Here is a collection which fills a real gap in the market for first-class modern critical studies on alternative traditions, especially that of popular literature in English. What is lacking is a comprehensive clear, concise and radical rethink of nineteenth-century suspense writers such as Poe, Wilkie Collins, Dickens, Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker, and the genres of fantasy, the ghost tale, detection and horror. The nine essays presented here, by accomplished and experienced authors, show a vital awareness of current teaching trends and interests, covering such approaches as the psychosexual, feminist, modern Marxist, generic, psychoanalytic and linguistic.