunderstood subculture." --Jenna Humphrey, "Curve", "Goth: Undead Subculture is a very engaging read-a nice mélange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis-in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies." Robert Walser, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music"Goth creates its distinctive way of life by appropriating materials from a vast array of cultural phenomena-post-punk music, gothic literary tradition, pre-Christian mythology, sexual nonconformity, aesthetic avant-gardes-all of which it adopts primarily as style. Goth style is thus both dizzyingly heterogeneous and instantly recognizable. It is hard to imagine a single book that could do this subculture justice; yet by assembling contributors from a range of disciplines and judiciously including many voices of subcultural participants themselves, Goth: Undead Subculture manages to depict, while also reflecting critically on, this subculture's enduring appeal. This collection will be the definitive work on its topic." Tim Dean, author of Beyond Sexuality, " Goth: Undead Subculture is a very engaging read--a nice mlange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis--in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies."--Robert Walser, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, "Goth: Undead Subcultureis a very engaging read-a nice mélange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis-in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies." Robert Walser, author ofRunning with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music"Goth creates its distinctive way of life by appropriating materials from a vast array of cultural phenomena-post-punk music, gothic literary tradition, pre-Christian mythology, sexual nonconformity, aesthetic avant-gardes-all of which it adopts primarily as style. Goth style is thus both dizzyingly heterogeneous and instantly recognizable. It is hard to imagine a single book that could do this subculture justice; yet by assembling contributors from a range of disciplines and judiciously including many voices of subcultural participants themselves,Goth: Undead Subculturemanages to depict, while also reflecting critically on, this subculture's enduring appeal. This collection will be the definitive work on its topic." Tim Dean, author ofBeyond Sexuality, "Goth creates its distinctive way of life by appropriating materials from a vast array of cultural phenomena--post-punk music, gothic literary tradition, pre-Christian mythology, sexual nonconformity, aesthetic avant-gardes--all of which it adopts primarily as style. Goth style is thus both dizzyingly heterogeneous and instantly recognizable. It is hard to imagine a single book that could do this subculture justice; yet by assembling contributors from a range of disciplines and judiciously including many voices of subcultural participants themselves, Goth: Undead Subculture manages to depict, while also reflecting critically on, this subculture's enduring appeal. This collection will be the definitive work on its topic."--Tim Dean, author of Beyond Sexuality, ""Goth: Undead Subculture," Lauren M. E. Goodlad and Michael Bibby's collection of scholarly essays (the first such book devoted solely to the scrutiny of all things goth, the editors claim), succeeds when its contributors take clearly delineated topics and time frames (Tim Burton's nostalgia for 1950s and '60s monster movies, or Buffalo's nightclub scene from 1982 to 1984) as their objects of inquiry. The piece de resistance in this mode is Bibby's stunningly precise reading of Joy Division's history." --Andrea Walker, "Bookforum", " Goth: Undead Subculture is a very engaging read--a nice mélange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis--in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies."--Robert Walser, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, " Goth: Undead Subculture is a very engaging read-a nice mélange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis-in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies."-Robert Walser, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, "This academic-minded book is best suited to cultural studies aficionados and Goths themselves, but may be useful to anyone seeking to understand the ideologies and lifestyles of the black-eyeliner set. It exhumes the roots of goth in punk rock, vampire lore, Renaissance fashions, and other sources; probes identity and community; and traces goth's arc in pop culture, from David Bowie and Siouxie Sioux to "Edward Scissorhands" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer,"" --Keith Goetzman, "Utne Reader", " Goth: Undead Subculture is a very engaging read--a nice mlange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis--in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies." Robert Walser, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music "Goth creates its distinctive way of life by appropriating materials from a vast array of cultural phenomena--post-punk music, gothic literary tradition, pre-Christian mythology, sexual nonconformity, aesthetic avant-gardes--all of which it adopts primarily as style. Goth style is thus both dizzyingly heterogeneous and instantly recognizable. It is hard to imagine a single book that could do this subculture justice; yet by assembling contributors from a range of disciplines and judiciously including many voices of subcultural participants themselves, Goth: Undead Subculture manages to depict, while also reflecting critically on, this subculture's enduring appeal. This collection will be the definitive work on its topic." Tim Dean, author of Beyond Sexuality ". . . [an] intelligent collection of writings . . ."--Times Literary Supplement, 13 April 2007 "Highbrow analysis of the genre that credibility forgot."--QP Magazine, May 2007, "Here are 22 essays that will appeal to the pop-culture critic, academic or general reader who's always been curious about those mysterious, often mushroom pale individuals who wear head-to-toe black in the summer time. . . . [A] reader who picks and chooses at this book's dark buffet . . . will find much to enjoy." --Theresa Starkey, "Paste", "The essays in this collection discuss all the traditional areas of cultural studies--performance, community, self-representation, gender relations--but also consider some of goth's more oblique elements, such as literary styles, song lyrics, nostalgia, fetishism, and its connections with religion and apostasy. . . . [R]efreshingly free of the kind of heavy theoretical jargon that would make even the palest goth blanch in dismay." --Mikita Brottman, "The Chronicle Review", “ Goth: Undead Subculture is a very engaging read-a nice m lange of ethnographic anecdote, cultural criticism, and historical analysis-in which a multidisciplinary crew of contributors analyzes an important and complex subculture through its fashions, music, dancing, literature, sexual practices, aesthetic ideals, theatrical displays, historical precedents, and ideologies.â€�-Robert Walser, author of Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, "Goth creates its distinctive way of life by appropriating materials from a vast array of cultural phenomena-post-punk music, gothic literary tradition, pre-Christian mythology, sexual nonconformity, aesthetic avant-gardes-all of which it adopts primarily as style. Goth style is thus both dizzyingly heterogeneous and instantly recognizable. It is hard to imagine a single book that could do this subculture justice; yet by assembling contributors from a range of disciplines and judiciously including many voices of subcultural participants themselves, Goth: Undead Subculture manages to depict, while also reflecting critically on, this subculture's enduring appeal. This collection will be the definitive work on its topic."-Tim Dean, author of Beyond Sexuality
