Twilight takes place in a spooky, eerie forest. If you’re looking to write a novel, there is absolutely still a market for high-drama, eerie fiction with a focus on romance and suspense!ĭon’t believe me? Let’s talk about Twilight! In contemporary publishing, we still have the components of gothic literature floating around in the form of thrillers, ghost stories, and, above all (in my opinion), supernatural teen romance. So! Maybe these kinds of stories are the ones you love the most, and you’re thinking there’s no way anyone could publish something like Wuthering Heights today and have any success at a publisher.
#GOTHIC LITERATURE DEFINITION HOW TO#
Keep that dichotomy in mind–we’re going to talk about how to write gothic literature for a contemporary audience next. They’ll say there’s too much description of the stupid fog, the emotion is way too over-the-top, and the romance is overcooked. People who hate it, interestingly, will say the same thing. You’ve got the devastatingly beautiful foggy landscape, the heightened emotion, and spooky ghosts–what more could you want?
When people love it, it’s usually because of how capital R Romantic it is. You might find with Wuthering Heights, specifically, that people will either love or hate it–I’ve personally never met someone who felt neutrally about it. We’ve got a secluded manor deep in the woods (check), a family riddled with mystery and intrigue (check), supernatural elements (check), and above all, romantic tension dialed up to a hundred million. Let’s side aside some of the, uh, iffy aspects–by which I do mean the incest–and look at the novel’s components. Wuthering Heights, another direct inspiration for Twilight (I’m getting you ready to talk about it later so you won’t be mad, brace yourself), is also an absolute masterclass in gothic fiction. We’ve got an icky beating heart, a man out on his own, high emotion, some madness for good measure–this is gothic literature to a T. We see the narrator descend into a literal madness trying to conceal the beating heart beneath his floorboards. Suspense and drama builds significantly throughout the story. Let’s consider some of the overarching themes of Poe’s work: we’ve got lots of unsettling plot devices and imagery, constant mystery and intrigue, and consistently melodramatic narrators.įor example: The Tell-Tale Heart leads with a mystery. Edgar Allan PoeĮdgar Allen Poe is the second thing after Dracula that comes to mind for me. Most significant in the past couple of decades has been Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga. Stoker’s Dracula has, obviously, inspired countless vampire stories in its wake.
You’re probably familiar with many pieces that fit into the gothic literature genre. Fun! Examples of Gothic Literature Authors and Novels So in short: gothic literature takes the flair from Romantic literature and adds horror and thrill. Gothic literature takes this movement and focuses on the macabre, the unsettling, and dials the dramatics up to a ten. Romantics were all about internal struggles and ego. It’s the darkest portion of Dark Romanticism, emerging soon after the Romantic literary era.īrief history lesson for gothic literature: Romanticism deals heavily with individualism, transcendentalism, and emotion. Gothic literature is a genre of literature that combines dark elements, spooky settings, conflicted and disturbed characters into a whimsically horrific, often romantic, story. Long (Gothic Literature) Story Short… What is gothic literature?
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