Gothic Fiction Gives Readers Frisson

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Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca movie from 1940.

What’s a Gothic novel? Definitions I found online include “a literary genre combining fiction, horror, death, and romance” that might be “set in gloomy, decaying locations like castles or ruined mansions” and also might feature “the intrusion of the past upon the present” as well as “dark secrets, supernatural elements” and “a brooding hero” and “a vulnerable female protagonist.”

Those definitions mean books in this category can be compelling, mysterious, haunting, and more. So, all that is an incentive for me to discuss various Gothic novels I’ve read.

I recently reread Daphne du Maurier’s mesmerizing Rebecca (1938), which is one of the first books that come to mind when thinking of the Gothic genre. It’s about an unnamed young woman who marries wealthy widower Maxim de Winter. His first wife? Rebecca, of course. The shy/insecure/inexperienced new spouse compares herself (and is compared by others) to the late Rebecca — whose presence remains palpable at Maxim’s huge Manderley estate. In which we meet sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, who was very attached to the beautiful/charismatic/seemingly admirable Rebecca and treats the second Mrs. de Winter with contempt and cruelty.

After finishing Rebecca, I read for the first time du Maurier’s 1936 potboiler of a novel Jamaica Inn, which also has some Gothic elements (including a remote setting and plenty of terror) but no upper-class characters in the main cast. Not as skillfully composed as Rebecca, but still plenty gripping.

Du Maurier also wrote several other novels considered Gothic or part-Gothic — including 1951’s My Cousin Rachel and 1969’s The House on the Strand.

Going back to 19th-century literature, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847) included various Gothic elements — a big old home, a mysterious woman in the attic, some disastrous events, an otherworldly occurrence, etc. Its story, several of its characters, and the dynamics of its central romance clearly influenced the Rebecca novel published nearly a century later.

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (also 1847) has lots of Gothic content, too — obsession, psychological torment, ghostly apparitions, the wild moors…

Almost 30 years earlier, Mary Shelley’s ominous 1818 novel Frankenstein drips with atmosphere while also being an early example of science fiction.

Later in the 19th century, we have Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White (1860) with its suspense, “insane asylum,” and mistaken identity; Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) with its split-personality motif, claustrophobia, and foggy London streets; and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), which I don’t need to summarize but can give many a reader nightmares.

In the realm of 19th-century short stories, a number of Edgar Allan Poe’s tales can be considered Gothic — including “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Masque of the Red Death.”

Joining du Maurier in writing 20th-century novels with at least some Gothic elements are authors such as Shirley Jackson (1959’s The Haunting of Hill House), Stephen King (1977’s The Shining), and Toni Morrison (1987’s Beloved).

And I shouldn’t forget to mention Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey — an 1817-published spoof of Gothic fiction.

It’s pretty much agreed that Gothic novels first appeared in the 1700s, but I haven’t read any from that century (yet). They include Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) and Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), among others.

There’s also the Southern Gothic genre that includes such novels as William Faulkner’s Light in August (1932), Carson McCullers’ Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood (1952), and Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark (1968).

What are your favorite Gothic novels, whether I mentioned them or not? I know there are a number of books in that genre I didn’t name.

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83 thoughts on “Gothic Fiction Gives Readers Frisson”

  3. Aha, an excellent subject, Dave, since gothic novels are one of my favourites. I scrolled down and grinned as I have read almost all of the ones you have talked about. Here’s a few more, this three are all on my shelf:

    The Thirteenth Tale by Setterfield – Pretty creepy, but in a good way, plus the main character is a writer… excellent.

    The Bloody Chamber and other Stories by Angela Carter – she rewrote many fairy tales, like Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, and Puss in Boots, ‘dark, sensual and fantastic’ – wonderful.

    Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind – I bought this years ago since I got it in order to read it on holiday in Paris (France), and it was perfect for that.

    And gosh, next week – May the 4th – already?

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    • Thank you, Chris! I’ve read “The Thirteenth Tale” — excellent and creepy indeed! And I appreciate the other two mentions. Interesting concept to rewrite fairy tales. Why not? 🙂 Yes, hard to believe it’s almost May!

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  4. Love Gothic – Ultimate proof ? Bought a fixer upper haunted house – admittedly, didn’t know about the undeclared housemate till we met.

    Many favourites already taken, but not The Old Dark House, based on J B Priestley’s Benighted. Totally crazy, includes Boris Karloff, also a psychotic pyromaniac, the weather joins in. Best enjoyed with friends.

    Hound of the Baskervilles , of course, so brilliantly Gothic, Holmes had to come back from the dead.

    Walking on Dartmoor, a few years ago, I spotted a strip of tablets, retrieved quickly because wild foals seemed too interested. Heart meds for Sir Charles Baskerville was suggested, Heart, definitely, as a quick check confirmed. Hope the owner was OK.

    Does The Snake Pit count ? Chilling, beyond most brands of gaslighting, wouldn’t want to watch this again.

    Fantasy horror, rather than Gothic, this week, for May Day Eve, our annual date with The Wicker Man.

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    • Thank you! Love your connection between loving Gothic fiction and buying a fixer-upper haunted house! And Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is a GREAT mention. Perhaps the most Gothic installment of the Sherlock Holmes saga. I appreciate the other mentions, too!

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    • Thank you, Ada! I hesitated to include “The Shining”; I don’t think it’s as Gothic as most of the other novels I mentioned. But it has a big, isolated structure (the hotel) and a few other Gothic tropes. I hope you’re enjoying the book!

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  6. Hi Dave!

    A great post! I really like the gothic genre of fiction. What I like most about it is the sense of atmosphere and foreboding!

    ‘Wuthering Heights’, ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ are three of my favourites. I haven’t read ‘Rebecca’ but am keen to.

    So many great books out there!

    Hope your week is going well.

    Thanks Dave!

    ☺

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  9. I remember liking Wilkie Collins, but that was a long time ago, so I don’t remember much specific about it. I also like Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”. Maybe Danielewski’s “House of Leaves”? One of the stranger books I’ve read but it was certainly Gothic. (K)

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    • Thank you, Kerfe!

      I think Wilkie Collins is a great author, and kind of underrated. “The Woman in White,” “The Moonstone,” “No Name,” “Armadale”…

      I’ve read the compellingly quirky “We Have Always Lived in the Castle”; it IS kind of Gothic.

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  12. That’s quite a list up there, Dave; you’ve captured most of the gems and I’ll be hard-pressed to add to them. I’ve never read ‘The Turn of the Screw’, but I gather it’s up there with the best, as is ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, which I have read but have only a sketchy memory of. Dickens’s unfinished ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ is also supposed to be of the genre, but as I’m not too keen on his finished offerings I’ve never been there either. I think that’s my offering, but if I think of any more please do rest assured that I’ll be back. Thanks for the post, and have a good week. 🙂

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  15. The first Gothic novel I ever read remains one of my favorites: Mary Stewart’s NINE COACHES WAITING (1958), about an isolated young woman hired as governess to the young heir to a fortune and a title in a remote French chateau! I first read it when I was 14 and thought it was SOOO exciting and romantic–and I still think so!

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  16. A great list and subject, Dave. While considering Poe, I would also include The Raven, although I know it isn’t a novel. I do like the Fall of the House of Usher. I would also mention The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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