Obviously we're drifting afar the original thread, but I just have to ask: Doesn't having the presence of a camera and crew focused on the bride's face in effect cancel any romance that could exist in such a scenario? The very face that we are all watching her, vicariously getting our valves pushed through her experience, makes it an unromantic event and turns it into a spectator sport.

But yes, I see your point about the whole thing being reduced to a single day, a ritual. Not much emphasis on the build-up, the courtship.

wow they even have romances with African Americans now! Some of them even have stress, traffic and cell phones. *Gasp!*

Well, I guess I believe Gothic literature can be written and enjoyed in any century.

BUT, I think there is one factor that is missing here and that is the change in the enjoyment of horror. Gothic literature was the original horror industry. People don't seem to want anything so subtle and psychological anymore.

I enjoy horror, but I enjoy psychological horror (though I am really enjoying the NBC Fear Itself series, although it is graphic.) The less I see, the more frightened I am. However, the trend in horror is "torture porn" which means actually seeing horrible, grotesque things being done to living things. Is it enjoyment of the shock value, the rush of adrenaline, or just a sadistic turn in today's society? I don't know, but this kind of enjoyment of horror just doesn't lend itself to the subtleties of the Gothic.

Based on this forum, I think that there is a market for Gothic literature, but it has to be sold under Romance, General Fiction, and maybe Horror.

From Morris Berman's book, Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire:

Thus, it should not surprise us that the market for foreign books in English translation, which did a brisk trade in this country from the 1940s to the end of the 1970s, has now dried up. Laurie Brown, senior vice president for marketing and sales at Harcourt publishers, comments that Americans are not interested in foreign literature because it tends to be philosophical and reflective. Americans, she says, "want more immediate gratification." They have little understanding of nuance, and not much ability, or patience, to read between the lines.

And yet there still seems to be a flourishing American market for serious fiction, and "lit" authors like Thomas Pynchon et al. don't seem hard-hit by this cultural malaise. It appears that the slowly creeping fungus of mass dullardliness affects mainly the genre fiction markets. (I won't even attempt to comment on what's happened to movies.)

I still say there's hope. There are intelligent, imaginative people born all the time. Who knows, perhaps Gothic suspense novels will see a comeback.

I also agree that there is an audience out there for the gothic novel. I just finished writing one and its making the rounds, looking for an agent. I would like to see more of them out there. Does anyone have any suggestions that we can bring to the publishers that would bring them back?

Linda

Maybe if we could find a way to direct them to this forum, they will see there are people out there who are interested. We are still a small group, so we will have little impact, but I'm sure there are other "closet Gothic lovers" out there who have not joined our group. We need a "lobbyist movement".

I could help with that!

I will be e-mailing Romantic Times to see if they have any suggestions. I've tried to contact the former editor of The Gothic Journal. Maybe it can be brought back. I loved that magazine. I saved whatever copies I had. Maybe some of the publishers can reissue the old gothics Hopefully, readers will buy a ton of them, and the publishers will realize that we are willing to put money down to buy these gothic treasures. The law of supply and demand, in other words.

Trilby, what do you suggest? I get many newsletters from many publishers. I'll try to e-mail them with the suggestion of re-issuing these wonderful books. It is worth a try.

Linda

If that would be possible, it would be a wonderful dream. If they do, I hope they reissue with the beautiful original covers. I think it would really help with contemporary authors writing for the Gothic market as well.