Crime, Death and the Gothic Imagination symposium

Organisers: Professor Ruth Penfold-Mounce (University of York), Professor Lizzie Seal (University of Sussex)

Mysterious deaths suggesting foul play, unexplained occurrences surrounding the dead and gloom filled environments suggestive of suffering and violence. The relationship between death, crime and the gothic is a well-established trope in literature and gothic studies.

However, the relationship has much potential for insight and debate from engaging a broad interdisciplinary approach.

We invite short abstracts for presentations, panels and roundtables for an online symposium of interdisciplinary aspects of crime, death and the gothic imagination. 

We aim to put scholars into dialogue from criminology, death studies, gothic studies, literature, film and media studies, history, sociology, cultural studies and beyond. We are interested in contributions that address this topic in relation to 'fact', 'fiction' and the liminal space in-between.

Call for abstracts

Please send abstracts of around 100 words, stating your name, affiliation and title of your presentation to e.c.seal@sussex.ac.uk by 15 July 2024.

Panel and roundtable proposals are also welcome. Panels consist of four presentations; roundtables can adopt a flexible format. 

Please include all abstracts for panels. Please state the key contact for correspondence and include names and contact details for all participants.