So, we've started the list for the best 20th century Gothics. How about the Classics? I haven't read many, so I'll just start with a couple:
1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This has led to our ideal of a Gothic romance.
2. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. The book that started the genre should not be missed.
I've been trying to read some of the older Gothics but finding time to read has been very difficult. I'll just add what I've read:
3. The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve.
I'd like to get some Mrs. Radcliffe Gothics.
4.  The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
5.  The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe
6.  Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu
7.  The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins
8.  The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
9.  The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
10.  The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
11. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
This is the updated list then (numbers do not denote importance):
1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
3. The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve
4. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
5. The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe
6. The Italian by Ann Radcliffe
7. Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu
8. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
9. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
11. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
12. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
13. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock
14. Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin
And a couple more that are quite obvious:
15. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
16. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly has to be one of my favorites.
Valancourt Wrote:maisonvivante Wrote:11. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Just wanted to note that Northanger Abbey is not a Gothic novel. It's more a satire on the genre, making jest of it and it's readers.
I am much surprised no one has mentioned The Monk by Matthew Lewis, Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock, Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin!
All solid and excellent classics. You must read them!
Also The Italian by Ann Radcliffe. I seem to always see her Romance of the Forest mentioned but never her The Italian. By many critics The Italian was her masterpiece of all her works. It IS an awesome novel! I myself think her Mysteries of Udolpho is her best work, but in many circles The Italian is their top pick.
While I very much enjoyed her Romance of the Forest, it's an early effort of hers and it shows. Very inferior to her later works.
Though not novels the Graveyard Poets of the 18th century whose writings frequently touched on themes of death, mortality, religion, and melancholy are exquisite wordsmiths. They are most certainly intensely gothic!
Here is a great link about them.....
http://www.litgothic.com/Topics/graveyard_school.html
Check their work out. Sublimely melancholy.
I agree! The Italian by Ann Radcliffe is a masterpiece. Studied it in my 2nd year at uni and fell in love with it. You can def. see inspiration for Jane Eyre with Eleanor. Loved Schedoni!
(10-27-2007, 05:51 PM)paigenumber Wrote: [ -> ]So, we've started the list for the best 20th century Gothics. How about the Classics? I haven't read many, so I'll just start with a couple:
1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This has led to our ideal of a Gothic romance.
2. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. The book that started the genre should not be missed.
Im with you both on Jane Eyre! Wuthering Heights is aslo very good. However im partial to Jane Eyre becuse both protagonists were genuine, one was more tormented (Rochester) but in the end they both mantained their dignity.
Wuthering Heights, although a fabulous read, was slightly irritating because Cathy and Heathcliff weren't very realistic. I understand that Heathcliff was a product of his upbringing, having been raised as an outcast in his own family (foster though it may have been). But Cathy was downright annoying! I can understand why why women all seem enamored with him because of the dark night image, but i honestly found their relationship too melodramatic to take seriously. I ended up frustrated with Heathcliff because he threw away so much potential by allowing himself to fall for Cathy, and was just plain irritated with Cathy because she seemed to be totally manipulative and spineless!
Jane Eyre remains one of my literary heroes, Rochester is harsh, yet totally charasmatic, i love him!
Frankenstein is also quite good, i want to go back and reread it because i feel like i didnt appreciate it fully the first time around.
(06-27-2011, 05:28 PM)maisonvivante Wrote: [ -> ]I would argue that "Northanger Abbey" IS a Gothic novel in that even though it may be parodying the genre, it also contains ALL the stock elements of the genre. Lots of the books that have made the list have elements of parody, social commentary and satire in them. If you believe all these authors were working in this genre with a completely straight face, you are much mistaken.
I would argue it is NOT a Gothic novel. It doesn't have ANY of the stock elements of the genre. What it has is a heroine who is a very silly young women who imagines that there are mysterious goings on because she has read novels by Miss Radcliffe-the novel makes it quite obvious there isn't anything mysterious and sinister in the world of the novel at all.
There has to be at least some "real" (in the world of the novel) Gothic elements for a novel to qualify as Gothic even if the writer is tongue-in-cheek there has to be an old spooky mansion and a heroine under threat-not just a heroine in a normal, everyday situation who is prone to flights of fantasy. The reader does not for one moment, believe that Catherine Morland is in danger or that anybody has been murdered or locked up in a castle even though Catherine imagines this might be the case.
I'd also argue that there is no satire or parody in a truly Gothic novel, it runs completely contrary to the atmosphere and voice of the Gothic style. Social commentary, there certainly may be, Ann and Charlotte Bronte's works contain plenty of social commentary but this is quite different from satire or parody.