Edgar Allan Poe notoriously identified "the death . . . of a beautiful woman" as "the most poetical topic in the world." Despite that cringeworthy claim, Poe drew creative inspiration from female authors, and women figure prominently among the artists and critics fascinated by the writer's creative legacy. A book-length work about the various ways in which women-Poe's female contemporaries, scholars, writers and artists, as well as women characters in Poe adaptations-have influenced perceptions of Poe is long overdue. Covering a time frame that extends from the mid-nineteenth century to the twenty-first, this collection features essays about all of these subjects. One goal of this book is recognizing how women have helped establish Poe's reputation in the U.S. and abroad. The other is drawing attention to ways that constructions of womanhood accepted by Poe are revised in popular culture, a sphere where artists-in film, fiction, and comics-build on the subversive potential of Poe's work while exposing its ideological limitations. Poe and Women will appeal not only to Poe specialists but also to anyone interested in his ongoing relevance to gender discussions inside and outside the academy.

Shirley Jackson and Domesticity takes on American horror writer Shirley Jackson's domestic narratives - those fictionalized in her novels and short stories as well as the ones captured in her memoirs - to explore the extraordinary and often supernatural ways domestic practices and the ecology of the home influence Jackson's storytelling. Examining various areas of homemaking - child-rearing and reproduction, housekeeping, architecture and spatiality, the housewife mythos - through the theoretical frameworks of gothic, queer, gender, supernatural, humor, and architectural studies, this collection contextualizes Jackson's archive in a Cold War framework and assesses the impact of the work of a writer seeking to question the status quo of her time and culture.

From the celebrity spirit mediums of the nineteenth century to the TikTok witches hexing the patriarchy, women have long used magic and mysticism to seize back the power they re so often denied. Organized around different approaches women have taken to the occult over the decades creating new magical systems and symbols, using the supernatural for political gain, seeking fame and fortune as spiritual practitioners, questioning and investigating paranormal phenomena, and embracing their witchy identities this book shines a light on these under-appreciated magical pioneers, including: Dion Fortune, who tried to marshal a magical army against Hitler Tituba, the first woman in Salem accused of witchcraft Joan Quigley, personal psychic to Nancy Reagan Pamela Colman-Smith, the artist behind the Rider-Waite tarot deck Bri Luna, the Hoodwitch, social media star and serious magical practitioner Elvira, queer goth sex symbol who defied the Satanic Panic. And more mystical women from American history who found strength through the supernatural and those who are still forging the way today. Weird sisters are doin it for themselves!

The popularity of such widely known works as "The Lottery" and The Haunting of Hill House has tended to obscure the extent of Shirley Jackson's literary output, which includes six novels, a prodigious number of short stories, and two volumes of domestic sketches. Organized around the themes of influence and intertextuality, this collection places Jackson firmly within the literary cohort of the 1950s. The contributors investigate the work that informed her own fiction and discuss how Jackson inspired writers of literature and film. The collection begins with essays that tease out what Jackson's writing owes to the weird tale, detective fiction, the supernatural tradition, and folklore, among other influences. The focus then shifts to Jackson's place in American literature and the impact of her work on women's writing, campus literature, and the graphic novelist Alison Bechdel. The final two essays examine adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House and Jackson's influence on contemporary American horror cinema. Taken together, the essays offer convincing evidence that half a century following her death, readers and writers alike are still finding value in Jackson's words.

The popularity of such widely known works as "The Lottery" and The Haunting of Hill House has tended to obscure the extent of Shirley Jackson's literary output, which includes six novels, a prodigious number of short stories, and two volumes of domestic sketches. Organized around the themes of influence and intertextuality, this collection places Jackson firmly within the literary cohort of the 1950s. The contributors investigate the work that informed her own fiction and discuss how Jackson inspired writers of literature and film. The collection begins with essays that tease out what Jackson's writing owes to the weird tale, detective fiction, the supernatural tradition, and folklore, among other influences. The focus then shifts to Jackson's place in American literature and the impact of her work on women's writing, campus literature, and the graphic novelist Alison Bechdel. The final two essays examine adaptations of The Haunting of Hill House and Jackson's influence on contemporary American horror cinema. Taken together, the essays offer convincing evidence that half a century following her death, readers and writers alike are still finding value in Jackson's words.

Shirley Jackson and Domesticity takes on American horror writer Shirley Jackson’s domestic narratives – those fictionalized in her novels and short stories as well as the ones captured in her memoirs – to explore the extraordinary and often supernatural ways domestic practices and the ecology of the home influence Jackson’s storytelling. Examining various areas of homemaking – child-rearing and reproduction, housekeeping, architecture and spatiality, the housewife mythos – through the theoretical frameworks of gothic, queer, gender, supernatural, humor, and architectural studies, this collection contextualizes Jackson’s archive in a Cold War framework and assesses the impact of the work of a writer seeking to question the status quo of her time and culture.