ABSTRACT
While eighteenth-century Gothic saw darkness breed in remote forests, convents and castles, the nineteenth century saw the city become the privileged space for Gothic production. Industrialization and urbanization were the primary drivers for the Gothicization of city space, as urban centers were transformed by monstrous industry, economic exploitation and the isolation that Friedrich Engels describes as the “atomization” of the individual: people becoming adrift from communities and separated from any sense of human connection (Engels 2011: 48). By the 1880s, the labyrinthine streets of Europe had become a perfect platform for updating the themes of earlier Gothic, and in the 130 years since, cities and suburbs have remained rich sites for Gothic production.
