Gothic novel

The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. It is the predecessor to modern horror fiction and it above all has led to the common definition of gothic as being connected to the dark and horrific.

Post-Victorian legacy

By the 1880s it was time for a revival of the gothic as a semi-respectable literary form. This was the period of the gothic works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Machen and Oscar Wilde, and the most famous gothic villain ever appeared in Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1897. From these, the gothic genre strictly considered gave way to modern horror fiction though many literary critics use the term to cover the entire genre: though many modern writers of horror or indeed other fiction extend considerable gothic sensibilities: Anne Rice being one example, as well as some of the less sensationalist works of Stephen King. The gothic tradition has also expanded its boundaries to films and music, as well as the new media forms of the internet.

Related Topics:
1880 - Robert Louis Stevenson - Arthur Machen - Oscar Wilde - Bram Stoker - Dracula - Horror fiction - Anne Rice - Stephen King - Films - Music - Internet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~