Gothic

Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines elements of both the uncanny 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. Gothic fiction is considered to be the parent genre for both Horror and Mystery, among other genres.

The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. Melodrama and parody (including self-parody) were other long-standing features of the Gothic initi Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines elements of both the uncanny 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. Gothic fiction is considered to be the parent genre for both Horror and Mystery, among other genres.

The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. Melodrama and parody (including self-parody) were other long-standing features of the Gothic initiated by Walpole.

Gothic literature is intimately associated with the Gothic Revival architecture of the same era. In a way similar to the gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment, the literary Gothic embodies an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrills 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 eye catchers in English landscape parks. English Gothic writers 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. In literature such anti-Catholicism had a European dimension featuring Roman Catholic excesses such as the Inquisition (in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain).

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 fatales, monks, nuns, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, angels, fallen angels, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself. ...more

New Releases Tagged "Gothic"

All of Us Villains (All of Us Villains, #1)

Most Read This Week Tagged "Gothic"

The Attic on Queen Street (Tradd Street, #7)

Dark and Shallow Lies (Dark and Shallow Lies, #1)

More most read this week tagged "gothic"...

Gothic Books

More gothic books...

Lists

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

Forthcoming Books for 2021 by African-Americans

84 books — 89 voters

It Lives in The Basement by Sahara Foley

Brilliant Dark Fiction

221 books — 213 voters

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

YA Gothic

181 books — 387 voters

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Not The "Normal" Paranormal

1,038 books — 1,407 voters

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Best Gothic Novels/Suspense Novels

331 books — 456 voters

Gothic Romantic Suspense of a Bygone Era- Victorian Mansions, Mysterious Manors, Haunted Chateaux, Sinister Castles, Rambling Estates, Governesses, Heiresses, Mistresses, and Brooding Atmospheres

398 books — 207 voters

Related Genres

Fiction
Gothic Horror
Southern Gothic
Gothic Romance
Gothic Revival

Related News

'Mexican Gothic' Takes Readers Deep into Danger

Mexican Gothic begins when happily ever after turns into a nightmare. The story unfolds with the Taboada family receiving a mysterious letter from...

Quotes Tagged “Gothic”

“ It was so close to October that Halloween was knocking at his heart. ”
― Barry Eysman, Candles for November

64 likes

“ You kissed me once and now you feel as if you’ve got some special kind of licence to do it whenever you want? ”
― Simona Panova, Nightmarish Sacrifice

20 likes

More quotes...