09-26-2010, 05:27 PM
(09-26-2010, 03:50 PM)Gothic Tiger Wrote: I have lived in Louisiana all my life, and have experienced several hurricanes. There is nothing romantic about no electricity, standing in line to get gasoline and groceries, and the sound of generators (if you're lucky enough to have one!). Maybe that's just a bit too real for me. Give me the fantasy!
I can hardly blame you for being unable to share my sentimental views on weather, given what you have experienced personally. What then are your weather/climate/geography preferences in Gothic reading, if any?
For myself, dramatic weather is the traditional backdrop for a Gothic story and sets the tone I expect. I also happen to like inclement weather in real life -- to a point. I thrive in a climate of overcast skies, rain, sharp air, cooler temperatures. I suppose I like this sort of weather because I can afford to -- having never really experienced the horror of nature's forces at their most destructive and devastating, as you have.
It's sort of analogous to the way I can enjoy a Hollywood western movie, and believe the myth of "the old west". In reality, life in the old west was miserable. Most of us would find it intolerable. But -- from the safe distance of modern life -- we romanticize the picturesque elements. This process of myth-making is one of the joys of period fiction for me, and I prefer the romanticized sort over the postmodern "realistic" approach. This is because, when it comes to entertainment, I'm a shameless escapist. I like to dwell in the world of human imagination, with its gratifying imposition of order on a chaotic world; and I don't read fiction for soul-searching, I read it for fun.
I suppose it's possible that a Gothic could be set in San Diego or the middle of Nevada, but I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as one set in Cornwall or Yorkshire or some foggy New England coast.
This brings up the old question about how to define Gothic. In Faulkner and Tennessee Williams the "Gothic" quality is more about the internal strife and dysfunction of the characters and their relationships, and a grotesque or extreme element to the drama.
Forgive my rambling. **End of ramble.**
