The Lies of the Land: The Alluvial Formalities of Gothic East Anglia

Abstract

East Anglia is an evasive region; with its stretches of grey shingle that give way to silt and water, isolated marshes and great, flat panoramas that are literally falling into the sea. This article will show that East Anglia is a broader and more cohesive site of Gothic tradition and possibility than has previously been recognized, even if that possibility is found both textually and topographically in the incohesive, the ephemeral and the immaterial. We will also suggest that the short form is how this has so far been achieved – most famously in the short ghostly tales of M. R. James; more recently in Matthew Holness's unsettling short story ‘Possum’ (2013) and his 2018 film of the same name – and is, in fact, the most appropriate form for this act of textual production.