Disproving the Need for a Male/Female Dichotomy in Modern Gothic Fiction Through Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black"

Abstract

Although women writers are historically well-represented in Gothic Fiction, critics of the genre have often stated that there is an essential difference between the Gothic literature produced by men (e.g. Walpole) and that produced by women (e.g. Radcliffe), creating a divide between, respectively, ‘terror’ (female) and ‘horror’ (male) writing. Modern author Susan Hill incorporates much explicit violence (traditionally seen as ‘male’ coding) as well as themes of mother- and fatherhood (traditionally seen as ‘female’ coding), raising the question where she can be situated on this spectrum, what the value of this gender distinction is in today’s increasingly inclusive society and whether her writing follows the historical ‘rule’, possibly debunking the theory altogether. A close reading is conducted of Hill’s 1983 novella The Woman in Black, as well as the background and reception of the Gothic gender division mentioned above. Hill’s work shows that modern writers of Gothic fiction may alternate their use of techniques between the ‘male’ and ‘female’ traditions and their specific ‘Gothic gender’ is hard to determine, if it is still desirable to determine it at all.