Gothic Genres

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the fundamental characteristics of the Gothic literary form including horror, terror, and intensely dark and shadowy settings. The author examines the works of Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, and concentrates primarily on the personal gothic styles of Edgar Allen Poe in "The Fall of the House of Usher". The paper includes Poe's biography and how his life circumstances affected his writing.

From the Paper:

"The haunted and luckless life of Edgar Allan Poe ended in 1849, but the body of literature that this life produced lives on as a legacy to the literary world. Although the Gothic genre of literature faded into near obscurity by the end of the nineteenth century, Poe's sense of suspense and tendency for terror became a major influence in the development of the genres of mystery, science fiction and horror that emerged in the twentieth century. It is a legacy that was born in the early twentieth century writings of authors such as H.P. Lovecraft. It is a legacy that was reborn in Anne Rice's vampires and one that lives on in Stephen King's Overlook Hotel. It is a legacy that will live on, quoth the authors, "Evermore".

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