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Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the "Gothic revival" style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole
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. The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began Horror fiction is broadly Fiction in any medium intended to scare unsettle or horrify the audience As a Literary genre of High culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic Prose and verse Narrative 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. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Horace Walpole 4th Earl of Orford ( 24 September, 1717 &ndash 2 March, 1797) more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a politician The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 Novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, and it was indeed the 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. The distinction between horror and terror is a standard literary and psychological concept applied especially to Gothic literature and film (Radcliffe 1826 Varma 1966 Crawford Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the

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 term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events A ghost is said to be the apparition of a Deceased person frequently similar in appearance to that person and usually encountered in places she or he frequented A haunted house is defined as a house that is believed to be a center for Supernatural occurrences or Paranormal phenomena See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. A doppelgänger ( or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person a sinister form of Bilocation. Traditionally insanity or madness is the behaviour whereby a person flouts societal norms and may become a danger to himself and others A curse (also called execration) is any manner of Adversity thought to be inflicted by any supernatural power (such as a spell, a Prayer, an

The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself. A stock character is one which relies heavily on cultural types or names for his or her personality manner of speech and other characteristics In modern usage a tyrant is a single ruler holding absolute power over a State or within an Organization. This is about the television program Bandit as a general term refers to Outlaw. The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden is a classic theme in world literature art and film A femme fatale (plural femmes fatales) is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire often leading them into The Madwoman in the Attic The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination, published in 1979 examines Victorian literature from a Feminist A magician, wizard, sorcerer or a person known under one of many other possible terms in fiction is someone who uses or practices magic Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to A monster is any of a large number of Legendary creatures which usually appear in Mythology, Legend, or Horror fiction. This article is about the Revenant in Folklore For the Tzimisce Revenant Families see Revenant. A ghost is said to be the apparition of a Deceased person frequently similar in appearance to that person and usually encountered in places she or he frequented An animated skeleton is a type of physically manifested Undead often found in Fantasy, gothic and Horror fiction, and mythical Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century and became a fixture of Christian mythology The Devil is the

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). Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for Discrimination, hostility or Prejudice directed at the Roman Catholic Church or its followers The term Inquisition can refer to any one of several institutions charged with trying and convicting heretics within the Roman Catholic Church and Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types

Contents

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 thrills of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime, and a quest for atmosphere. Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century In Aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublimis ( up from under the lintel high lofty elevated exalted is the quality of greatness or vast 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. The term English garden or English park (Jardin anglais Giardino all'inglese Englischer Landschaftsgarten is used in Continental Europe 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. Superstition ( Latin superstitio, literally "standing over" derived perhaps from standing in awe used in Latin as a unreasonable or excessive belief

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. The "Graveyard Poets" were a number of pre-Romantic English poets of the 18th century characterised by their gloomy meditations on mortality 'skulls and coffins epitaphs 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. Horace Walpole 4th Earl of Orford ( 24 September, 1717 &ndash 2 March, 1797) more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a politician The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 Novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, and it was indeed the Strawberry Hill is an affluent area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames near Twickenham. The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began

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. A false document is a form of Verisimilitude that attempts to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected Suspension of disbelief for a Work 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. As a Literary genre of High culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic Prose and verse Narrative 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. Ann Radcliffe ( July 9, 1764 – February 7, 1823) was an English Author, a pioneer of the gothic novel. Among other elements, Radcliffe introduced the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero. The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb Radcliffe's 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 Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe, was published in the summer of 1794 by G

"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. " [said Henry]
. . .
"I am very glad to hear it indeed, and now I shall never be ashamed of liking Udolpho myself. " [replied Catherine]
— 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. For films named Northanger Abbey see Northanger Abbey (1986 film or Northanger Abbey (2007 TV drama. The distinction between horror and terror is a standard literary and psychological concept applied especially to Gothic literature and film (Radcliffe 1826 Varma 1966 Crawford

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). This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, born in 1761 in Paris, dead on 29 October 1819 in Ville-d'Avray, was a French novelist Madame de Genlis, full name Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Aubin comtesse de Genlis, or Madame Brûlart, ( January 25, 1746 - December Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller krɪstɔf friːtʁɪç fɔn ʃɪləʁ/ʃɪlɐ (10 November 1759 9 May 1805 was a German Poet, Philosopher Christian Heinrich Spiess ( April 4, 1755 – August 17, 1799) German writer of romances was born at Freiberg in Saxony 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). ( 9 July 1775 &ndash 14 May 1818) was an English Novelist and Dramatist, often referred to as "Monk" Ambrosio or the Monk is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis which first appeared in 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). The Italian or the Confessional of the Black Penitents (1797 is a novel belonging to the Gothic genre and written by the English author Ann Radcliffe 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 term Inquisition can refer to any one of several institutions charged with trying and convicting heretics within the Roman Catholic Church and

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. Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Marquis de Sade ( June 2, 1740 – December 2, 1814) ( was a French aristocrat Justine (or The Misfortunes of Virtue, or several other titles see below is a classic erotic novel by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade better known as the 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). The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an Saint justjpg|thumbnail|200px| Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just]] The Reign of Terror' (5 September 1793 &ndash 28 July 1794 or simply The Terror (la Terreur was 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). Biography Jan Potocki (pronounced 'Pototski' was born in 1761 into the great Potocki family an old aristocratic family which owned vast estates in Poland Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann ( January 24, 1776 &ndash June 25, 1822) better known by his Pen name E

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 (16 For films named Northanger Abbey see Northanger Abbey (1986 film or Northanger Abbey (2007 TV drama. 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. The Castle of Wolfenbach (1793 is the most famous novel written by the English Gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. Eliza Parsons, née Phelp (1739– 5 February 1811) was an English Gothic novelist Life She was born in Plymouth in 1739 to The Mysterious Warning a German Tale is a novel by the English Gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. Clermont is a Gothic novel by Regina Maria Roche. It was first published in 1798 by the sensationalist Minerva Press and relates the story Regina Maria Roche (1764-1845 is considered today to be a minor Gothic novelist who wrote very much in the shadow of Ann Radcliffe. The Orphan of the Rhine was a Gothic novel by Mrs Eleanor Sleath, listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her The Midnight Bell is a Gothic novel by Francis Lathom. It was one of the seven "horrid novels" lampooned by Jane Austen in her novel Francis Lathom (1774 - 1832 was a British gothic novelist and playwright Michael Sadleir ( 25 December 1888 &ndash 13 December 1957) was a British novelist and book collector Augustus Montague Summers ( 10 April, 1880 - 10 August, 1948) was an eccentric English author and clergyman 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. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (original The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere) is the longest major Poem by the English Poet Christabel is a lengthy poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in two parts "La Belle Dame sans Merci" ( French: "The Beautiful Lady without Pity" is a Ballad written by the English poet John Keats

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. The Lady Caroline Lamb ( 13 November 1785 &ndash 26 January 1828) was a novelist and British Aristocrat, the only daughter The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb Byron features, under the codename of 'Lord Ruthven', in Lady Caroline's own Gothic novel: Glenarvon (1816). This article is about Scottish nobility See Lord Ruthven (vampire for the fictional lead character of the 1819 novel The Vampyre. 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. Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4 1792 – July 8 1822 ˈpɝːsɪ ˈbɪʃ ˈʃɛlɪ was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August Lake Geneva or Lake Léman (Lac Léman Léman Lac de Genève is the second largest freshwater Lake in Central Europe in terms of surface area (after This occasion was productive of both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and Polidori's The Vampyre (1819). Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a Novel written by the British author Mary Shelley " The Vampyre " is a short story written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of Fantasy 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. Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of Vampires The literary vampire first appeared in eighteenth century poetry 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. Melmoth the Wanderer is a Gothic novel published in 1820 written by Charles Robert Maturin (uncle of Jane Wilde who was mother of Oscar Charles Robert Maturin, also known as CR Maturin ( September 25, 1782 in Dublin – October 30, 1824 in Dublin was an Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for Discrimination, hostility or Prejudice directed at the Roman Catholic Church or its followers The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb

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). Penny Dreadful (also called penny number) was a term applied to nineteenth century British Fiction publications usually lurid serial stories appearing in parts Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood was a mid- Victorian era Gothic horror story by James Malcolm Rymer (alternatively The Victorians 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. John Ruskin (8 February 1819 &ndash 20 January 1900 is best known for his work as an Art critic, sage writer, and Social critic, but is remembered The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters Poets, and critics founded in 1848 by 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. George William MacArthur Reynolds ( July 23, 1814 – June 19, 1879) was a British author and journalist 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’. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, 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 Fall of the House of Usher " is a Short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. 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 Spanish Inquisition started and was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile to maintain " The Pit and the Pendulum " is a Short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 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 Oval Portrait " is a Short story by Edgar Allan Poe involving the disturbing circumstances surrounding a Portrait in a chateau

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. Emily Jane Brontë (ˈbrɒnti ( July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848) was a British Novelist and Poet, now best Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë 's only Novel. It was first published in 1847 under the Pseudonym Ellis Bell and a posthumous second Charlotte Brontë (ˈbrɒnti (21 April 1816 &ndash 31 March 1855 was a British Novelist, the eldest of the three famous Brontë sisters whose Novels Jane Eyre (dʒeɪn ɛə by Charlotte Brontë, published by Smith Elder & Company of London in 1847, is one of the most influential and The Madwoman in the Attic The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination, published in 1979 examines Victorian literature from a Feminist Dr Sandra M Gilbert (born 1936 Professor Emerita of English at the University of California Davis, is an influential Literary critic and Poet Dr Susan D Gubar (born 1944 is a Distinguished Professor of English and Women's Studies 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. Louisa May Alcott ( November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American Novelist. A Long Fatal Love Chase is a suspense novel by Louisa May Alcott.

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. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson 29 September 1810 &ndash 12 November 1865 often referred to simply as Mrs

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. Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 &ndash 7 February 1873 was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels For the rural reprobate of stories by HE Bates, see My Uncle Silas Uncle Silas is a Victorian Gothic 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). In a Glass Darkly is a collection of five short stories by Sheridan Le Fanu, first published in 1872, the year before his death " Carmilla " is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary Antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. 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). Terence Francis Eagleton (born 22 February, 1943, Salford then in Lancashire) is regarded by many as Britain's most influential living Literary The Protestant Ascendancy is a convenient phrase used when referring to the political economic and social domination of the former Kingdom of Ireland by a minority of great

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 Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final Novel by Charles Dickens. 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. Mourning is in the simplest sense synonymous with Grief over the Death of someone Memento mori is a Latin phrase that may be translated as "Remember that you are mortal" "Remember you will die" "Remember that you must

The 1880s, saw the revival of the Gothic as a powerful literary form allied to "fin de siecle" decadence. In 19th century European and especially French literature, Decadence was the name given first by hostile critics and then triumphantly adopted by some writers 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's The Turn of the Screw (1898) and the stories of Arthur Machen. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850–3 December 1894 was a Scottish novelist poet and travel writer, and a representative of Neo-romanticism in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886 Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published Novel written by Oscar Wilde, first appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier ( 6 March, 1834 &ndash 8 October, 1896) was a French -born British Trilby ( 1894) is a gothic horror novel by George du Maurier and one of the most popular novels of its time perhaps the second best Henry James, OM ( –) son of theologian Henry James Sr, brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James The Turn of the Screw Arthur Machen (ˈmækən ( March 3, 1863 &ndash December 15, 1947) was a leading Welsh Author of the 1890s The most famous gothic villain ever, Count Dracula was created by Bram Stoker in 1897. Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary Antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Stoker's book also established Transylvania and Eastern Europe as the locus classicus of the Gothic. Largely as a result of the success of Bram Stoker 's Dracula, Transylvania has become a popular setting for Gothic horror fiction and most particularly

In America, two notable writers of the end of the 19th century, in the Gothic tradition, were Ambrose Bierce and Robert W. Chambers. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24 1842 &ndash 1914? was an American Editorialist Journalist, short-story writer and Satirist. Robert William Chambers ( May 26, 1865 – December 16, 1933) was an American Artist and Writer. 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 King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W

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. Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE ( 14 March 1869 &ndash 10 December 1951) was an English writer of Fiction William Hope Hodgson ( November 15 1877 &ndash April 1918 was an English author Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, ( August 1, 1862 – June 12, 1936) who used the publication name M Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole ( March 13, 1884 - June 1, 1941) was an English Novelist Biography He was born Marjorie Bowen (pseudonym of' Mrs Gabrielle Margaret V Long née Campbell') ( 1 November 1885 on Hayling Island, Hampshire 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. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines Weird Tales is an American Fantasy and Horror fiction Pulp magazine first published in March 1923. 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). Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy "Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a non-fiction survey of the field of Horror fiction by the famed horror writer H Lovecraft's protégé, Robert Bloch, contributed to Weird Tales and penned Psycho (1959), which drew on the classic interests of the genre. Robert Albert Bloch (April 5 1917 Chicago – September 23 1994 Los Angeles) was a prolific American Writer, primarily of crime Psycho is a 1959 pulp thriller by Robert Bloch. Plot summary The story is divided (below but not in the actual book into 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. Horror fiction is broadly Fiction in any medium intended to scare unsettle or horrify the audience 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. Anne Rice (born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American Author of gothic and religious-themed Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American Author, Screenwriter, Musician, Columnist,

In the twentieth century the Romantic strand of Gothic was taken up in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1938) which is in many respects a reworking of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Daphne du Maurier Lady Browning DBE ( 13 May, 1907 – 19 April, 1989) (ˈdæfnɪ du ˈmɒɹieɪ was a British Rebecca is a Novel by British author Daphne du Maurier. When Rebecca was first published in 1938 du Maurier became - to her great Charlotte Brontë (ˈbrɒnti (21 April 1816 &ndash 31 March 1855 was a British Novelist, the eldest of the three famous Brontë sisters whose Novels Jane Eyre (dʒeɪn ɛə by Charlotte Brontë, published by Smith Elder & Company of London in 1847, is one of the most influential and Other books by du Maurier, such as Jamaica Inn (1936), also display Gothic tendencies. Jamaica Inn is a Novel by the Cornish writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936 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 [1]. The Byronic hero is an idealized but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb Droit de seigneur (dʀwa d(ə sɛɲœʀ French for the lord's right, is a term now popularly used to describe an alleged legal right allowing the

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. Joan Delano Aiken ( September 4 1924 &ndash January 4 2004) was an English Novelist. Dorothy Enid Eden (1912 &ndash 1982 was a novelist and Short story writer Eleanor Alice Burford ( September 01, 1906 in Kensington, London, England – January 18, 1993 at sea somewhere Barbara Mertz (born September 29, 1927) is the real name of authors Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. Mary Florence Elinor Stewart ( née Rainbow; born 17 September 1916) is a popular English Novelist, best known for her series Many featured covers depicting a terror-stricken woman in diaphanous attire in front of a gloomy castle. A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. Many were published under the Paperback Library Gothic imprint and were marketed to a female audience. Hachette Book Group USA (HBG is a Publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France. 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. W E Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912 is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and W E Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912 is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and Outside of companies like Lovespell, who carry Colleen Shannon, very few books seem to be published using the term today. Colleen Shannon was born in Alaska, on April 14 1978, and was Playboy 's Playmate of the Month in January 2004

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. American literature refers to written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. Southern Gothic is a subgenre of the Gothic writing style unique to American literature. When used in conversation grotesque commonly means strange fantastic ugly or bizarre and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive Examples include William Faulkner, Harper Lee, and Flannery O'Connor. William Faulkner (born William Cuthbert Falkner) ( September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American Author Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American Author known for her Pulitzer Prize -winning 1960 novel To Kill Mary Flannery O'Connor ( March 25 1925 &ndash August 3 1964) was an American Novelist, Short-story Contemporary American writers in this tradition include Joyce Carol Oates, in such novels as Bellefleur, A Bloodsmoor Romance and short story collections such as Night-Side and Raymond Kennedy in his novel Lulu Incognito. Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16 1938) is an American author and the Roger S Bellefleur is a Magic realist novel by Joyce Carol Oates about the generations of an upstate New York family Raymond Kennedy ( March 3, 1934 &ndash February 18, 2008) was an American novelist The Southern Ontario Gothic applies a similar sensibility to a Canadian cultural context. Southern Ontario Gothic is a Sub-genre of the Gothic novel genre and a feature of Canadian literature that comes from Southern Ontario. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Robertson Davies, Alice Munro, Barbara Gowdy and Margaret Atwood have all produced works that are notable exemplars of this form. William Robertson Davies, CC, FRSC, FRSL (born August 28, 1913, at Thamesville, Ontario, and died December Alice Ann Munro ( Née Laidlaw; born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short-story writer and three-time winner of Canada's Barbara Gowdy CM (born 25 June 1950) is a Canadian Novelist and Short story writer Margaret Eleanor Atwood, CC (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian Writer.

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). Henry Farrell ( September 27, 1920 &ndash March 29, 2006) was an American Novelist, Short story and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a Novel by Author Henry Farrell published in 1960. Farrel's novels spawned a sub-genre of 'Grande Dame Guignol' in the cinema, dubbed the 'Psycho-biddy' genre. Psycho-biddy is a colloquial term for a sub-genre of the horror / thriller movie also known by the name Older women in peril, which was most prevalent 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). Susan Hill (born February 5, 1942) is a British Author of Fiction and Non-fiction works The Woman in Black is a 1983 horror Novel by Susan Hill about a menacing Spectre that haunts a small English town Patrick McGrath was born on 7th February, 1950 in London and educated at Stonyhurst College. The Grotesque is a 1989 Gothic fiction novel by British author Patrick McGrath.

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. Universal Horror is the name given to the distinctive series of Horror films made by Universal Studios in California Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Roger William Corman (born April 5 1926) sometimes nicknamed "King of the Bs" for his output of B-movies (though he himself rejects this as inaccurate Twentieth century Rock and Roll music also had its gothic side. Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Black Sabbath created a dark sound different at the time. Black Sabbath are an 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. Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy This article is about the musical style of gothic rock For the goth scene in general see Goth subculture. Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It often employs fast tempos shrieked vocals highly distorted guitars played with Tremolo picking, Thrash metal (sometimes referred to simply as thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized by its fast tempo and aggression Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in. Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs fast tempos heavily distorted guitars deep growling vocals morbid lyrics For example, gothic heavy metal musician King Diamond delights in telling stories full of horror, theatricality, satanism and anti-Catholicism in his compositions. King Diamond (born Kim Bendix Petersen, June 14, 1956, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a Grammy Award nominated heavy For other uses of the word see Satanism (disambiguation. Satanism can refer to a number of belief systems depending on the user and context Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for Discrimination, hostility or Prejudice directed at the Roman Catholic Church or its followers

Prominent examples

Gothic satire

See also

References

External links

Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Wikisource is a Wikimedia project to build a free, Wiki Library of Source texts along with translations into any language
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