As b oth a vora cious rea d er a nd a litera ry schola r, I a lwa ys find myself d ra wn to Gothic fiction in pa rticula r. I a m utterly fa scina ted b y the g enre?s potentia l to stir something (discomfort?)in its rea d ers? to a ctiva te their thoug hts a nd emotions. To me, the Gothic is a restora tive concoction of equa l pa rts critique of injustice (sexism, cla ssism, ra cism, a nd colonia lism, to na me only a few) a nd representa tion of tra uma (the effects of sa id socio-politica l injustices). Wha t exa ctly is it tha t unnerves us when we rea d a b out a nother?s most viscera l fea rs a nd a nxieties? a b out violence b uried a nd g hosts resurrected ? Could these a lso b e our fea rs a nd a nxieties? Could the g hosts of others tea ch us something ? Here, I would enthusia stica lly shout, Surely! But like a ny critica l thinker, I a sk these questions a long sid e others: Is there a hiera rchy to fea r? Whose fea rs d o we encounter most? Whose fea rs count a nd whose fea rs d on?t? When I wa s a n und erg ra d ua te stud ent of Eng lish litera ture a t Birzeit University in the ea rly 2010s, I wa s introd uced to Dicken?s g loomy d epictions of utilita ria n Lond on, Poe?s med ita ted use of ha lf-living a nima ls a s symb ols of a b ject huma n immora lity, a nd , of course, the Brontë sisters?etherea l roma nces, which unea rthed a perverse socia l d esire to
d omestica te women. At the time, I rea d these a uthors a nd b elieved , like ma ny stud ents a nd rea d ers tod a y still b elieve, tha t the Gothic b elong ed to this cla ss of writers from Europe. And while I a ssumed the ?huma n? fea rs these a uthors empha sized were universa l a nd a pplica b le even to me (a Muslim woma n of Pa lestinia n orig ins), I a m not sure these a uthors? even the most feminist a nd huma nist-lea ning ones? ha d folks like me (you? us?) in mind when their pens met pa rchment. My intrig ue in Gothic litera ture? who could write it a nd who could (or should ) id entify with its messa g es? would expa nd to new heig hts d uring my g ra d ua te stud ies in Eng la nd , where the g enre?s institutiona liza tion (rea d : prob lema tic g enea log y) would d ra ma tica lly unfold b efore me. At my sma ll university in the Mid la nd s, I would ta ke a Gothic Stud ies course with Scott Brewster a nd Lucie Armitt, two d isting uished professors of Gothic litera ture. The course wa s quite enjoya b le? in the sense tha t I spent my d a ys rea d ing horror ta les und er a wa rm b la nket a s the d rea ry British wea ther did its thing(not a cliché a t a ll!). But the course wa s a lso eye-opening ; it would prove found a tiona l to my critica l thinking a nd my schola rly tra jectory. It piqued my interest in the g enre for a n entirely new rea son: the ca non of Europea n