Reimagining the Gothic: Ecological Horror and Climate Change in Contemporary Literature

The Gothic genre, historically centered on themes of horror, death, and the supernatural, is undergoing a significant transformation in the age of climate crisis. This paper examines how the Gothic has been reimagined to articulate the anxieties of environmental degradation and ecological collapse. Termed the "eco-Gothic," this subgenre blends traditional Gothic motifs with contemporary ecological concerns to create a literature of dread rooted in the Anthropocene. Drawing on examples from contemporary fiction, film, and critical theory—including works by Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, Susan Howe, and Amitav Ghosh—this paper argues that the eco-Gothic provides a potent aesthetic and philosophical framework for understanding the uncanny, monstrous aspects of climate change as reflections of modern anxieties about the future.