Gothic Literature:

1
Gothic Literature

• The Dark Side of Romanticism

2
The Gothic Tradition

• Spawned in English literature by Horace Walpoles
  The Castle of Otranto.
• Famous Gothic Characters

3
Gothic Imagery

• Stems from the Gothic architecture of the Middle
  Ages
• Towers
• Gargoyles
• High Stained Glass Windows

4
How Romanticism Helped Lead Way to Gothic
Literature

• Authors were finally allowed to move away from
  the rationalism of the Age of Reason and use
  their imaginations.
• Many started to write about the fantastic,
  demonic, and insane.
• Gothic writers looked at the individual and saw
  potential evil.

5
American Gothic Authors (From all Eras)

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Herman Melville
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Joyce Carol Oates
• Flannery OConnor

6
Edgar Allan Poe

• The death of a beautiful woman is
  unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the
  world and equally is it beyond dont that the
  lips best suited for such topic are those of a
  bereaved lover.
• From The Philosophy of Composition

7

• Poe was the master of the American Gothic form.
• Used medieval castles or decaying ancient estates
  as settings
• Many of his male narrators are insane.
• Many of the female characters are dead or dying.
• Plots involve murder, live burials, physical and
  mental torture, and retribution from the grave.

8

• Sometimes combines horror and romance.
• Embodies an appreciation of the joys of extreme
  emotion, the thrills of fearfulness and awe
  existing in the sublime
• Atmosphere of the stories are important.
• Some stories also feature ghosts, magicians,
  vampires, werewolves, and demons.

9
Recent Gothic Literature

• Elephantasm (1993) by Tanith Lee
• My Heart Laid Bare (1998) by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer My Life at Rose Red
  (2002) by Ridley Pearson and Stephen King
• The Little Friend (2002) by Donna Tartt
• Shutter Island (2003) by Dennis Lehane
• Candles Burning (2006) by Tabitha King Michael
  McDowell
• The Thirteenth Tale (2006) by Diane Setterfield
• Heart-Shaped Box (2007) by Joe Hill
• Ghostwalk (novel) (2007) by Rebecca Stott

10
The Gothic Tradition Continues