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Welcome! Oh, don't let the creepy castle and the storm scare you off....wait this is the Horror newsletter you eat this stuff up! Good, because you are going to need all the courage you can muster as we delve into a little appreciated sub-genre, Gothic Literature. So, make yourself comfortable because I have a tale to share you may find unsettling at best. Muwahahahahaha......
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First and foremost, we must define Gothic Literature. Do not confuse it with those who dress in black wearing black lipstick and black fingernails, or with those who follow the vampire genre. Certainly don't look for quarts of blood, dismembered corpses, or exploding body parts. Don't get me wrong, gentle reader, you are going for a ride through a dark tunnel where things will leave you a tad bit unsettle, questioning your own sanity, and asking yourself: "Did you see what I just saw?" The Gothic novel is a journey into the terror of the soul and mind.
What is Gothic Literature? Like all literary genres, there are rules that must be followed and strict adherence keeps it from slipping into a milquetoast form of historical romance. However, if the writer is willing to do the work the reward is a work that challenges both writer and reader in a literary game of black cat and ghostly mouse. Unlike most literary genres, the creation can be created to one author at a specific time, Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto published in 1764. This novel contained all the elements attributed to true Gothic Literature
The name is derived from the architecture that dominates the genre and considered the most important element. The castle is the archetype because it represents strength, dynastic rule, and is impregnable. Though the setting does not have to be set in a castle (though probably the most popular), it does have feature a huge rambling mansion with secret rooms, basement, hidden doorways, trap doors, or hidden stairways. Darkness and shadows are important elements to these large seemingly abandoned buildings. The talent of the writer comes from making the characters, and thus the reader, feel claustrophobic and paranoid. There may be a cave near by or attached to the building via one of those secret passage ways.
Next, a pervasive feel of suspense and mystery is tantamount to the success of the story. In order to achieve this, the author will shroud the event with ambiguity. Maybe it's a disappearance or unknown parentage or a murder where the explanation is not quite logical. The event can be anything as long as there is a mystery surrounding it.
The true Gothic tale must include a prophecy surrounding a character that plays a prominent role in the story. It could be character from the past or present who is connected to the castle in some way. The prophecy doesn't have to be clear or concise point of the ambiguity is to heighten the since of mystery and thus create fear. However, don't confuse this element with the simplified version that passes as Gothic literature. It is not simply a legend passed down with a clear cut meaning and course of action. Instead, the obscurity of the prophecy confuses the characters and thus the reader driving the sense of mystery and suspense. In fact, the best examples of Gothic literature leave the reader wondering if the prophecy was realized or not.
There must be an air of supernatural occurrences. This may be accomplished through dreams, visions, or readings. The use of spirits may be real or imaged but written in a way that the effected character believes they exist. In some novels inanimate objects may "come alive" or move inexplicably on their own. Sometimes an objects action may serve as a portent to a future event most likely a death. These events since they tied to other elements further create fear and paranoia. The true beauty of this element is that it is not necessary for there to be "real" ghosts, the haunting may simple be a ruse by another character to procure an object, privacy, or person. The point is to sustain the mystery and suspense.
The next few elements must be carefully constructed because it is here that most writers fall off the Gothic cart and on to the road of romance novel. Not that there's anything wrong with that if that's the author's intent; however, in writing a true Gothic novel the author should tread this path carefully. With that disclaimer let's venture through this hidden door and down the secret stairwell called high octane emotion. Oh, yes, gentle reader, we must have characters so wrought with emotion that they fairly hum with tension. Think of it like watching a horror movie with an audience, you know it's just a movie, you know it's all make believe, you may even have figured out the plot line but the minute someone screams you do, too. Don't be embarrassed unless you scream like a little girl, the tension was purposely created to lead you to this moment. If the characters are under extreme emotional distress than the reader will be as well and thus fall into the story not just as reader but participant. The problem is to keep the emotional distress high without it becoming melodramatic. The paranoia is wrapped in a constant feeling of doom leading to panic. The protagonist must constantly wrestle with the fight or flight response. Is this really happening? Is it worth the risk? Am I sinking into insanity? All these questions and those like them must continually run through the mind of the protagonist.
This may sound sexist (it is) but you must keep in mind that this genre was created in 1764 and reached it's height of popularity during Victorian times, there must be a "lady in distress." She must be tormented by elements real or imaged and she generally feels that her destiny is predetermined. Though she doesn't have to be the central character, a L.I.D. usually makes an excellent vehicle for creating suspense and empathy in the reader. Though the usual main character is a L.I.D. any character considered an "innocent" will serve the same purpose. In James Henry's The Turn of the Screw the we have two children in distress.
Sexist statement part B, there is must be a tyrannical, controlling, obsessive male character praying upon the L.I.D. or other innocent. It doesn't matter if he is lord of the manor, guardian, parent, etc as long as he has power of the L.I.D and makes her do something intolerable under real or imaged threat.
"It was a dark and stormy night..." Weather plays an important role in the Gothic novel to the point of being a character. Often the weather serves as an extended metaphor for the feelings and angst of the characters. Sometimes the weather serves as the catalyst for action and reaction to a given circumstance or event. More times then not it mirrors the emotion of the characters and allows the pervasive since of darkness and fear to deepen. Most of the classic sound effects used in modern horror films find their beginnings in Gothic literature: howling wind, well timed lightening and thunder, chains rattling, creaking steps or doors, etc.
The vocabulary for the Gothic novel reflects the castle backdrop. The author must delve pen first into the thesaurus and resurrect words that paint to the larger campus. Things must be tremendous, furious, impetuous, and lamentable.
Finally, there is the element of romance. It matters not whether it is forbidden or not though the use of star-crossed lovers is very popular because they can be twisted into the waft and warp of the ambiguous prophecy, reciprocated, forbidden, or any other "boy meets girl" situation as long as the element exists in some form. In "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" we have a romance between a ghost and living person.
Remember Gothic literature is not tawdry romance novel but a highly respected and classic genre. Some famous examples are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Edgar Allen Poe's Picture of Dorian Grey, Bram Stoker's Dracula (this novel introduced the vampire element and made Transylvania Gothic Central), and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Even Charles Dickens employed Gothic elements throughout several pieces most notably A Christmas Carol and The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Next time you find yourself in secret room on a dark and stormy night, with the wind howling across the moors, and you think you see a shadow linger a bit too long in the empty hallway curl up on the couch with a Gothic novel and take a journey on the dark side of the mind.
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Horror/Scary: May 21, 2008 Issue [#2364]
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