Featured Genre: Gothic Fiction

Since the early 1700s, Gothic fiction has endured as a resilient genre. Though Gothic fiction wears a different mask today, it contains the same basic elements of the classical gothic works: an entanglement of horror and romance, with elements of mystery, fear, supernatural, death and madness.

Over the past centuries, Gothic fiction has been reworked and re-imagined countless times, and the sheer variety of material makes gothic writing an interesting genre to explore. Though not a complete list, the following are examples of gothic sub genres:

Early and Romantic Gothic

Early gothic writers were stuck between an era of medieval romances (think chivalry, heroic knights, etc.) and contemporary, realist novels. Horace Walpole, who is credited with writing the first Gothic novel, wanted to reinvent romance novels with elements of superstition and dark mysteries. Though his novel, The Castle of Otranto, was not well received at the time, it started a literary movement. Other early gothic authors include Anne Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Victorian Gothic

When most people think of Gothic literature today, they think of Victorian era Gothic. Edgar Allan Poe helped to revitalize the genre during this period by writing stories not based on common plot archetypes, but by focusing on characterization and the psychology of deranged characters.

Concurrently, gothic fiction became more terror-oriented, with the creation of characters such as Dracula. Though Dracula was written by an Irishman, it helped make Eastern Europe a locus classicus of Gothic writing - this is why we still associate Transylvania with vampires and horror today.

In addition to Poe, other prominent authors included the Brontë sisters, Bram Stoker, and Robert Louis Stevenson

Urban Gothic

Urban Gothic has roots in the 1800s, with Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the genre has expanded since then to include many modern works. Urban gothic stories address the fears of living in an industrialized (or post-industrial) society, often times with decrepit cities as settings. Important authors include Richard Matheson, Anne Rice and graphic novelists such as Frank Miller.

Southern Gothic

While most gothic movements have their roots in Europe and Russia, Southern Gothic is a distinctly American genre. These novels focus on the post-civil war South, and the disintegration of southern aristocracy, with tragically flawed characters. Prominent authors include William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, and Tennessee Williams.

Recommendations

Novels

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)
• The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1869)
• Dracula by Bram Stroker (1897)
• The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)
• I am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)
• Salem’s Lot by Stephen King (1975)
• The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (1976-2003)
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009)

*In addition to novels, Gothic fiction is well represented in short stories, and gothic short story anthologies are easy to come by.

On Mibba

• Fantastic Mr. Norris by spacejunkie
• “Moonlight Sonata” by lost in wonderland
• “Monsters” by Spiralling Shape
• Dread by Bella Heart Shawnee
• Requiem by little motorkitty;
• “Dreams” by SmilingScarlet"