Between Gothic fiction and architecture, the later came first. Although, both the art forms are linked by their common use of dark elements to evoke strong emotions, they are quite different from one another. Despite their obvious similarities, their inspirations have been a stark opposite. While, Gothic fiction grew out of modern bourgeois ideology in the 18th century, Gothic architecture took inspiration from medieval culture in the 12th century.
Gothic Architecture History
So, what led people to develop the complex style of Gothic architecture? The style was created during a very prosperous and peaceful political time when architects and labourers had the time and opportunity to explore more complex structural elements. The style is characterised by its medieval aesthetics. They had the time and freedom to engage in the creative process of making the Gothic edifices, which sometimes took centuries to build. Each element was paid extreme attention to and crafted with the utmost care. People’s minds could be at leisure, and this is shown in this novel style that combines a detailed observation of nature on carefully crafted stained glasses, pernickety frescoes, intricate paintings, textiles, and illuminated manuscripts.
Gothic architecture’s raw but impressively elegant presentation proved it was anything but barbaric. Well-constructed rib vaults, diagonally arched ribs, grand arches, and flying buttresses gave these buildings brilliant structure, solid foundation, and sophistication. For example, the pointed arches could now support heavier loads than their predecessors – the round arches. At the same time, they gave the impression of soaring heights, becoming an essential characteristic of the Gothic style. However, what truly distinguishes Gothic from its earlier art styles is that it engaged and sometimes even heightened its viewers’ emotions.
While the previous figurines in sculptures and paintings appeared more stiff and stylised, Gothic art made them more realistic. The poised sway in the shape of S made the apparel on the figurines more flowy for the added illusion of movement. The artwork included more natural poses, expressions, and gestures. The viewers could now relate to these figurines, helping them understand them a little better and identify with those characters. Even the sacred images inspired religious devotion. Soon, emotions became the driving force of Gothic when it made its appearance in fiction.
Gothic Fiction History
Gothic fiction was first established in the late 18th century when Horace Walpole published his dark novel The Castle of Ontario: A Gothic Story in 1764. It was the 1st gothic novel and yet it became an instant hit, mainly because it stirred intense emotion and partly because serious critics detested it, going so far as to claim that the fiction caused violent moods and mental disorders. Later, the genre flourished throughout the 19th century and branched off to many popular subgenres, such as terror and horror. The Romantics dabbled in it.
Gothic novels dared to discuss and sometimes even question God, morality, religion, and philosophy. The genre shines a light on the monster within the human psyche. However, the genre was initially meant to be something other than this deep and meaningful. In fact, Horace Walpole put it in the title as a joke. He meant it as a barbarous story.
He posed this story as an antique relic – complete with a preface claiming a translator discovered the tale – and then published it in Italian in 1529. According to this origin story, the book was found “in the library of an ancient Catholic family in the north of England.” The story itself, “founded on truth,” was written three or four centuries earlier still. Some readers were duly deceived by this fiction and aggrieved when it was revealed to be a modern fake.
Later, authors like Matthew Lewis took the Gothic to its very extreme by indulging in the fear of the supernatural and the supernatural itself by writing about a plethora of occurrences, such as ghosts, demons, and Satan.
This successful first wave of Gothic ushered in a new second wave in the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 19th century. It was the era of true terror-ridden stories like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), which explored the scientific form of the supernatural, and Charles Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer (1820), in which the protagonist sold his soul for a prolonged life.
Evil doubles also emerged as a recurring Gothic theme in books like James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner(1824) and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Gothic motif of doubles gave birth to Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny, inspired by the Gothic tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann. The story (like the uncanny) evoked an uneasy disquiet – an uncomfortable familiarity felt towards something unfamiliar, thus feeling disturbing yet fascinating.
From here started a wave of Gothic fiction. We find the eerie setting inside of a medieval castle in abandoned nature in various stories by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Bronte sisters, Ann Radcliffe, and Daphne du Maurier. Unsettling elements like apparitions, talking ravens, icy-cold nightmares, fear-induced visions, haunting hallucinations, and vivid memories are constant themes in these novels/novellas. While the genre dabbles in the irrational, its final triumph is in convincing the readers that it is still probable and somewhat rational.
Moreover, Gothic plays with the psyche of its readers. It strives to reach those uncanny moments with an angst-ridden sense of alienation in which the reader suddenly recognises somebody who seems strange or unknown and yet, on the contrary, has an identity that the reader already knows and is familiar with. Thus, the reader is unable to separate themselves from it, making it even more terrifying.
The Best Gothic Books to Read
The best Gothic fiction will incorporate the following elements.
- Terror or Horror
- Metaphoric Monster
- The Uncanny
- An All-consuming Romance
- Death, Darkness, and Decay
- Supernatural Elements
- Symbolic Themes
- Eerie, Gloomy Atmosphere
Tell-tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Complete with murder, horror, and intense dread of getting found, Tell-tale Heart is a hallmark piece of fiction written by the master of Gothic horror, Poe. The story’s eerie atmosphere, the unreliable narrator’s slow descent into madness, the macabre of the watchful “eye,” and emphasis on the cold murder of a vulnerable old man in the dead of the night paint an intense picture of the darker aspects of human nature. The elements scream Gothic and Dark Romanticism.
The story is short and a great place to start for beginners.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Revered as one of the best Gothic romance novels, Wuthering Heights is packed with passion, desire, agony, jealousy, revenge, greed, and ghosts. It will leave your conscience conflicted over who to side with, for it has neither a hero nor a heroine. It will leave you questioning if Heathcliff is a handsome, dark romantic or a rotten beast for the lengths he goes to get what he wants. You will wonder if Catherine was a damsel in distress, Heathcliff, a tragic lover, or their fall was well-deserved. Set on the eerie and dark Yorkshire moors, its dark love transcends life into the afterlife – or was it just an angst-ridden vision?
The mysterious Wuthering Heights is a beautiful treat for classic romantics looking to dabble into dark, gothic romances that are well-written and enquiring into the human psyche of fallen, jilted, vengeful lovers. This novel is Pride and Prejudice gone terribly wrong.
The Haunting of the Hill House by Shirley Jackson
The Haunting of the Hill House is a slow-burn novel for those who want to savour the build-up, suspense, and tension. This puzzling story is set in an “enormous and dark” house that is “watchful” and is supposed to be haunted by the paranormal and a dark past, such as morbid suicides. Every step of the way, you will find unsettling – even gruesome – elements that will have you shifting in your seat with unease. This book keeps you on the edge and your senses alert in apprehension of what is coming.
This riveting novel is a perfect example of true horror. It keeps you on the edge without any jumpscares but plays with your innate human fears, mainly those of the unknown and the uncanny. By the end of it, you will wonder if the house was the twisted villain or if it was just your imagination.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
If you haven’t yet, read it. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the quintessential ++classic gothic fiction++. There is a good reason why the editor had to edit out more than 500 words off this book to make it less offensive, and it was later used as evidence in the court to prove Wilde guilty.
A cynical friend (or the devil) corrupts a naive boy (or innocent Eve) who later makes a bargain so his tucked-away painting would age and rot instead of him. This cult classic brims with hideous sins, an evil psyche, an ugly conscience, immorality, ruthless hedonism, and a scary “what might happen next” atmosphere. The painting, which bears the brunt of Dorian’s actions, is and isn’t his doppelganger. In other words, the painting is the uncanny.
The Monk by Matthew Lewis
The Monk follows the life of Ambrosio, an honest, chaste man of cloth, who is later tricked by the devil and turns into a conniving, sinister murderer. Set in a monastery, it has all the elements of the Gothic – the supernatural, religion, superstition, romance, greed, sexual temptation, scandalous sex, and the Fallen Man. This 18th-century novel is poetic in its writing and final justice. It romances terror. The reader can feel the fear of every character that goes through their eerie, ill-fated happenstances. You will be able to feel every shudder, every chill down the spine, and hair rising as the characters in the book.
This book is for those who aren’t afraid of a challenging read that follows the story of multiple complex characters. Some might find its language a bit hard and its details too shocking as Lewis’s saintly figure falls into perversion and depravity. Warning: the story includes scenes of sexual violence, physical violence, and religious superstitions.
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
The Great God Pan is an essential blueprint inspiration for many contemporary horror authors, such as Stephen King and Lovecraft. Although more fantasy than gothic, this novella still packs several gothic elements that are bound to give you the creeps. Pan is neither a God nor a Devil. It transcends into Nothing or that which is devoid of anything. The story starts with a mad scientist who breaks the bounds of what is natural to dwell in the supernatural. An exciting hunt for a potential villain adds a riveting twist to it.
It was initially quoted as “psychologically bogey”, “elaborately absurd”, and even “gruesome and dull”.
This book might not be as well-written as the rest on this list and may be harder to read in the language, but it still makes for an interesting gothic read for those who want to explore a tiny bit outside of the conventional plot. Plus, the novella is a short, overnight read.