04-28-2009, 06:21 PM
wkoenigsmann Wrote:Yes, it is dead. As I wrote in an article of mine, I have a keen interest in literature, specifically that of the 19th century, when Gothic and "weird" fiction was in its heyday. For example, even today, Poe is considered a great master, although we don't really know why. Something about the haunting images of his writing stays with us in addition to the grandiose writing; the overwroughtness; the aura of decadence that resonanted as well with French poet Baudelaire and the French in general. Strange how a man now considered a literary genius was more popular abroad than in his own country.
I do think that our age is much more decadent, but also a lot less Romantic than that gilded age of Gothic Horrors. This is a subject that perturbs me, as I, someone who writes in a vein of Gothic Horror (for the most part), cannot find a proper genre for my writing. It is also disturbing, and asymptomatic of the malady of our modern age: lack of beauty. Unlike Poe's writing, which was beautiful, there is really no beauty in any of the modern Gothic of today. Aside from a few scant authors like Tanith Lee or Angela Carter, there is very little interest in aesthetically pleasing stories with an undertone of both malice and meaning, essential to that of fine Gothic literature.
I think we do know why Poe is considered a master of the gothic, it is because he took his lead from Walpole. Walpole had already written about some of the themes Poe tackled later on. I definitely disagree with you that the genre is dead, it is so not! Any of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles are gothic, particularly Sarah Waters is another fine gothic writer. Waters is heavily influenced by Dickens and Collins but she is a master at threading good classic 19th c. gothic into her novels which are set in 19th c. She has a Phd in lit. and did her thesis on Dickens so there you go.
Susan Hill is another great gothic writer of today, Woman in Black and Mrs De Winter are fab!
