Southern gothic literature

Gothic Themes

Read the best Southern Gothic books, including famous and lesser-known titles.

Background Takes classic Gothic archetypes, such as the monster or the heroic knight, and turns them into American Southerners –a spiteful, reclusive spinster –an uneducated drunk –a violent criminal –a quiet, wise lawyer –a hypocritical person Most notable feature is the “grotesque” –a character whose negative qualities allow the author to highlight unpleasant aspects in Southern culture. –Something in the town, the house, the farm is bizarre and often falling apart

Southern Gothic literature takes place in the American South during the late 1800s to early 1900s. It brings Gothic genre elements like darkness, mystery, and fear to criticize social issues in the South like racism, poverty, and resistance to change from the Old to New South. Major themes include deeply flawed characters, decaying symbols of the Antebellum period, and revealing the dark side of Southern culture, values, and conventions. Examples of works in this genre include Frankenstein…

For eccentric, flawed characters, sinister events, and explorations of race, class, decay, and isolation, get into Southern Gothic novels.

Southern Gothic, Rickey Laurentiis

What is Southern Gothic? This is My South explains Southern Gothic in a way everyone can understand. She tells how it pertains to literature, film, and television. So, what exactly is Southern Gothic? Come find out what it is and how it affects literature, film, and television.

Southern Gothic novels have opened up a number of possibilities for understanding Gothic aesthetics in American literature, and served to fully realize their literature of more macabre content. Here are 41 best Southern Gothic novels you must read to fully appreciate the genre. All of them are incredibly thought-provoking books in the Southern Gothic canon. Read more...

Photo by Ashley Knedler on Unsplash I'd honestly love to see more Gothics set in the American South. So, I'm hoping to spark some writerly imaginations by providing a list of Southern and Appalachian Gothic elements. It would even be great to see some of these elements in a Dark Fantasy, Gothic Romance or some other unexpected Dark Fiction. Here's to your journey into the deeply dark and at times grotesque, but always disturbing, world of the Southern Gothic. Settings Decaying Plantations…

Watch the best Southern Gothic movies to teach you more and take you across the South.

Despite being afraid of ghosts and haunted houses we still want to read about them. The stories of horror, mystery

The Quiet Eye — Kate Lewis

What defines the gothic genre? This literary guide is jam-packed with genre history and genre facts, the best gothic books to read, gothic authors and more to inspire your reading list and get you feeling ghostly. Starting with classic gothic literature to modern gothic fiction, find the best gothic novels to read. PS: It has also inspired the current trend of Dark Academia. Who doesn't love a classic gothic horror novel? Read now or save for later!

Gothic literature is a genre saturated with prolific works by women. From Ann Radcliffe to Mary Shelley, women writers have long mastered the dark and suspenseful world of supernatural terror. Discover the history of the Female Gothic on our blog. #gothicliterature #femalegothic #readandcobooks

Authors are great at a lot of things — taking readers to new and exciting worlds, making you fall in love with fictional characters, giving us all the Feels with a capital "F" — but there is one thing writers are notoriously bad at: writing sex…

Book of Flannery O’Connor’s southern gothic short stories

In the daytime, it is easy to imagine the South as it looks in tourism photos – sunny and filled with smiling people. At night, some people's thoughts turn to darker themes – swamps, voodoo, ghostly strands of Spanish moss, abandoned mansions – the themes of Southern Gothic horror.Southern authors, ...