Taxidermy and the Gothic

“Stuffed full of valuable reflections on the fictional representation of taxidermy and its evolving engagement with epistemological, phenomenological, sexual, racial, and, of course, thanatological discourses, Effinger’s highly original and captivating book is destined to become a timeless classic.” —Dr. Xavier Aldana Reyes, author of Gothic Cinema (2020) and Body Gothic (2014). “Elizabeth Effinger eloquently makes the case that taxidermy has been intertwined with Gothic horror from the nineteenth century to the present. This brilliant book—about the frozen stare of the taxidermied animal and the horror of stasis—is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the Gothic.” —Dawn Keetley, Professor of English and Film, Lehigh University, USA. “Effinger’s book deepens the conversation in animal studies. Here, we see the haunting connections of natural history and the gothic lurking in the stuffed animal skins. With adroit use of posthuman theory and archival research, Taxidermy and the Gothic describes the hauntology created in the past and that we inherit.” —Ron Broglio, Arizona State University, USA. A persuasive and fascinating exploration of the imbrication between two arts of darkness, Elizabeth Effinger’s study painstakingly sheds light into the little-known world of taxidermy and how it haunts the periphery of other cultural forms for signification as filtered through the lens of the Gothic.—Andrew Hock Soon Ng, Monash University, Australia. Taxidermy has long played a key role in the production of gothic atmospheres. Taxidermy and the Gothic does the important work of bringing it from the background to the foreground, resulting in a complex, original, and thoughtful engagement with an under-examined vehicle for the uncanny.—Dr. Dara Downey, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. It is a complex book and full of interesting arguments. There is a current revival of interest in taxidermy. This is not to do with an increase in taxidermic practice; rather, it is an increasing awareness of the problematic political and cultural constellations that surrounded and formed taxidermy in the first place —David Punter, University of Bristol, UK.