Andrew Webber has advised me during the research for this book with knowledge and insight, utmost generosity of time and support, and also with kindness. I am deeply thankful for his mentoring, which is always motivating and inspiring, but never restrictive or determining. Moreover, I would like to thank Michael Minden and Robert Vilain for their critical reading, insightful comments, and support, as well as Peter-André Alt, Dagmar Lorenz, Eric L. Santner, and Norbert Christian Wolf for their stimulating input and advice. Two anonymous reviewers gave extremely nuanced and productive feedback, for which I am grateful. The series editor Imke Meyer has provided invaluable guidance throughout the publication process. I would like to thank her, as well as publisher for literary studies Haaris Naqvi, editorial assistant Katherine de Chant, copy-editor Anna Carroll, and everyone else at Bloomsbury Academic, who all have been an absolute pleasure to work with.
The full-cost scholarship from Gates Cambridge Scholarships allowed me to undertake the main research for this book. I revised the final version of the manuscript while being supported by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography, Vienna, and the Schröder Fund Cambridge. Some passages in Chapters Three and Five draw on my article ‘Gothic Infections’, published in Modern Language Review 113.1 (2018), 150–170. I would like to thank MLR for the permission to reuse this material. I also would like to thank the Syndics of Cambridge University Library for the permission to cite from their archival sources.
More warm thanks go to the following people, who also had an immense (direct and indirect) influence on the progress of this book: Mirjam Berg, Andreas Gehrlach, Lukas Held, Charlotte Lee, Ina Linge, Annja Neumann, Annie Ring, Astrid Schmidt, Lizzie Stewart, Andrea Wald, and Erica Wickerson for helpful comments and encouragement. Alphia Klingenstein for a regular supply of German bread and homemade jam. Karoline Kuchenbäcker and Nadja Tschentscher for sharp debates and unwavering care. Steve Ruiz for letting me talk through my ideas and for making me feel at home wherever we are.
I would like to dedicate this book to the memory of my three parents: Jutta Kolkenbrock-Netz, Maria Klingenstein, and Hansjörg Kolkenbrock.