Gothic Literature

Goth – from Germanic Visigoths, who overthrew the Roman Empire; seen as barbarous, vandals

Gothic Architecture – Medieval (1100 to 1600)

Gothic Literature

type of literary romance of late 18th and early 19th century
use of term ‘gothic’ to connote barbarous, wild
1764 - 1st Gothic novel was The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Tale, by Horace Walpole
1st edition sold quickly
believed to have gone through 115 editions
haunted castle, incest, rape, narrative as letter or found manuscript, confined spaces
Medieval time period
set in dungeons, castles and barbarous activity

1st American gothic - 1798 – Charles Brockden Brown – Wieland or, The Transformation
written in the form of a letter in which daughter describes the spontaneous combustion of her father
ghostly voices, murder, madness, suicide
influenced Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe

Gothic literature seen as a response to Enlightenment (17th and 18th century) reason and emphasis on rational, science, optimism
but these developments co-existed with French and American Revolutions, industrialization and urban poverty
gothic challenges the Enlightenment optimism, subverting notions that:

all problems can be solved by intellect and technology

progress is linear

institutions can be perfected

existence of absolute truth

gothic literature shows fascination with supernatural, reversal of natural order
ruin and decay in bodies, architecture
helplessness and confusion
political anarchy, pain, chaos, disorder, alienation
transgressions of social norms, obsessive states, incest, rape
psychological and physical horror
interest in social problems of poverty, crime, execution
stories of obsession and haunting
horror, fear
fascination with evil, immoral behaviour
states of hypochondria, hysteria, and catatonia
fear of insanity, loss of reason

Edgar Allan Poe

b. 19 January 1809 – Boston, Mass.
d 1849
grew up in Virginia – thus inhabiting both north and south
mother: actress, Elizabeth Arnold
father: actor and alcoholic, David Poe
Poe senior disappeared when Edgar was 3
Mother died and orphaned Poe children were portioned out to friends and relatives

Poe’s early work written in adolescence: poetry and satire
father liked poetry, but his schoolmaster thought publication unwise
studied classics, French, Spanish and Italian at the U of Virginia, but refused to do math
read Ovid, Virgil in Latin, Homer in Greek; capable of translating by sight
good visual artist, good student
accrued $2000 in gambling and other debts
Allan paid debts but refused to send Poe back to university
Poe was penniless and disgraced and enlisted in Army
also published first book of poems: Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827) at his own expense
in Romantic tradition; lost visionary experience of youth, search for higher truth, scorn for world goods, melancholic states

was able to obtain appointment to West Point Academy
pay was $28/month
1829 published Al Araaf
meanwhile, Allan fathers twins with Elizabeth Wills while engaged to Louisa Patterson
Poe goes into debt, drinks, writes caricatures of officers
tries to get court-marshalled; is dismissed in 1830
leaves for New York, but continues to request money from Allan
also asks his former West Point commander for reference letter to the Marquis de Lafayette of France with hope of joining Polish revolution in Paris

1831 – Poems – dedicated to cadets
favourable reviews
at this stage, admires Samuel Taylor Coleridge and attacks William Wordsworth
forced to live with relatives in Baltimore, does odd jobs and works on local newspaper to support himself
brother dies of TB
stories published in Philadelphia Saturday Courier
1833 – ill and nearly starving, but continues to write
1834 - Allan dies; provides for all his children, even the illegitimate ones, but not for Poe

Poe proposes to his niece Virginia Clemm, who is 13 to his 26 when she is forced to go to relatives on the death of their grandmother
marriage never consummated (Poe neither impotent nor pervert as commonly reported)
supports Virginia and her mother by writing
1835 – becomes de facto editor of the Southern Literary Messenger, also submitting stories, poems reviews and editorials
begins to write gothic stories of terror
believes that sales will improve with subject matter of grotesque, satire
almost fired for drinking
1834 - read and reviewed William Godwin’s Lives of the Necromancers and works of Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne
1837 – moves back to New York with family ; said to have lived on bread and molasses
1839 – buys house, co-edits Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine for $10/week
resigned for differences with Burton
, but continues to submit reviews
1838-9 – “Ligeia,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “William Wilson” –
stories share doublings in setting, imagery, time sequence and structure
concerns with nature of identity, power of will over death
often told from point of view of sick or deranged protagonist as well as the ‘objective’ perspective of 1st person narrator

1840 – begins detective stories; (eg. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”)
1845 – “The Purloined Letter”
continues with satire – “Never Bet Your Head. A Moral Tale”. spoof of Transcendentalists and the Dial
1842 – Virginia
contracts TB and hemorrhages while singing
1845 – “The Raven” – instant success – poem of supernatural influences and abnormal psychology
by 1847, Poe is drinking heavily in response to Virginia’s illness
took laudanum in suicide attempt over amorous rejection; appears to be suffering strokes, possibly diabetic
Virginia’s death adds to grief over mother’s early death; death of a female, childhood friend and the death of his foster mother

Poe major influence on Symbolist movement in Europe; Charles Baudelaire, the French poet, was obsessed with Poe and translated his work; also an influence on Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Poe considered excellent critic, editor and ‘magazinist’, a term he coined; helped to make the magazine the major vehicle for literary work
in 20 years, he wrote 70 short stories, 62 poems, 250 critical and miscellaneous pieces