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Distributed for University of Wales Press

Ramsey Campbell

The first book devoted to acclaimed horror writer Ramsey Campbell in two decades.
 
Despite a massive output and numerous accolades over a long career, contemporary British writer Ramsey Campbell has never been accorded anything like the wide critical recognition given to his peer Stephen King. This volume establishes Campbell’s unique style (a haunted self-consciousness about the act of writing itself) as well as his distinctive remediation of the Gothic tradition: religiously agnostic, politically liberal, and ethically humane. Here, Campbell’s work is read alongside trends in postmodernist and post-humanist thought, compared explicitly to King’s, and his significant contribution to Gothic studies and contemporary literature is brought into the light.

240 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2023

Gothic Authors: Critical Revisions

Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory


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Reviews

"Ramsey Campbell is to British horror what Stephen King is to the United States. O’Sullivan’s book is a welcome and long-overdue study of Campbell’s work, giving it the scholarly attention it deserves – insightful and readable, this is an essential addition to Gothic and horror studies." 

Dr. Kevin Corstorphine, University of Hull, co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook to Horror Literature (2018)

"In Ramsey Campbell, O’Sullivan has crafted an authoritative and fascinating study of this vital but neglected figure in Gothic literature. Through rigorous research and meticulous analysis of rarely discussed works, this important and engaging book delivers compelling insights into Campbell’s style and themes, elevating him to his rightful place as a titan of modern British horror." 

Dr Simon Brown, Kingston University, London, author of Screening Stephen King: Adaptation and the Horror Genre in Film and Television (2018)

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter One: Impractical Magic
Chapter Two: Of Bonds and Beings
Chapter Three: Writing with Intensity: Campbell’s Novellas
Chapter Four: Ghosts from the Machine
Conclusion

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