London Gothic: Short Stories
- Submitting institution
-
Manchester Metropolitan University
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 525
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
-
- Publisher
- Confingo Publishing
- ISBN
- 9780995596665
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- November
- Year of publication
- 2020
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
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B - Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Process:
London Gothic was written to see if, in addition to creating uncanny effects in fiction in familiar ways, it would be possible to create further unheimlich effects through experimental form. In ‘Artefact’, Royle developed the method he created for his 2016 work In Camera, in which all the sections were edited to the same length, by switching the point of view between each section. With the exception of the first section, which uses the objective POV of a screenplay, subsequent sections are all first person, voiced by different characters. In ‘Welcome’ and ‘Guys’, Royle wrote in the form of a welcome letter and tour guide’s patter. In ‘The Old Bakery’ he reimagined a magazine article as narrative, and for ‘Constraints’ he adapted as the content the instructions and signs he recorded on a walk from the former London home of one experimental writer, Giles Gordon, to that of another, B. S. Johnson.
Insights:
Experimenting with form and constraints in short fiction in these particular ways has not been done before. Moreover, these experiments with form are unusual in the Gothic genre, that tends to rely on more conventional narrative techniques. The uncanny effects these stories might have been produced had they used more conventional forms have been enhanced precisely by the adoption of experimental techniques.
Dissemination:
London Gothic was published by Configo Books in 2020. ‘Artefact’ was performed by Royle at FaxFiction, a public event devoted to live literature and obsolete technology at Waterside Arts in Sale. Royle has read ‘Welcome’, ‘Guys’, ‘The Old Bakery’ and ‘Constraints’ at numerous online events including Carthorse Orchestra on Zoom and a launch event hosted on Burley Fisher Books’ YouTube channel.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -