Bazin continues, вЂњEvery image is to be seen as an object and every object as an image. His use of the fingerprint as a metaphor is telling, because it suggests that film and reality touch one another in a material and intimate way. For Bazin, film is an asymptote of reality, in constant relation to reality but never quite subsuming it. These remarks remind me of Andre BazinвЂ™s famous remarks about film realism in What is Cinema?: вЂњThe photograph as such and the object in itself share a common being, after the fashion of the fingerprintвЂќ (15). He later calls this a вЂњparasitic techniqueвЂќ (127), or perhaps a more symbiotic one, given that he also says that вЂњthe fictional and the true borrow from and shape one anotherвЂќ (118). Cooper discusses this with reference to ghost fictions, remarking that they (and other Gothic fictions) have вЂњsought a degree of mimetic authenticity, a way to make their fictional ghosts seem real by making their attributes conform to popular expectationsвЂќ (118). We have become so accustomed to the conventions of literature and film that we often wonвЂ™t recognize reality as real if it doesnвЂ™t obey literary conventions. Our understanding of reality, and our determinations about what is and is not real, depend on literary tropes. As he points out here and elsewhere, stories of violence canвЂ™t be blamed for real acts of violence (fictions can вЂњcauseвЂќ but are not вЂњculpableвЂќ) nevertheless, they do help us (or change the way that we) read, experience, and interpret reality.

When he writes that вЂњgothic fictions give form to social phenomena,вЂќ he suggests that literature and film have the ability to influence realityвЂ“that stories can (and do) inspire real events however, his use of the word вЂњformвЂќ suggests that they can also make reality manifest in a more material way. He explores his central questions in a focused (and sometimes personal) way, using all the critical and theoretical tools at his disposal. And while his work is attentive to the differing effects of various media, he does not focus on one medium at the expense of all others, moving instead deftly from Gothic novels to contemporary film, touching also on news media texts, popular non-fiction, video games, etc. CooperвЂ™s approach to literary criticism and theory is rooted in time and place, aware of cultural and historical dimensions, but not limited by an excessive reverence for geographical distinctions or historical periods. This is what I see as the thesis of CooperвЂ™s book, an idea he traces across continents and through four centuries, from Mathew LewisвЂ™s Gothic novel The Monk (1796) to James WanвЂ™s вЂњtorture pornвЂќ film Saw (2004).

but they are not the culpable cause for the phenomenaвЂ™s realityвЂќ (19). Andrew Cooper writes in Gothic Realities, вЂњGothic fictions give form to social phenomena. Gothic Realities: the Impact of Horror Fiction on Modern Culture. Cooper's work inspires contemplation, invites discussion, and opens the field for further consideration of the relationships between Gothic fiction, contemporary horror film, and real violence.

Gothic literature def