American Nightmares Come True

In 2023, Department of English Language and Literature faculty member Jefferey Weinstock founded The Society for the Study of the American Gothic, a professional organization dedicated to promoting and advancing the study of the American Gothic through research, teaching, and publication.

In March, the organization hit a milestone of more than 300 members. They also held their second international symposium on the American gothic, “American Nightmares II: Return to Salem,” the week of March 19^th in Salem, Mass.

Weinstock directed the symposium, which featured 140 presentations from American gothic scholars from many different countries. Author Victor LaValle and scholar Sian Silyn Roberts gave keynote addresses for the conference.

“It is the goal of the Society to strengthen relations among persons and institutions both in the United States and internationally who are undertaking such studies, and to broaden knowledge among the general public about the American Gothic in its many forms,” said Weinstock.

In addition to this achievement, Weinstock’s anthology of writings about the appeal of horror, The Horror Theory Reader, was published by the University of Minnesota Press earlier this year.