What are some good novels in the genre of "gothic literature"??

Question

What are some good novels in the genre of "gothic literature"??

Answer 1

You might want to clarify what you mean by "gothic literature." I assume you mean late-18th/early 19th century English novels that incorporate dark themes, and elements of the supernatural (along with whopping doses of anti-Catholicism)--which may not be what you're looking for at all.

But if it is, here's a few worth reading:

Lady Caroline Lamb; Glenarvon (Lord Byron was the inspiration for Lord Ruthven)

Mary Shelley; Frankenstein

John Polidori; The Vampyre

Confessions of an English opium-Eater; Thomas de Quincey

pretty much anything by Ann Radcliffe

There is a lot of Victorian fiction that continues in the gothic vein; Elizabeth Gaskell, Sheridan le Fanu, and Edgar Allan Poe all specialized in that sort of thing. Some other titles:

Bram Stoker; Dracula

Charles Dickens; The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Gaston Leroux; The Phantom of the Opera

Emily Bronte; Wuthering Heights

Oscar Wilde; The Picture of Dorian Gray

Everything I've listed above is in the public domain, and available online through Project Gutenberg and other sources.  

When it comes to the 20th and 21st centuries, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy certainly counts as gothic, as do Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and Jamaica Inn.

There was a huge market for "Gothic romances" in the '60s and '70s, and you can probably find a lot of them in thrift stores--just look for the books with cheesy covers depicting a young woman (usually wearing a flowy white gown and carrying a candlestick) fleeing a spooky old house or castle. Most of them are hilariously bad, but you might luck out and find something worthwhile. Victoria Holt's and Dorothy Eden's books from that period are usually a safe bet.

Then there's Anne Rice; the first three books in her Vampire Chronicles, plus The Witching Hour are among her better books, and are very much influenced by Victorian gothic writers.    

Answer 2

by gothic do you mean...like, vamps? or demons? or liiiike....death stuff? and literature, do you just mean books or like...older people books (no offense! as you can probably tell im pretty young!)  

Answer 3

Filling in the gaps... Lautreamont; Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer; Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Washington Irving; Robert Lewis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  If you're interested in more contemporary stuff, Shirley Jackson, Angela Carter, Joyce Carol Oates, Patrick McGrath, some Ian McEwan, some A. S. Byatt.  The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales is a truly excellent anthology, and The New Gothic (another anthology) is interesting if you want a look at the genre today.

Answer 4

My Swordhand Is Singing - Marcus Sedgwick

:)

Answer 5

Sparkle's list is pretty comprehensive. I have a couple of additions:

-The Monk by Matthew Lewis

-The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (technically the first Gothic novel, or so "they" say)

-Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (both a Gothic novel and a satire wrapped up in one).

One book I'd never really thought about being a Gothic novel until we read it in a class, but The Shining by Stephen King also fits the bill.

Answer 6

if you are talking about gothic lit? you might try victoria holt. she also writes under the pen names of phillipa carr and jean plaidy.

Answer 7

Classics: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Frankestein by Mary Shelley, the works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Turn of the s***w by Henry James.  More modern: Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier.