Reading Groups

Skin Deep: Beauty, Horror, and the Gothic Tradition with Amanda Lehr

Clear

4 Sessions Saturdays, 1:00 pm EDT - 2:30 pm EDT April 4 to June 6, 2026

The Center for Fiction

The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore. PDFs of the required stories will be emailed upon registration.

Meeting Dates:
4/4, 4/25, 5/16, 6/6
In Person at The Center for Fiction

From fantastical cinematic satires like The Substance to discourse about the uncanniness of “Instagram face,” beauty horror is having a cultural moment. While the impulse to self-perfect through photo-editing or plastic surgery may feel relatively modern, the quest to achieve and preserve physical beauty at any cost has been a longstanding theme in the Gothic literary tradition, where one only needs to scratch the surface of youthful loveliness to find something grotesque.

Oscar Wilde described the late 19th century as an “age of surfaces,” and we’ll see how the tropes of his era have been used to explore beauty culture’s underbelly across time. Starting with Sheridan Le Fanu, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Mary Shelley, we’ll examine how Gothic fiction became a go-to genre for interrogating the pursuit of aesthetic perfection. We’ll also interrogate the murderous commodification of Patrick Süskind’s Perfume and whiteness-centered “wellness” found in Ling Ling Huang’s Natural Beauty. Whether its medium of choice is a mirror or a webcam, Gothic fiction confronts our deepest fears and desires: What does beauty promise us? What happens when notions of beauty are uncoupled from those of age and decay? And how can “self-care” devolve into a means of violent self-erasure?

Reading List:

PDFs of the following stories will be emailed upon registration:

“The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Mortal Immortal” by Mary Shelley

Titles available for purchase at the links below or by selecting the ‘With Books’ option above:

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Perfume by Patrick Süskind, translated from the German by John E. Woods
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Please read Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark,” Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Oval Portrait,” and Mary Shelley’s “The Mortal Immortal.” PDFs of these stories will be emailed upon registration.

What to expect from this reading group: Participants can expect a conversational, good-humored atmosphere that embraces complexity. This will be a seminar-style space where all participants are encouraged to bring their own observations and questions to enrich our discussion.

Upcoming Programming: Continue your exploration of the Gothic in other reading groups at The Center, including The Gothic Heiress of Jane Eyre with Mary Anna Evans, starting in April, and Revisiting Frankenstein with Ana Klimchynskaya in May. Then, join Kyle McCarthy and Leslie Jamison on May 6th when they discuss Immersions, a modern Bluebeard tale steeped in the shadows of New York City and the cloisters of rural France.

Pricing inclusive of sales tax if applicable.

Led by

Amanda Lehr

Amanda Lehr

A writer and satirist, Amanda Lehr holds a Ph.D. in English literature and Gender studies from Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include queer theory, disability studies, and the history of medicine. In addition to her scholarly publications, her work has appeared in venues like the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and Roxane Gay’s the Audacity.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

Groups+Workshops

More Groups+Workshops

Groups+Workshops