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Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the ], ]s, ]s and ], ], ], death, ], ], ], ] and ] ]s. Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the ], ]s, ]s and ], ], ], death, ], ], ], ] and ] ]s.


The ] of Gothic fiction include ], ], ]s, ]s, ]es, ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ]s, ]s, ], the ] and the ] himself. The ] of Gothic fiction include ], ], ]s, ]s, ]es, ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ]s, ], the ] and the ] himself.


Important ideas concerning and regarding the Gothic include: ], especially criticism of ] excesses such as the ] (in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain); ] of an ancient Medieval past; ]; and parody (including self-parody). Important ideas concerning and regarding the Gothic include: ], especially criticism of ] excesses such as the ] (in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain); ] of an ancient Medieval past; ]; and parody (including self-parody).


==Origins== == Origins ==
In a way similar to the gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the ] style of the ] Establishment, the term "gothic" became linked with an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrill of fearfulness and awe inherent in the ], and a quest for ''atmosphere''. The ruins of gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by representing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations— thus the urge to add fake ruins as eyecatchers in ]. English Protestants often associated medieval buildings with what they saw as a dark and terrifying period, characterized by harsh laws enforced by torture, and with mysterious, fantastic and ] rituals. In a way similar to the gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the ] style of the ] Establishment, the term "gothic" became linked with an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrill of fearfulness and awe inherent in the ], and a quest for ''atmosphere''. The ruins of gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by representing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations— thus the urge to add fake ruins as eyecatchers in ]. English Protestants often associated medieval buildings with what they saw as a dark and terrifying period, characterized by harsh laws enforced by torture, and with mysterious, fantastic and ] rituals.


==The first gothic romances== == The first gothic romances ==


The term "Gothic" came to be applied to the literary genre precisely because the genre dealt with such emotional extremes and very dark themes, and because it found its most natural settings in the buildings of this style — castles, mansions, and monasteries, often remote, crumbling, and ruined. It was a fascination with this architecture and its related art, poetry (see ]), and even landscape gardening that inspired the first wave of gothic novelists. For example, ], whose '']'' (1764) is often regarded as the first true gothic romance, was obsessed with medieval gothic architecture, and built his own house, ], in that form, sparking a fashion for ]. Indeed ] suggests in the ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (ed.; 5th & 6th edns) (1985, 2000), that the term 'Gothic' originally meant medieval, as in ''Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Tale''. The term "Gothic" came to be applied to the literary genre precisely because the genre dealt with such emotional extremes and very dark themes, and because it found its most natural settings in the buildings of this style — castles, mansions, and monasteries, often remote, crumbling, and ruined. It was a fascination with this architecture and its related art, poetry (see ]), and even landscape gardening that inspired the first wave of gothic novelists. For example, ], whose '']'' (1764) is often regarded as the first true gothic romance, was obsessed with medieval gothic architecture, and built his own house, ], in that form, sparking a fashion for ]. Indeed ] suggests in the ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (ed.; 5th & 6th edns) (1985, 2000), that the term 'Gothic' originally meant medieval, as in ''Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Tale''.


Walpole's novel arose out of this obsession with the medieval. He originally claimed that the book was a real medieval romance he had discovered and republished. Thus was born the gothic novel's association with ] to increase its effect. Indeed, ''The Castle of Otranto'' was originally subtitled "A ]" — a literary form held by educated taste to be tawdry and unfit even for children, due to its superstitious elements — but Walpole revived some of the elements of the medieval romance in a new form. The basic plot created many other gothic staples, including a threatening mystery and an ancestral curse, as well as countless trappings such as hidden passages and oft-fainting heroines. Walpole's novel arose out of this obsession with the medieval. He originally claimed that the book was a real medieval romance he had discovered and republished. Thus was born the gothic novel's association with ] to increase its effect. Indeed, ''The Castle of Otranto'' was originally subtitled "A ]" — a literary form held by educated taste to be tawdry and unfit even for children, due to its superstitious elements — but Walpole revived some of the elements of the medieval romance in a new form. The basic plot created many other gothic staples, including a threatening mystery and an ancestral curse, as well as countless trappings such as hidden passages and oft-fainting heroines.


It was however ] who created the gothic novel in its now-standard form. Among other elements, Radcliffe introduced the brooding figure of the gothic ], which developed into the ]. Unlike Walpole's, her novels, beginning with '']'' (1794), were best-sellers, although along with all novels they were looked down upon by well-educated people as sensationalist women's entertainment (despite some men's enjoyment of them). It was however ] who created the gothic novel in its now-standard form. Among other elements, Radcliffe introduced the brooding figure of the gothic ], which developed into the ]. Unlike Walpole's, her novels, beginning with '']'' (1794), were best-sellers, although along with all novels they were looked down upon by well-educated people as sensationalist women's entertainment (despite some men's enjoyment of them).


<blockquote>"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. I have read all Mrs. Radcliffe's works, and most of them with great pleasure. ''The Mysteries of Udolpho'', when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days &ndash; my hair standing on end the whole time." <blockquote>"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. I have read all Mrs. Radcliffe's works, and most of them with great pleasure. ''The Mysteries of Udolpho'', when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days – my hair standing on end the whole time."
<br>...<br> <br />...<br />
"I am very glad to hear it indeed, and now I shall never be ashamed of liking ''Udolpho'' myself. " "I am very glad to hear it indeed, and now I shall never be ashamed of liking ''Udolpho'' myself. "
<br>&mdash; Jane Austen, '']'' (written 1798)</blockquote> <br />— Jane Austen, '']'' (written 1798)</blockquote>


Radcliffe also provided an aesthetic for the burgeoning genre courtesy of her influential article "On the Supernatural in Poetry" in ''The New Monthly Magazine'' 7, 1826, pp 145-52, examining the distinction and correlation between ] in Gothic fiction. Radcliffe also provided an aesthetic for the burgeoning genre courtesy of her influential article "On the Supernatural in Poetry" in ''The New Monthly Magazine'' 7, 1826, pp 145-52, examining the distinction and correlation between ] in Gothic fiction.


==Developments in continental Europe, and ''The Monk''== == Developments in continental Europe, and ''The Monk'' ==


Contemporaneously to English Gothic, parallel Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe: the ''roman noir'' ("black novel") in ], by such writers as ], Baculard d'Arnaud, and ] and the ''Schauerroman'' ("shudder novel") in ] by such writers as such as ], author of ''The Ghost-Seer'' (1789) and ], author of ''Das Petermännchen'' (1791/92). These works were often more horrific and violent than the English gothic novel. Contemporaneously to English Gothic, parallel Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe: the ''roman noir'' ("black novel") in ], by such writers as ], Baculard d'Arnaud, and ] and the ''Schauerroman'' ("shudder novel") in ] by such writers as such as ], author of ''The Ghost-Seer'' (1789) and ], author of ''Das Petermännchen'' (1791/92). These works were often more horrific and violent than the English gothic novel.


The fruit of this harvest of continental horrors was ] lurid tale of monastic debauchery, black magic and diabolism '']'' (1796). Though Lewis' novel could be read as a sly, tongue-in-cheek spoof of the emerging genre, self-parody was a constituent part of the Gothic from the time of the genre's inception with Walpole's ''Otranto''. The fruit of this harvest of continental horrors was ] lurid tale of monastic debauchery, black magic and diabolism '']'' (1796). Though Lewis' novel could be read as a sly, tongue-in-cheek spoof of the emerging genre, self-parody was a constituent part of the Gothic from the time of the genre's inception with Walpole's ''Otranto''.
Lewis' tale appalled some contemporary readers; however his portrayal of depraved monks, sadistic inquisitors and spectral nuns, and his scurrilous view of the Catholic church was an important development in the genre and influenced established terror-writer Ann Radcliffe in her last novel '']'' (1797). In this book the hapless protagonists are ensnared in a web of deceit by a malignant monk called Schedoni and eventually dragged before the tribunals of the ] in Rome, leading one contemporary to remark that if Radcliffe wished to transcend the horror of these scenes she would have to visit hell itself (Birkhead 1921). Lewis' tale appalled some contemporary readers; however his portrayal of depraved monks, sadistic inquisitors and spectral nuns, and his scurrilous view of the Catholic church was an important development in the genre and influenced established terror-writer Ann Radcliffe in her last novel '']'' (1797). In this book the hapless protagonists are ensnared in a web of deceit by a malignant monk called Schedoni and eventually dragged before the tribunals of the ] in Rome, leading one contemporary to remark that if Radcliffe wished to transcend the horror of these scenes she would have to visit hell itself (Birkhead 1921).
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Other notable writers in the continental tradition include ] (1761-1815) and ] (1776–1822). Other notable writers in the continental tradition include ] (1761-1815) and ] (1776–1822).


==Parody== == Parody ==


The excesses and frequent absurdities of the traditional Gothic made it rich territory for satire. The most famous parody of the Gothic is ] novel '']'' (1818) in which the naive protagonist, after reading too much Gothic fiction, conceives herself a heroine of a Radcliffian romance and imagines murder and villainy on every side, though the truth turns out to be somewhat more prosaic. Jane Austen's novel is valuable for including a list of early Gothic works since known as the ]: The excesses and frequent absurdities of the traditional Gothic made it rich territory for satire. The most famous parody of the Gothic is ] novel '']'' (1818) in which the naive protagonist, after reading too much Gothic fiction, conceives herself a heroine of a Radcliffian romance and imagines murder and villainy on every side, though the truth turns out to be somewhat more prosaic. Jane Austen's novel is valuable for including a list of early Gothic works since known as the ]:
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The poetry, romantic adventures and character of ], characterised by his spurned lover ] as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' was another inspiration for the Gothic, providing the archetype of the ]. Byron features, under the codename of ']', in Lady Caroline's own Gothic novel: '']'' (1816). The poetry, romantic adventures and character of ], characterised by his spurned lover ] as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' was another inspiration for the Gothic, providing the archetype of the ]. Byron features, under the codename of ']', in Lady Caroline's own Gothic novel: '']'' (1816).
Byron was also the host of the celebrated ghost-story competition involving himself, ], ] and ] at the Villa Diodati on the banks of ] in the summer of 1816. This occasion was productive of both Mary Shelley's '']'' (1818) and Polidori's '']'' (1819). This latter story revives Lamb's Byronic 'Lord Ruthven', but this time as a vampire. ''The Vampyre'' has been accounted by cultural critic Christopher Frayling as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written and spawned a craze for ] and theatre (and latterly film) which has not ceased to this day. Mary Shelley's novel, though clearly influenced by the gothic tradition, is often considered the first ] novel, despite the omission in the novel of any scientific explanation of the monster's animation and the focus instead on the moral issues and consequences of such a creation. Byron was also the host of the celebrated ghost-story competition involving himself, ], ] and ] at the Villa Diodati on the banks of ] in the summer of 1816. This occasion was productive of both Mary Shelley's '']'' (1818) and Polidori's '']'' (1819). This latter story revives Lamb's Byronic 'Lord Ruthven', but this time as a vampire. ''The Vampyre'' has been accounted by cultural critic Christopher Frayling as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written and spawned a craze for ] and theatre (and latterly film) which has not ceased to this day. Mary Shelley's novel, though clearly influenced by the gothic tradition, is often considered the first ] novel, despite the omission in the novel of any scientific explanation of the monster's animation and the focus instead on the moral issues and consequences of such a creation.


A late example of traditional Gothic is '']'' (1820) by ] which combines themes of ] with an outcast ]. A late example of traditional Gothic is '']'' (1820) by ] which combines themes of ] with an outcast ].
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Though it is sometimes asserted that the Gothic had played itself out by the Victorian era and had declined into the cheap horror fiction of the "Penny Blood" or "]" type, exemplified by the serial novel '']'', in many ways Gothic was now entering its most creative phase - even if it was no longer a dominant literary genre (in fact the form's popularity as an established genre had already begun to erode with the success of the historical romance). The Victorian's sometimes called their novels 'Gothick' to distinguish them from 'Gothic'. Influential critics, above all ], far from denouncing mediaeval obscurantism, praised the imagination and fantasy exemplified by its gothic architecture, influencing the ]. Recently readers and critics have also begun to reconsider a number of previously overlooked Penny Blood and Penny Dreadful fictions. Authors such as G.W.M. Reynolds are slowly being accorded an important place in the development of the urban as a particularly Victorian Gothic setting, an area within which interesting links can be made with established readings of the work of Dickens and others. The formal relationship between these fictions, serialised for predominantly working class audiences, and the roughly contemporaneous sensation fictions serialised in middle class periodicals is also an area worthy of inquiry. Though it is sometimes asserted that the Gothic had played itself out by the Victorian era and had declined into the cheap horror fiction of the "Penny Blood" or "]" type, exemplified by the serial novel '']'', in many ways Gothic was now entering its most creative phase - even if it was no longer a dominant literary genre (in fact the form's popularity as an established genre had already begun to erode with the success of the historical romance). The Victorian's sometimes called their novels 'Gothick' to distinguish them from 'Gothic'. Influential critics, above all ], far from denouncing mediaeval obscurantism, praised the imagination and fantasy exemplified by its gothic architecture, influencing the ]. Recently readers and critics have also begun to reconsider a number of previously overlooked Penny Blood and Penny Dreadful fictions. Authors such as G.W.M. Reynolds are slowly being accorded an important place in the development of the urban as a particularly Victorian Gothic setting, an area within which interesting links can be made with established readings of the work of Dickens and others. The formal relationship between these fictions, serialised for predominantly working class audiences, and the roughly contemporaneous sensation fictions serialised in middle class periodicals is also an area worthy of inquiry.


An important and innovative re-interpreter of the Gothic in this period was ] who opined 'that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul’. His story "]" (1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' whilst revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic decay, death and madness. The legendary villainy of the ], previously explored by Gothicists Radcliffe, Lewis and Maturin, is revisited in "]" (1842). The influence of Ann Radcliffe is also detectable in Poe's "]" (1842), including an honorary mention of her name in the text of the story. An important and innovative re-interpreter of the Gothic in this period was ] who opined 'that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul’. His story "]" (1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' whilst revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic decay, death and madness. The legendary villainy of the ], previously explored by Gothicists Radcliffe, Lewis and Maturin, is revisited in "]" (1842). The influence of Ann Radcliffe is also detectable in Poe's "]" (1842), including an honorary mention of her name in the text of the story.


The influence of Byronic Romanticism evident in Poe is also apparent in the work of the Brontë sisters. The influence of Byronic Romanticism evident in Poe is also apparent in the work of the Brontë sisters.
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The gloomy villain, forbidding mansion and persecuted heroine of ] '']'' (1864) shows the direct influence of both Walpole's ''Otranto'' and Radcliffe's ''Udolpho''. Le Fanu's short story collection '']'' (1872) includes the superlative vampire tale '']'', which provided fresh blood for that particular strand of the Gothic and influenced ] '']'' (1897). According to literary critic ], Le Fanu, together with his predecessor Maturin and his successor Stoker, form a sub-genre of Irish Gothic, whose stories, featuring castles set in a barren landscape, with a cast of remote aristocrats dominating an atavistic peasantry, represent in allegorical form the political plight of colonial Ireland subjected to the ] (Eagleton 1995). The gloomy villain, forbidding mansion and persecuted heroine of ] '']'' (1864) shows the direct influence of both Walpole's ''Otranto'' and Radcliffe's ''Udolpho''. Le Fanu's short story collection '']'' (1872) includes the superlative vampire tale '']'', which provided fresh blood for that particular strand of the Gothic and influenced ] '']'' (1897). According to literary critic ], Le Fanu, together with his predecessor Maturin and his successor Stoker, form a sub-genre of Irish Gothic, whose stories, featuring castles set in a barren landscape, with a cast of remote aristocrats dominating an atavistic peasantry, represent in allegorical form the political plight of colonial Ireland subjected to the ] (Eagleton 1995).


The genre was also a heavy influence on more mainstream writers, such as ], who read gothic novels as a teenager and incorporated their gloomy atmosphere and melodrama into his own works, shifting them to a more modern period and an urban setting. His most explicitly Gothic work is his last novel '']'' (1870). The mood and themes of the gothic novel held a particular fascination for the Victorians, with their morbid obsession with ], ]s, and mortality in general. The genre was also a heavy influence on more mainstream writers, such as ], who read gothic novels as a teenager and incorporated their gloomy atmosphere and melodrama into his own works, shifting them to a more modern period and an urban setting. His most explicitly Gothic work is his last novel '']'' (1870). The mood and themes of the gothic novel held a particular fascination for the Victorians, with their morbid obsession with ], ], and mortality in general.


The 1880s, saw the revival of the Gothic as a powerful literary form allied to ]. Classic works of this period include ] '']'' (1886), ] '']'' (1891), ] '']'' (1894), ] '']'' (1898) and the stories of ]. The most famous gothic villain ever, Count '']'' was created by ] in 1897. Stoker's book also established ] and Eastern Europe as the ''locus classicus'' of the Gothic. The 1880s, saw the revival of the Gothic as a powerful literary form allied to ]. Classic works of this period include ] '']'' (1886), ] '']'' (1891), ] '']'' (1894), ] '']'' (1898) and the stories of ]. The most famous gothic villain ever, Count '']'' was created by ] in 1897. Stoker's book also established ] and Eastern Europe as the ''locus classicus'' of the Gothic.


In America, two notable writers of the end of the 19th century, in the Gothic tradition, were ] and ]. Bierce's short stories were in the horrific and pessimistic tradition of Poe. Chambers, though, indulged in the decadent style of Wilde and Machen (even to the extent of having a character named 'Wilde' in his '']'' ). In America, two notable writers of the end of the 19th century, in the Gothic tradition, were ] and ]. Bierce's short stories were in the horrific and pessimistic tradition of Poe. Chambers, though, indulged in the decadent style of Wilde and Machen (even to the extent of having a character named 'Wilde' in his '']'' ).
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The Victorian Gothic fictionalized contemporary fears like ethical degeneration and questioned the social structures of the time. The Victorian Gothic fictionalized contemporary fears like ethical degeneration and questioned the social structures of the time.


==Post-Victorian legacy== == Post-Victorian legacy ==
Notable English twentieth century writers in the Gothic tradition include ], ], ], ] and ]. In America ]s such as '']'' reprinted classic Gothic horror tales from the previous century, by such authors as Poe, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Edward Bulwer-Lytton and printed new stories by modern authors featuring both traditional and new horrors. The most significant of these was ] who also wrote an excellent conspectus of the Gothic and supernatural horror tradition in his '']'' (1936). Lovecraft's protégé, ], contributed to ''Weird Tales'' and penned '']'' (1959), which drew on the classic interests of the genre. From these, the gothic genre ''per se'' gave way to modern ], regarded by some literary critics as a branch of the Gothic (Wisker 2005: 232-33) although others use the term to cover the entire genre. Many modern writers of horror (or indeed other types of fiction) exhibit considerable gothic sensibilities -- examples include the works of ], as well as some of the sensationalist works of ]. Notable English twentieth century writers in the Gothic tradition include ], ], ], ] and ]. In America ]s such as '']'' reprinted classic Gothic horror tales from the previous century, by such authors as Poe, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Edward Bulwer-Lytton and printed new stories by modern authors featuring both traditional and new horrors. The most significant of these was ] who also wrote an excellent conspectus of the Gothic and supernatural horror tradition in his '']'' (1936). Lovecraft's protégé, ], contributed to ''Weird Tales'' and penned '']'' (1959), which drew on the classic interests of the genre. From these, the gothic genre ''per se'' gave way to modern ], regarded by some literary critics as a branch of the Gothic (Wisker 2005: 232-33) although others use the term to cover the entire genre. Many modern writers of horror (or indeed other types of fiction) exhibit considerable gothic sensibilities -- examples include the works of ], as well as some of the sensationalist works of ].
In the twentieth century the Romantic strand of Gothic was taken up in ]'s '']'' (1938) which is in many ways a reworking of ]'s '']''. Others of her books, such as '']'' (1936), also display Gothic tendencies. Du Maurier's work inspired a substantial body of 'Female Gothics,' concerning heroines alternately swooning over or being terrified by scowling ] in possession of acres of prime real estate and the appertaining '']'' . In the twentieth century the Romantic strand of Gothic was taken up in ]'s '']'' (1938) which is in many ways a reworking of ]'s '']''. Others of her books, such as '']'' (1936), also display Gothic tendencies. Du Maurier's work inspired a substantial body of 'Female Gothics,' concerning heroines alternately swooning over or being terrified by scowling ] in possession of acres of prime real estate and the appertaining '']'' .


Gothic Romances of this description became popular during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with authors such as ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. Many featured covers depicting a terror-stricken woman in diaphanous attire in front of a gloomy ]. A lot were published under the ] Gothic imprint and were marketed to a female audience. Though the authors were mostly women, some men wrote gothic romances under female pseudonyms. For instance the prolific ] and ] were pseudonyms for the male writer ]. Outside of companies like ], who carry ], very few books seem to be published using the term today. Gothic Romances of this description became popular during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with authors such as ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. Many featured covers depicting a terror-stricken woman in diaphanous attire in front of a gloomy ]. A lot were published under the ] Gothic imprint and were marketed to a female audience. Though the authors were mostly women, some men wrote gothic romances under female pseudonyms. For instance the prolific ] and ] were pseudonyms for the male writer ]. Outside of companies like ], who carry ], very few books seem to be published using the term today.


The genre also influenced ] to create the ] genre, which combines some Gothic sensibilities (such as the ]) with the setting and style of the ]. Examples include ], ], and ]. A contemporary American writer in this tradition is ], in such novels as '']'', '']'' and short story collections such as ''Night-Side''. The ] applies a similar sensibility to a ] cultural context. ], ], ] and ] have all produced works that are notable exemplars of this form. The genre also influenced ] to create the ] genre, which combines some Gothic sensibilities (such as the ]) with the setting and style of the ]. Examples include ], ], and ]. A contemporary American writer in this tradition is ], in such novels as '']'', '']'' and short story collections such as ''Night-Side''. The ] applies a similar sensibility to a ] cultural context. ], ], ] and ] have all produced works that are notable exemplars of this form.


Another writer in this gothic tradition was ] whose best-known work was the Hollywood horror novel ] (1960). Farrel's novels spawned a sub-genre of 'Grande Dame Guignol' in the cinema, dubbed the "]" genre. Notable contemporary British writers in the Gothic tradition are ], author of '']'' (1983), and ], author of '']'' (1989). Another writer in this gothic tradition was ] whose best-known work was the Hollywood horror novel ] (1960). Farrel's novels spawned a sub-genre of 'Grande Dame Guignol' in the cinema, dubbed the "]" genre. Notable contemporary British writers in the Gothic tradition are ], author of '']'' (1983), and ], author of '']'' (1989).


The themes of the literary Gothic have been translated into other media such as the theatre and had a notable revival in twentieth century gothic horror films such the classic ] films of the 1930s, ] and ]'s Poe cycle. Twentieth century ] music also had its gothic side. ] created a dark sound different at the time. Themes from gothic writers such as ] were also used among ] and ] bands, especially in ], ] (]'s '']''), ] and ]. For example, gothic heavy metal musician ] delights in telling stories full of horror, theatricality, ] and ] in his compositions. The themes of the literary Gothic have been translated into other media such as the theatre and had a notable revival in twentieth century gothic horror films such the classic ] films of the 1930s, ] and ]'s Poe cycle. Twentieth century ] music also had its gothic side. ] created a dark sound different at the time. Themes from gothic writers such as ] were also used among ] and ] bands, especially in ], ] (]'s '']''), ] and ]. For example, gothic heavy metal musician ] delights in telling stories full of horror, theatricality, ] and ] in his compositions.


==Prominent examples== == Prominent examples ==
* '']'' (1764) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']'' (1764) by ] '''( at ])'''
* ''], an Arabian Tale'' (1786) by ] '''( at ])''' * ''], an Arabian Tale'' (1786) by ] '''( at ])'''
* '']'' (1794) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']'' (1794) by ] '''( at ])'''
* '']'' (1794) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']'' (1794) by ] '''( at ])'''
* '']'' (1796) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']'' (1796) by ] '''( at ])'''
* '']'' (1797) by ] '''()''' * '']'' (1797) by ] '''()'''
* '']'' (1797) by ] * '']'' (1797) by ]
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* '']'' (1798) by ] * '']'' (1798) by ]
* '']'' (1800) by ] * '']'' (1800) by ]
* '']'' (1818) by ] '''(] at ])''' * '']'' (1818) by ] '''(] at ])'''
* '']; a Tale'' (1819) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']; a Tale'' (1819) by ] '''( at ])'''
* '']'' (1820) by ] '''( at HorrorMasters.com)''' * '']'' (1820) by ] '''( at HorrorMasters.com)'''
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* '']'' (1910) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']'' (1910) by ] '''( at ])'''
* '']'' (1911) by ] '''(] at ])''' * '']'' (1911) by ] '''(] at ])'''
* '']'' (1946&ndash;1959) by ] * '']'' (1946–1959) by ]


===Gothic satire=== === Gothic satire ===
* '']'' (1818) by ] '''(] at ])''' * '']'' (1818) by ] '''(] at ])'''
* '']'' (1818) by ] '''( at ])''' * '']'' (1818) by ] '''( at ])'''
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*] *]


==References== == References ==
*] (1921) ''The Tale of Terror''. *] (1921) ''The Tale of Terror''.
*Clive Bloom (2007) ''Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers''. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. *Clive Bloom (2007) ''Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers''. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
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*Rosemary Jackson (1981) ''Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion''. *Rosemary Jackson (1981) ''Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion''.
*Maggie Kilgour (1995)''The Rise of the Gothic Novel'', Routledge. *Maggie Kilgour (1995)''The Rise of the Gothic Novel'', Routledge.
*Robert Mighall (2003) ''A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History's Nightmares''. *Robert Mighall (2003) ''A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History's Nightmares''.
*] (1996) ''The Literature of Terror'' (2 vols). *] (1996) ''The Literature of Terror'' (2 vols).
*Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1986) T''he Coherence of Gothic Conventions''. NY: Methuen. *Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1986) T''he Coherence of Gothic Conventions''. NY: Methuen.
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*Angela Wright (2007) ''Gothic Fiction''. Basingstoke: Palgrave. *Angela Wright (2007) ''Gothic Fiction''. Basingstoke: Palgrave.


==External links== == External links ==
* *
* *
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Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the "Gothic revival" style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole

Gothic fiction is an important genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. The effect of Gothic fiction depends on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of essentially Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel.

Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.

The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatale, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.

Important ideas concerning and regarding the Gothic include: Anti-Catholicism, especially criticism of Roman Catholic excesses such as the Inquisition (in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain); romanticism of an ancient Medieval past; melodrama; and parody (including self-parody).

Origins

In a way similar to the gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment, the term "gothic" became linked with an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrill of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime, and a quest for atmosphere. The ruins of gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by representing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations— thus the urge to add fake ruins as eyecatchers in English landscape parks. English Protestants often associated medieval buildings with what they saw as a dark and terrifying period, characterized by harsh laws enforced by torture, and with mysterious, fantastic and superstitious rituals.

The first gothic romances

The term "Gothic" came to be applied to the literary genre precisely because the genre dealt with such emotional extremes and very dark themes, and because it found its most natural settings in the buildings of this style — castles, mansions, and monasteries, often remote, crumbling, and ruined. It was a fascination with this architecture and its related art, poetry (see Graveyard Poets), and even landscape gardening that inspired the first wave of gothic novelists. For example, Horace Walpole, whose The Castle of Otranto (1764) is often regarded as the first true gothic romance, was obsessed with medieval gothic architecture, and built his own house, Strawberry Hill, in that form, sparking a fashion for gothic revival. Indeed Margaret Drabble suggests in the The Oxford Companion to English Literature (ed.; 5th & 6th edns) (1985, 2000), that the term 'Gothic' originally meant medieval, as in Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Tale.

Walpole's novel arose out of this obsession with the medieval. He originally claimed that the book was a real medieval romance he had discovered and republished. Thus was born the gothic novel's association with fake documentation to increase its effect. Indeed, The Castle of Otranto was originally subtitled "A Romance" — a literary form held by educated taste to be tawdry and unfit even for children, due to its superstitious elements — but Walpole revived some of the elements of the medieval romance in a new form. The basic plot created many other gothic staples, including a threatening mystery and an ancestral curse, as well as countless trappings such as hidden passages and oft-fainting heroines.

It was however Ann Radcliffe who created the gothic novel in its now-standard form. Among other elements, Radcliffe introduced the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero. Unlike Walpole's, her novels, beginning with The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), were best-sellers, although along with all novels they were looked down upon by well-educated people as sensationalist women's entertainment (despite some men's enjoyment of them).

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. I have read all Mrs. Radcliffe's works, and most of them with great pleasure. The Mysteries of Udolpho, when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days – my hair standing on end the whole time."


...
"I am very glad to hear it indeed, and now I shall never be ashamed of liking Udolpho myself. "


— Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (written 1798)

Radcliffe also provided an aesthetic for the burgeoning genre courtesy of her influential article "On the Supernatural in Poetry" in The New Monthly Magazine 7, 1826, pp 145-52, examining the distinction and correlation between horror and terror in Gothic fiction.

Developments in continental Europe, and The Monk

Contemporaneously to English Gothic, parallel Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe: the roman noir ("black novel") in France, by such writers as François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, Baculard d'Arnaud, and Madame de Genlis and the Schauerroman ("shudder novel") in Germany by such writers as such as Friedrich Schiller, author of The Ghost-Seer (1789) and Christian Heinrich Spiess, author of Das Petermännchen (1791/92). These works were often more horrific and violent than the English gothic novel.

The fruit of this harvest of continental horrors was Matthew Gregory Lewis's lurid tale of monastic debauchery, black magic and diabolism The Monk (1796). Though Lewis' novel could be read as a sly, tongue-in-cheek spoof of the emerging genre, self-parody was a constituent part of the Gothic from the time of the genre's inception with Walpole's Otranto. Lewis' tale appalled some contemporary readers; however his portrayal of depraved monks, sadistic inquisitors and spectral nuns, and his scurrilous view of the Catholic church was an important development in the genre and influenced established terror-writer Ann Radcliffe in her last novel The Italian (1797). In this book the hapless protagonists are ensnared in a web of deceit by a malignant monk called Schedoni and eventually dragged before the tribunals of the Inquisition in Rome, leading one contemporary to remark that if Radcliffe wished to transcend the horror of these scenes she would have to visit hell itself (Birkhead 1921).

The Marquis de Sade used a gothic framework for some of his fiction, notably The Misfortunes of Virtue and Eugenie de Franval, though the marquis himself never thought of his work as such. Sade critiqued the genre in the preface of his Reflections on the novel (1800) which is widely accepted today, stating that the gothic is "the inevitable product of the revolutionary shock with which the whole of Europe resounded". This correlation between the French revolutionary Terror and the "terrorist school" of writing represented by Radcliffe and Lewis was noted by contemporary critics of the genre (Wright 2007: 57-73). Sade considered The Monk to be superior to the work of Ann Radcliffe.

Other notable writers in the continental tradition include Jan Potocki (1761-1815) and E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822).

Parody

The excesses and frequent absurdities of the traditional Gothic made it rich territory for satire. The most famous parody of the Gothic is Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey (1818) in which the naive protagonist, after reading too much Gothic fiction, conceives herself a heroine of a Radcliffian romance and imagines murder and villainy on every side, though the truth turns out to be somewhat more prosaic. Jane Austen's novel is valuable for including a list of early Gothic works since known as the Northanger Horrid Novels:

These books, with their lurid titles, were once thought to be the creations of Jane Austen's imagination, though later research by Michael Sadleir and Montague Summers confirmed that they did actually exist and stimulated renewed interest in the Gothic. They are currently all being reprinted by Valancourt Press (Wright 2007: 29-32).

The Romantics

Further contributions to the Gothic genre were provided in the work of the Romantic poets. Prominent examples include Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel and Keats's La Belle Dame Sans Merci which feature mysteriously fey ladies.

The poetry, romantic adventures and character of Lord Byron, characterised by his spurned lover Lady Caroline Lamb as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' was another inspiration for the Gothic, providing the archetype of the Byronic hero. Byron features, under the codename of 'Lord Ruthven', in Lady Caroline's own Gothic novel: Glenarvon (1816). Byron was also the host of the celebrated ghost-story competition involving himself, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and John William Polidori at the Villa Diodati on the banks of Lake Geneva in the summer of 1816. This occasion was productive of both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and Polidori's The Vampyre (1819). This latter story revives Lamb's Byronic 'Lord Ruthven', but this time as a vampire. The Vampyre has been accounted by cultural critic Christopher Frayling as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written and spawned a craze for vampire fiction and theatre (and latterly film) which has not ceased to this day. Mary Shelley's novel, though clearly influenced by the gothic tradition, is often considered the first science fiction novel, despite the omission in the novel of any scientific explanation of the monster's animation and the focus instead on the moral issues and consequences of such a creation.

A late example of traditional Gothic is Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) by Charles Robert Maturin which combines themes of Anti-Catholicism with an outcast Byronic hero.

Victorian Gothic

Though it is sometimes asserted that the Gothic had played itself out by the Victorian era and had declined into the cheap horror fiction of the "Penny Blood" or "penny dreadful" type, exemplified by the serial novel Varney the Vampire, in many ways Gothic was now entering its most creative phase - even if it was no longer a dominant literary genre (in fact the form's popularity as an established genre had already begun to erode with the success of the historical romance). The Victorian's sometimes called their novels 'Gothick' to distinguish them from 'Gothic'. Influential critics, above all John Ruskin, far from denouncing mediaeval obscurantism, praised the imagination and fantasy exemplified by its gothic architecture, influencing the Pre-Raphaelites. Recently readers and critics have also begun to reconsider a number of previously overlooked Penny Blood and Penny Dreadful fictions. Authors such as G.W.M. Reynolds are slowly being accorded an important place in the development of the urban as a particularly Victorian Gothic setting, an area within which interesting links can be made with established readings of the work of Dickens and others. The formal relationship between these fictions, serialised for predominantly working class audiences, and the roughly contemporaneous sensation fictions serialised in middle class periodicals is also an area worthy of inquiry.

An important and innovative re-interpreter of the Gothic in this period was Edgar Allan Poe who opined 'that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul’. His story "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) explores these 'terrors of the soul' whilst revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic decay, death and madness. The legendary villainy of the Spanish Inquisition, previously explored by Gothicists Radcliffe, Lewis and Maturin, is revisited in "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1842). The influence of Ann Radcliffe is also detectable in Poe's "The Oval Portrait" (1842), including an honorary mention of her name in the text of the story.

The influence of Byronic Romanticism evident in Poe is also apparent in the work of the Brontë sisters. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847) transports the Gothic to the forbidding Yorkshire Moors and features ghostly apparitions and a Byronic anti-hero in the person of the demonic Heathcliff whilst Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) adds the madwoman in the attic (Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar 1979) to the cast of gothic fiction. The Brontës' fiction is seen by some feminist critics as prime examples of Female Gothic, exploring woman's entrapment within domestic space and subjection to patriarchal authority and the transgressive and dangerous attempts to subvert and escape such restriction. Charlotte's Jane Eyre and Emily's Cathy are both examples of female protagonists in such a role (Jackson 1981: 123-29). Louisa May Alcott's gothic potboiler, A Long Fatal Love Chase (written in 1866, but published in 1995) is also an interesting specimen of this subgenre.

Elizabeth Gaskell's tales "The Doom of the Griffiths" (1858) "Lois the Witch" and "The Grey Woman" all employ one of the most common themes of Gothic fiction, the power of ancestral sins to curse future generations, or the fear that they will.

The gloomy villain, forbidding mansion and persecuted heroine of Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas (1864) shows the direct influence of both Walpole's Otranto and Radcliffe's Udolpho. Le Fanu's short story collection In a Glass Darkly (1872) includes the superlative vampire tale Carmilla, which provided fresh blood for that particular strand of the Gothic and influenced Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). According to literary critic Terry Eagleton, Le Fanu, together with his predecessor Maturin and his successor Stoker, form a sub-genre of Irish Gothic, whose stories, featuring castles set in a barren landscape, with a cast of remote aristocrats dominating an atavistic peasantry, represent in allegorical form the political plight of colonial Ireland subjected to the Protestant Ascendancy (Eagleton 1995).

The genre was also a heavy influence on more mainstream writers, such as Charles Dickens, who read gothic novels as a teenager and incorporated their gloomy atmosphere and melodrama into his own works, shifting them to a more modern period and an urban setting. His most explicitly Gothic work is his last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870). The mood and themes of the gothic novel held a particular fascination for the Victorians, with their morbid obsession with mourning rituals, Mementos, and mortality in general.

The 1880s, saw the revival of the Gothic as a powerful literary form allied to "fin de siecle" decadence. Classic works of this period include Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), George du Maurier's Trilby (1894), Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (1898) and the stories of Arthur Machen. The most famous gothic villain ever, Count Dracula was created by Bram Stoker in 1897. Stoker's book also established Transylvania and Eastern Europe as the locus classicus of the Gothic.

In America, two notable writers of the end of the 19th century, in the Gothic tradition, were Ambrose Bierce and Robert W. Chambers. Bierce's short stories were in the horrific and pessimistic tradition of Poe. Chambers, though, indulged in the decadent style of Wilde and Machen (even to the extent of having a character named 'Wilde' in his The King in Yellow ).

The Victorian Gothic fictionalized contemporary fears like ethical degeneration and questioned the social structures of the time.

Post-Victorian legacy

Notable English twentieth century writers in the Gothic tradition include Algernon Blackwood, William Hope Hodgson, M. R. James, Hugh Walpole and Marjorie Bowen. In America pulp fiction magazines such as Weird Tales reprinted classic Gothic horror tales from the previous century, by such authors as Poe, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Edward Bulwer-Lytton and printed new stories by modern authors featuring both traditional and new horrors. The most significant of these was H. P. Lovecraft who also wrote an excellent conspectus of the Gothic and supernatural horror tradition in his Supernatural Horror in Literature (1936). Lovecraft's protégé, Robert Bloch, contributed to Weird Tales and penned Psycho (1959), which drew on the classic interests of the genre. From these, the gothic genre per se gave way to modern horror fiction, regarded by some literary critics as a branch of the Gothic (Wisker 2005: 232-33) although others use the term to cover the entire genre. Many modern writers of horror (or indeed other types of fiction) exhibit considerable gothic sensibilities -- examples include the works of Anne Rice, as well as some of the sensationalist works of Stephen King.

In the twentieth century the Romantic strand of Gothic was taken up in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938) which is in many ways a reworking of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Others of her books, such as Jamaica Inn (1936), also display Gothic tendencies. Du Maurier's work inspired a substantial body of 'Female Gothics,' concerning heroines alternately swooning over or being terrified by scowling Byronic men in possession of acres of prime real estate and the appertaining droit de seigneur .

Gothic Romances of this description became popular during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with authors such as Joan Aiken, Dorothy Eden, Dorothy Fletcher, Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, Mary Stewart and Jill Tattersall. Many featured covers depicting a terror-stricken woman in diaphanous attire in front of a gloomy castle. A lot were published under the Paperback Library Gothic imprint and were marketed to a female audience. Though the authors were mostly women, some men wrote gothic romances under female pseudonyms. For instance the prolific Clarissa Ross and Marilyn Ross were pseudonyms for the male writer Dan Ross. Outside of companies like Lovespell, who carry Colleen Shannon, very few books seem to be published using the term today.

The genre also influenced American writing to create the Southern Gothic genre, which combines some Gothic sensibilities (such as the Grotesque) with the setting and style of the Southern United States. Examples include William Faulkner, Harper Lee, and Flannery O'Connor. A contemporary American writer in this tradition is Joyce Carol Oates, in such novels as Bellefleur, A Bloodsmoor Romance and short story collections such as Night-Side. The Southern Ontario Gothic applies a similar sensibility to a Canadian cultural context. Robertson Davies, Alice Munro, Barbara Gowdy and Margaret Atwood have all produced works that are notable exemplars of this form.

Another writer in this gothic tradition was Henry Farrell whose best-known work was the Hollywood horror novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1960). Farrel's novels spawned a sub-genre of 'Grande Dame Guignol' in the cinema, dubbed the "Psycho-biddy" genre. Notable contemporary British writers in the Gothic tradition are Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black (1983), and Patrick McGrath, author of The Grotesque (1989).

The themes of the literary Gothic have been translated into other media such as the theatre and had a notable revival in twentieth century gothic horror films such the classic Universal horror films of the 1930s, Hammer Horror and Roger Corman's Poe cycle. Twentieth century Rock and Roll music also had its gothic side. Black Sabbath created a dark sound different at the time. Themes from gothic writers such as H. P. Lovecraft were also used among Gothic Rock and heavy metal bands, especially in black metal, thrash metal (Metallica's The Call of Ktulu), death metal and Gothic metal. For example, gothic heavy metal musician King Diamond delights in telling stories full of horror, theatricality, satanism and anti-Catholicism in his compositions.

Prominent examples

Gothic satire

See also

References

  • Edith Birkhead (1921) The Tale of Terror.
  • Clive Bloom (2007) Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and Readers. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Fred Botting (1996) Gothic, Routledge.
  • Terry Eagleton (1995) Heathcliff and the Great Hunger. NY: Verso.
  • Luke Gibbons (2004) Gaelic Gothic. Galway: Arlen House.
  • Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (1979) The Madwoman in the Attic. ISBN 0-300-08458-7
  • George Haggerty (2006) Queer Gothic. Urbana, IL: Illinois UP
  • Judith Halberstam (1995) Skin Shows. Durham, NC: Duke UP.
  • Avril Horner & Sue Zlosnik (2005) Gothic and the Comic Turn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Rosemary Jackson (1981) Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion.
  • Maggie Kilgour (1995)The Rise of the Gothic Novel, Routledge.
  • Robert Mighall (2003) A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History's Nightmares.
  • David Punter (1996) The Literature of Terror (2 vols).
  • Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1986) The Coherence of Gothic Conventions. NY: Methuen.
  • David Stevens (2000) The Gothic Tradition. ISBN 0-521-77732-1
  • Jack Sullivan (ed) (1986) The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural.
  • Montague Summers (1938) Gothic Quest.
  • Devandra Varma (1957) The Gothic Flame.
  • Gina Wisker (2005) Horror Fiction: An Introduction. Continuum: New York.
  • Angela Wright (2007) Gothic Fiction. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

External links

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