The Gothic and the Carnivalesque in American Culture (Gothic Literary Studies) by Dr Timothy Jones has been announced as co-winner of the prestigious Allan Lloyd Smith Memorial Prize – an international prize for gothic criticism.
Announced as part of the International Gothic Association’s (IGA) biannual conference in Mexico, the book, which is published by the University of Wales Press (UWP), was one of the titles on the shortlist in the monograph category.
One of the many titles in UWP’s critically acclaimed Gothic Literary Studies (GLS) series, edited by Professor Andrew Smith, Sheffield University, and Professor Benjamin F. Fisher, University of Mississippi, this success builds on the achievements of the widely respected series which has already produced two prior winners of the award. Professor Isabela Van Elferen’s Gothic Music: The Sounds of the Uncanny won the award in 2013, and Dr Joseph Crawford’s The Twilight of the Gothic? Vampire Fiction and the Rise of the Paranormal Romance? In 2015.
The IGA unites teachers, scholars, students, artists, writers and performers from around the world who are interested in any aspect of gothic culture. The world’s leading association dedicated to the study of the Gothic, it promotes the study and dissemination of information on gothic culture from the mid eighteenth century to the contemporary moment. Established in 2011 as a memorial to the founding President of the IGA, the Allan Lloyd Smith Memorial Prize is considered to be a prestigious and internationally recognised award.
Speaking about the series and the achievements of those involved, Sarah Lewis, Head of Commissioning at UWP said:
“I am thrilled at Tim’s achievement; it was a pleasure to work with him and to see the book come to fruition. I am also very grateful to Professor Andrew Smith and Professor Ben Fisher, the Editors of the Gothic Literary Studies series, for helping to make the series such a success for UWP.”
Professor Andrew Smith, one of the Series Editors, added:
“I am delighted by the success of Timothy Jones’s book. It makes a vital contribution to how we think about the American Gothic and is a very well deserved prize winner.”
The Gothic Literary Studies series is dedicated to publishing ground-breaking scholarship on Gothic literature and film, and to promoting challenging and innovative approaches to Gothic which question the tradition or perceived critical orthodoxy of a genre which plays an important role in understanding literary, intellectual and cultural histories. Volumes in the series explore how issues such as gender, religion, nation and sexuality have shaped our view of the Gothic tradition, and are informed by the latest developments in critical theory.