Gothic fiction is a genre characterized by fear, horror, the supernatural, and darkness, often featuring vampires, demons, heroes, heroines, and villains. It emphasizes atmosphere and can include mystery, romance, lust, and terror. It originated in the late 18th century as an offshoot of the Romantic movement and often uses gothic buildings as a setting. Common subject matter includes the supernatural, family curses, mystery, and madness. Gothic fiction often deals with past eras, sometimes fictionalizing them and other times using them as symbols of excessive darkness and oppression. Popular authors include Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily and Anne Bronte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Oscar Wilde. Its influence can be seen in literature, film, and music.
Gothic fiction is characterized by the elements of fear, horror, the supernatural, and darkness, as well as characters such as vampires, demons, heroes, heroines, and villains. Other elements that characterize this type of fiction might include mystery, romance, lust, and terror. This genre is the forerunner of the modern horror genre, although the gothic style continues to have many practitioners. Originating in the late 18th century, this type of fiction was an offshoot of the larger Romantic movement that sought to stir strong emotions in the reader: fear and apprehension, in this case. The genus name comes from medieval architecture, because it often harks back to the medieval era in spirit and matter, and sometimes uses gothic buildings as a setting.
Common topic
This style of fiction places a strong emphasis on atmosphere, using setting and diction to build suspense and a sense of unease in the reader. Common subject matter includes the supernatural, family curses, mystery, and madness. Gothic fiction could also feature a romantic plot or subplot, particularly in later Victorian-era and 20th-century incarnations. Although the novel is often considered the best example of this genre, some poems and short stories can also be characterized as Gothic, such as those written by the graveyard poets of late 18th century England or the short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, which influenced Gothic writers since their publication.
Times and places
Gothic fiction often deals with past eras, sometimes fictionalizing them and other times using them as symbols of excessive darkness and oppression. In its early days, the genre took the medieval period as a major inspiration. The first novels were characterized as romances, referring to a medieval narrative genre. These novels were often anti-Catholic and used a medieval setting to show what their authors believed were abuses of Catholic power. Conversely, early Gothic fiction often romanticized the medieval period by adopting the style of its literature and returning to more emotive and fantastical subjects instead of embracing the rationalism and orderliness that had dominated Enlightenment thinking.
Modern examples of this type of fiction have continued the trend of looking back to past eras, often using settings such as colonial America, Victorian England, or the southern United States before the Civil War. Like the medieval period for many 18th- and 19th-century writers, these eras provide fodder for romance and moral criticism. Modern Gothic works set in the present day might take place in a 19th-century palace, just as early works commonly used medieval castles as settings.
Popular authors
Gothic novels were among the most widely read novels of the late 18th century, with notable examples being The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole in 18, The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe in 1764 and The Monk by MG Lewis in 1794. Although it was less popular during the Victorian era, 19th century gothic fiction was among the best known and most widely read works of literature of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including works by writers such as Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily and Anne Bronte, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oscar Wilde. The vampire, a favorite character of this genre of fiction, appeared in several important works of this era, including John Polidori’s The Vampire, Sheridan LeFanu’s Carmilla, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
In modern literature, the more intense and gory horror, favored by writers such as Stephen King, has largely taken the place of this genre. Gothic fiction, however, continued to have a loyal following, and its influence can be seen in literature, film, and music. Many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, as well as the books and stories on which they are based, could be considered gothic. Writers such as William Faulkner, Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams have applied the style to their treatment of the American South. Some contemporary authors, including Joyce Carol Oates and Patrick McGrath, have continued to write in the Gothic tradition or have updated it to address their own concerns.
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