Claire Knowles (University of Melbourne, Australia) is a final year doctoral candidate in the English department at the University of Melbourne, and has taught in the subject, 'Gothic Fictions', part of the department's literary studies programme, for the last three years. With a background in late-eighteenth and early nineteenth century literature, she is particuarly interested in exploring the ways in which the conventions of early gothic fiction are reimagined in a postmodern context.