11-18-2009, 05:05 PM
Interesting.
Without going into making lists of what constitutes a dark romance vs. a Gothic romance, because said list would be almost identical, my own personal definition would be that a dark romance tends to be more tragical, whereas the Gothic romance is more suspenseful romance.
In literature, there may not be a real distinction between the two. Traditionally, Gothic romances have an eerie atmosphere with supernatural overtones. However, those supernatural forces are usually explained away. Having said that, there have been some Gothic romances that effectively make use of real supernatural forces. Lots of lust, profuse murder, excessive violence tend to be in the horror realm. Again, the distinction between horror and Gothic can be very fine.
Without going into making lists of what constitutes a dark romance vs. a Gothic romance, because said list would be almost identical, my own personal definition would be that a dark romance tends to be more tragical, whereas the Gothic romance is more suspenseful romance.
In literature, there may not be a real distinction between the two. Traditionally, Gothic romances have an eerie atmosphere with supernatural overtones. However, those supernatural forces are usually explained away. Having said that, there have been some Gothic romances that effectively make use of real supernatural forces. Lots of lust, profuse murder, excessive violence tend to be in the horror realm. Again, the distinction between horror and Gothic can be very fine.
