Gothic fiction combines horror, romance and the supernatural, typically set among ruined castles, abbeys and other haunted architecture that stage its themes of imprisonment, decay and transgression. Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, published anonymously as a purported medieval translation on Christmas Eve 1764 and acknowledged as Walpole's own invention in the 1765 second edition, is credited as the first Gothic novel and the genre's founding work. Gothic fiction developed alongside Romanticism, dramatizing the movement's fascination with the sublime and its suspicion of Enlightenment rationality through supernatural terror rather than argument; its conventions, hidden identities, secret passages, persecuted heroines and ancestral curses, recur from eighteenth century England through the American Gothic tradition.
Facts
Place of OriginEngland, with the first work labelled Gothic being Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. 1 Notable ExampleDracula (1897) by Bram Stoker, alongside Carmilla (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson. 1 Defining TraitAn atmosphere of fear, the threat of supernatural events, and the intrusion of the past upon the present. 1 Defining Trait FAQs
Which well-known works count as Gothic fiction besides The Castle of Otranto?
Carmilla, Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray all follow Walpole's Otranto in the Gothic tradition.
After Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, the first work labelled Gothic, the tradition grew through Carmilla (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is a further notable example, and the atlas also lists The Picture of Dorian Gray among the genre's works. What ties them together is an atmosphere of fear, the threat of supernatural events, and the intrusion of the past upon the present.
Connections
Associated With
Romanticism, Movements Gothic fiction arose as a dark, supernatural current within Romanticism, sharing its fascination with the sublime and its suspicion of Enlightenment rationality.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encompasses Form
Features Author
Source As I Lay Dying (Wikipedia)
Beloved, Works Scholarship reads Beloved through Gothic convention (the haunted house at 124 Bluestone Road, the returned dead) applied to the history of American slavery, a Feminine or Southern Gothic rather than the novel's primary classification.
Source Toni Morrison and the Gothic (The Gothic Library)
Source Wikipedia: Bram Stoker
Source Carmilla (Wikipedia)
Source Charlotte Dacre (Wikipedia)
Source E. T. A. Hoffmann (Wikipedia)
Tales including The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart place Poe among the genre's central figures.
Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
The Castle of Otranto (1764) is the genre's founding work; Walpole's own added subtitle, A Gothic Story, named it.
Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
Source Jane Eyre (Wikipedia)
Frankenstein (1818) draws directly on the Gothic tradition Walpole founded, with its isolated settings and horror at the unnatural.
Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
The Picture of Dorian Gray already in-genre Gothic Fiction; Wilde himself carried no in-genre edge to it.
Source Oscar Wilde (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Shirley Jackson
Source Wikipedia: Stephen King
The genre's founding work.
Source The Norton Anthology of World Literature
Source Wikipedia: The Fall of the House of Usher
Source Wikipedia: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Source The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Wikipedia)
Source The Sound and the Fury (Wikipedia)
Source The Turn of the Screw (Wikipedia)
Source The Woman in White (novel) (Wikipedia)
Source To Kill a Mockingbird (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Wuthering Heights
Influenced
Source Gothic Fiction (Wikipedia)
Subgenres
Source American Gothic Fiction (Wikipedia)
Source Gothic bluebooks - Wikipedia
Source Latin American Gothic - Wikipedia
Source Southern Ontario Gothic - Wikipedia
Source Suburban Gothic - Wikipedia
Source Tasmanian Gothic - Wikipedia
Source Urban Gothic - Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source New World Encyclopedia: Gothic fictionLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Gothic fiction began in the United Kingdom with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole.
Sources
1. Gothic Fiction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Introduction
Gothic fiction is characterised by an environment of fear, the threat of supernatural events, and the intrusion of the past upon the present.
Lead section
The first work to be labelled as Gothic was Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, later subtitled A Gothic Story.
Lead section, third paragraph
Later, Gothic fiction evolved through well-known works like Carmilla (1872) by Sheridan Le Fanu, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde, Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker, and The Beetle (1897) by Richard Marsh.
Lead paragraph, defining sentence
Gothic fiction, often referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting.
Lead paragraph, sentence giving the year
The first work to be labelled as Gothic was Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, later subtitled A Gothic Story.
- Influenced: Horror Fiction, lead section, on horror as a branch of Gothic
View the Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.- s.v. Gothic novel
- Associated With: Romanticism
View the Source Toni Morrison and the Gothic (The Gothic Library)
The Gothic LibraryFeatures Author: Beloved, Toni Morrison and the Gothic
The Norton Anthology of World Literature
W. W. Norton & Company- Features Author: Horace Walpole
- Features Author: Edgar Allan Poe
- Features Author: Mary Shelley
- Features Author: The Castle of Otranto
- Features Author: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Oscar Wilde (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Oscar Wilde, Opening biographical summary, Dorian Gray
Wilde is best known for his Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890).
Features Author: Oscar Wilde, Opening biographical section, Gothic novel
Wilde is best known for his Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
View the Source The Sound and the Fury (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: The Sound and the Fury, Lead section, genreQuote, Features Author: The Sound and the Fury, Lead section, genre
its bleak and candid portrait of Southern life in the early 20th century is paradigmatic of the Southern Gothic genre
To Kill a Mockingbird (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: To Kill a Mockingbird, Lead section, genreQuote, Features Author: To Kill a Mockingbird, Lead section, genre
As a Southern Gothic novel and Bildungsroman
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Lead section, genreQuote, Features Author: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Lead section, genre
is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831
As I Lay Dying (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: As I Lay Dying, Lead section, genreQuote, Features Author: As I Lay Dying, Lead section, genre
is a 1930 Southern Gothic novel by American author William Faulkner
Charlotte Dacre (Wikipedia)
Features Author: Charlotte Dacre, English Wikipedia, leadQuote, Features Author: Charlotte Dacre, English Wikipedia, lead
was a British Gothic novelist, and poet
E. T. A. Hoffmann (Wikipedia)
Features Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann, English Wikipedia, lead [in-genre]Quote, Features Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann, English Wikipedia, lead [in-genre]
a German Romantic author of fantasy and gothic horror
Southern Ontario Gothic - Wikipedia
Subgenres: Southern Ontario Gothic, Lead paragraphQuote, Subgenres: Southern Ontario Gothic, Lead paragraph
is a subgenre of the Gothic novel genre
Suburban Gothic - Wikipedia
Subgenres: Suburban Gothic, Lead paragraphQuote, Subgenres: Suburban Gothic, Lead paragraph
is a subgenre of Gothic fiction
Latin American Gothic - Wikipedia
Subgenres: Latin American Gothic, Lead paragraphQuote, Subgenres: Latin American Gothic, Lead paragraph
is a subgenre of Gothic fiction
Urban Gothic - Wikipedia
Subgenres: Urban Gothic, Lead paragraphQuote, Subgenres: Urban Gothic, Lead paragraph
is a sub-genre of Gothic fiction
American Gothic Fiction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationSubgenres: American Gothic Fiction, Lead paragraphQuote, Subgenres: American Gothic Fiction, Lead paragraph
American gothic fiction is a subgenre of gothic fiction
Gothic bluebooks - Wikipedia
Subgenres: Gothic Bluebooks, Lead paragraph, sentence naming the parent genreQuote, Subgenres: Gothic Bluebooks, Lead paragraph, sentence naming the parent genre
Gothic bluebooks were short forms of gothic fiction popular in the late 18th century and early 19th century.
Tasmanian Gothic - Wikipedia
Subgenres: Tasmanian Gothic, Lead sentenceQuote, Subgenres: Tasmanian Gothic, Lead sentence
merges traditions of Gothic fiction
Wikipedia: Wuthering Heights
WikipediaFeatures Author: Wuthering Heights, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Wuthering Heights, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Tragedy, Gothic
Jane Eyre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: Jane Eyre, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Jane Eyre, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic, Bildungsroman, Romance
Wikipedia: Dracula
WikipediaFeatures Author: Dracula, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Dracula, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic, Horror
Wikipedia: The Hound of the Baskervilles
WikipediaFeatures Author: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Detective fiction, Gothic fiction
Wikipedia: The Fall of the House of Usher
WikipediaFeatures Author: The Fall of the House of Usher, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: The Fall of the House of Usher, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic, horror
The Woman in White (novel) (Wikipedia)
Features Author: The Woman in White, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: The Woman in White, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic, horror, mystery, sensation novel
Rebecca (novel) (Wikipedia)
Features Author: Rebecca, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Rebecca, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic, romance, mystery, crime
Carmilla (Wikipedia)
Features Author: Carmilla, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Carmilla, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic, horror, vampire literature
The Turn of the Screw (Wikipedia)
Features Author: The Turn of the Screw, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: The Turn of the Screw, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Horror, gothic fiction, ghost story
Wikipedia: Bram Stoker
Features Author: Bram Stoker, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Bram Stoker, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Gothic fiction, romantic fiction, horror fiction, vampire literature
Wikipedia: Shirley Jackson
Features Author: Shirley Jackson, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Shirley Jackson, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Horror, mystery, gothic
Wikipedia: Stephen King
Features Author: Stephen King, Infobox, genre fieldQuote, Features Author: Stephen King, Infobox, genre field
Genre: Horror fantasy supernatural fiction drama gothic genre fiction dark fantasy post-apocalyptic fiction crime fiction suspense thriller children's fiction
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