While darkness and isolation are themes that pervade the setting and characterisation, corruption is arguably a meatier concept that nestles at the heart of what many authors want to say in this genre. Corruption can on the surface simply be part of the grotesque, with signs and symbols of physical decay building on/adding to this… Continue reading Goth is (not) Dead: Corruption
This week in gothic horror chat, I'm looking at another theme mentioned in the first post. I'm going to use a horror novel I think fits the Welsh Gothic genre as an example of how effective this element is, and how it can drive the plot forward. Isolation is another key theme of the Gothic… Continue reading Goth is [not] dead: Isolation
Hello again! I've done a couple of posts on the themes and conventions of Gothic novels, and the many subgenres there are (there are actually more, but a good place to look is the University of Wales Press series on Gothic Fiction). I have also discovered a cool WikiHow post on How To Write Gothic… Continue reading Goth is [not] Dead: Darkness
Welcome back! I've had a lot of fun exploring the themes and subgenres of Gothic fiction, and my TBR pile is growing... but before I do the themes one at a time, I thought I'd do one more 'general' post on the characters you might expect to find in a Gothic novel, and give you… Continue reading Goth is (not) Dead: Characters
Horace Walpole is credited/blamed for kicking off the 'Gothic' literature genre in 1765 with his novel The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Tale, which was intended as a subtle joke. Walpole meant 'Gothic' in the sense of 'barbarous' or 'derived from the Middle Ages', but his supernatural tale of perverse obsession and melodramatic tragedy sparked something… Continue reading Goth is [not] Dead: (Sub)Genre-Chat
