The Library
The Gothic Descent is a growing library of essays, articles and selected works, organised around the human questions that guide this project.
Each investigation brings literature, film, imagery and Jungian thought into conversation. These encounters allow us to explore a question from different perspectives and reconsider our own interpretations.
You can begin with the question that interests you and follow the materials at your own pace. Each catacomb offers an introduction, a suggested starting point and related readings.
Some investigations already contain published essays and years of research; others are just beginning. The library grows one question—and one finished piece—at a time.
This library brings years of writing and research into a shared structure, organised around the questions that connect them. Selected materials are being gathered into each catacomb as the library takes shape.
The library grows as each question gives rise to new readings and publications.
Enter Your Chosen Catacomb
Every reader enters through a different question.
Choose the investigation you would like to explore.
Fragmentation & Identity
What leads us to fragmentation?
Motherhood & Horror
How does motherhood become a horror experience?
Care, Nature & Cultural Disconnection
What happens when a culture loses its connection with the forces that sustain life?
Monsters, Ghosts & Exclusion
What do we do with what we cannot integrate?
Stories & Symbolic Language
How do stories help us think what ordinary language cannot?
Ways to Explore
You may begin with an article, spend time with a longer essay, or follow a sequence of readings in a seasonal journal.
The materials below offer different ways into the investigations. Each is also connected to its relevant catacomb.
Articles & Reflections
This archive brings together my writing from its beginnings as a blog to the ongoing investigations of The Gothic Descent.
Here you will find early explorations alongside more recent articles: readings, questions and symbolic connections that have shaped, and continue to shape, the project.
Explore the articles below, or browse by catacomb to follow a particular question.
