Clive Barker and the Gothic Imagination Research Study
Over at Revelations official Facebook page they shared some very interesting news for Clive Barker fans everywhere that I think is a wonderful opportunity to intimately get involved in the universe of Clive Barker. Manchester Metropolitan University are offering post-grad scholarships for a research study into Clive Barker and the Gothic Imagination.
Listed below are the project’s summary, aims and objects, specifics requirements, and student eligibility. And most importantly when the application process ends which is on March 16, 2016.
Project summary
This project will seek to explain the critical neglect of the enormously popular author, filmmaker and artist Clive Barker. It will deploy the conceptual resources of Gothic and Horror Studies, Queer Theory and Exile Studies and will trace Barker’s contribution to the horror genre, the gothic mode and the dark fantastique and his destabilization of the boundaries between them.
Project aims and objectives
This project aims to explore the undervalued work of author Clive Barker. Unlike many of his contemporaries, including Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell, Barker has significantly shifted in generic styles and actively targeted different audiences since the 1980s. From the publication of The Books of Blood (1984-85) to the Abaratseries (2002 – ) and The Scarlet Gospels (2015), Barker’s generic fluidity and imaginative leaps traverse firmly established generic categories and reject over-identification with the horror label.
The implications of such differing outputs, as well as the lack of academic engagement with his works, require serious reevaluation and intervention. This project will engage with Barker’s film work (as director, and author of the source material) as well as his own gothic and horror-based novels and art. As such, it will investigate the author’s body of work through the disciplinary lens of Gothic Studies and Horror Studies, producing a framework through which Barker’s material can be critically reevaluated. The project asks, therefore, how generic shifts and mislabeling of the author’s material since Hellraiser (dir. Clive Barker, 1987) have impacted on their critical and cultural reception.
The project is critically underpinned by the following questions:
- How does the gothic mode enable an exploration of Barker’s material to date?
- Does Barker’s material resist such categorization? If so, how and why?
- How does the gothic mode enable an exploration that transcends such entrenched generic publication categorizations?
- What unique position (if any) in Gothic and Horror Studies does Barker occupy? How is this articulated/ expressed across his works?
In addressing these questions, the aims of the project are as follows:
- To produce a strong analysis of Barker’s literary works to date, to identify and explore Barker’s significant core themes including intersections with Queer Theory, Body Horror, censorship, Film Studies, and Barker’s own expatriation.
- To trace the particular shifts in Barker’s literary and film form, exploring his work as a particular (and problematic?) brand, and its intersections with Gothic Studies and Horror Studies.
To identify why Barker has been marginalized in popular Horror Studies.
Specific requirements of the project
This project is interdisciplinary in nature, combining Gothic, Film, Art and Literary Studies. As such, applicants are expected to have a strong specialism in at least one of these areas and a willingness to work across all four.
An enthusiasm for the work of Barker, in all its manifestations, is essential; as is a willingness to undertake secondary research across media and modes.
A background in critical theory is highly desirable, particularly in Queer Theory and Exile Studies.
Applicants must be willing to undertake a detailed study of existing publications in the field of Barker studies in order to identify not only critical aporiae but hitherto unidentified continuities (of theme, style and representational practice) across his work.
As such, a knowledge of a range of genre styles (from Splatterpunk to Dark Fantasy to Young Adult Fiction) splatter punk and dark fantasy to young adult fiction) is highly desirable.
Student eligibility
UK, EU and international students
Supervisory Team
Informal enquiries can be made to:
Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn
Email: s.ni-fhlainn@mmu.ac.ukHow to apply
Please quote the studentship reference: NIF20161.
Applications should be completed using the Postgraduate Research Degree Application Form.
Application Form should be emailed to: pgradmissions@mmu.ac.uk.
Guidance Notes for PhD 2016 Competition Scholarships
PLEASE NOTE that Section 9 of the application should be used to write a personal statement outlining your suitability for the study, what you hope to achieve from the PhD and your research experience to date.
Closing date
21 March 2016 (9am)
