The supernatural media virus : virus anxiety in gothic fiction since 1990 Since the 1990s the virus and the network metaphors have become increasingly popular finding application in a broad range of everyday discourses academic disciplines and fiction genres. In this book Rahel Sixta Schmitz defines and discusses a trope recurring in Gothic fiction: the supernatural media virus. This trope comprises the confluence of the virus the network and a deep underlying media anxiety. This study shows how Gothic narratives such as House of Leaves or The Ring feature the supernatural media virus to negotiate as well as actively shape imaginations of the network society and the dangers of a globalized technologized world Frontmatter Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: The Age of Virus Anxiety 1. The Virus the Network and the Supernatural Media Virus 2. Ghostwatch and the Advent of the Network Society 3. House of Leaves the Network Paradigm and the Abstract Supernatural Media Virus 4. The Moral Dimension of the Supernatural Media Virus in the Ring Franchise 5. The Digital Supernatural Media Virus and the Network Apocalypse in Kairo and Pulse Conclusions: Future Mutations of the Supernatural Media Virus Bibliography