Gothic literature imagines the return of ghosts from the past. What about the classical past? 'Spectres of Antiquity' is full-length study describing the relationship between Greek & Roman culture & the Gothic novels, poetry, & drama of the 18th & early-19th century. Rather than simply representing the opposite of classical aesthetics & ideas, the Gothic emerged from an awareness of the lingering power of antiquity, & it irreverently fractures & deconstructs classical images & ideas. The Gothic also reflects a new vision of the ancient world: no longer inspiring modernity through its examples, antiquity has become a ghost, haunting & oppressing contemporary minds rather than guiding them. Through readings of canonical works by authors including Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, & Mary Shelley, the text argues that these authors' ghostly plots & ideas preserve the remembered traces of Greece & Rome.