Gothic fiction
A literary genre built around ominous settings, suspense, supernatural or uncanny events, and fears rooted in repression, decay, or the past.
Gothic architecture: A medieval European architectural style marked by pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and large windows. Its churches and ruins supplied the genre with imposing, shadowed spaces.
The Castle of Otranto: Horace Walpole's 1764 novel of dynastic threat, supernatural events, and a medieval Italian castle. Walpole presented it as an early model of the Gothic novel.
The Mysteries of Udolpho: Ann Radcliffe's 1794 novel following Emily St. Aubert through danger, confinement, and apparent supernatural mysteries. It exemplifies the suspenseful architecture and explained mysteries of the Gothic romance.
Horror fiction: Fiction designed to evoke fear, dread, or revulsion through threats, violence, or the supernatural. Gothic fiction is a major tradition within horror, though it often emphasizes atmosphere and the past.
Psychoanalytic literary criticism: An approach to literature that interprets texts through concepts such as repression, desire, and the unconscious. Its vocabulary helps explain why Gothic secrets and returns resemble psychological symptoms.
Sublime (philosophy): An aesthetic experience of awe or terror before something vast, powerful, or beyond ordinary comprehension. Gothic landscapes turn this mixture of wonder and fear into atmosphere.
Horace Walpole: An English writer, antiquarian, and politician who published The Castle of Otranto in 1764. His novel helped establish the genre's medieval setting and supernatural machinery.
The Monk: Matthew Lewis's 1796 novel about a respected monk whose ambition leads to sexual violence and supernatural ruin. Its sensational transgressions expose the genre's capacity for religious and moral scandal.
Dark romanticism: A literary movement that explores sin, madness, evil, and the limits of human reason. Its focus on moral darkness overlaps with Gothic fiction's interest in repression and transgression.
Postcolonial Gothic: Writing that adapts Gothic conventions to examine colonial histories, racial power, and their lingering effects. It makes the genre's buried past a history of empire and its aftermath.