The gothic meets the weird: a critical analysis of Charlie Cheesegrater, A Weird Tale and its influences

This thesis for the Master of Creative Arts degree at the University of Newcastle consists of a young adult novel, Charlie Cheesegrater: A Weird Tale, of approximately 60,000 words length, and a critical exegesis, The Gothic Meets the Weird: A Critical Analysis of Charlie Cheesegraier: A Weird Tale and its Influences, of approximately 13,000 words length. The novel is a blend of gothic, weird and fantasy fiction. It tells the story of a boy, Charlie, who lives in the Welkin of Gloom where there is no sun and no moon, only the gloomlight, a silver fog that illuminates the land. Charlie lives in a castle with his wicked aunt and uncle (The Slupps ), who have put bars on his teeth. They make him look so bad that his uncle calls him a cheesegrater when he smiles. Through the course of the novel Charlie discovers that his teeth hold a special power, one that enables him to control the gloomlight, though he does not know how. The critical exegesis examines gothic, weird and fantasy fiction and these genres have influenced Charlie Cheesegrater: A Weird Tale. In particular, the exegesis focuses on how the novel has been influenced by the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Through an analysis of gothic, weird and fantasy fiction, the exegesis will show that though Charlie Cheesegrater contains elements of these traditions, it also rejects and re-evaluates them.