Uses of the Gothic in Covid-Era Apocalyptic Fiction: Pandemic Fears and Self-Development in Bethany Clift’s "Last One at the Party" (2021)

This chapter uses Bethany Clift’s debut novel, "Last One at the Party" (2021), which appeared during the Covid lockdown, as a case study to interrogate the ways in which the Gothic is employed in apocalyptic works produced in different media in the Covid era and in years immediately preceding the pandemic. Drawing upon a long-established Gothic tradition, Clift’s novel undoubtedly uses terror and horror elements to provide some relief and psychological escape from the distress and uncertainties of the lockdown. yet, this escapist function is combined with an attention for the protagonist’s self- scrutiny and growth which, more evident in the second half of the novel, is meant to provoke serious and critical thoughts about contemporary issues. This transformation is proof of the alacrity with which the significations of the Gothic change in today’s culture and literature. Used by Clift to encompass some terrors of our postmodern age, the Gothic also becomes a vehicle for rethinking our position in the world, for structuring a new sense of identity and, in ways similar to the protagonist, for laying the foundations for new community bonds.