Gothic Fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story". The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. Melodrama and parody (including self-parody) were other long-standing features of the Gothic initiated by Walpole.
Read more about Gothic Fiction: Developments in Continental Europe, and The Monk, German Gothic Fiction, Gothic Fiction From The Russian Empire, The Romantics, Victorian Gothic, Parody
Famous quotes containing the words gothic and/or fiction:
“The Gothic cathedral is a blossoming in stone subdued by the insatiable demand of harmony in man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“My mother ... believed fiction gave one an unrealistic view of the world. Once she caught me reading a novel and chastised me: “Never let me catch you doing that again, remember what happened to Emma Bovary.””
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)