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What is American Gothic literature?
What are the elements of American Gothic fiction?
What are the elements of Gothic literature?
Is there a supernatural element in American Gothic fiction?
What are the characteristics of Gothic architecture?
What is a Gothic setting?
American gothic fiction is a subgenre of gothic fiction. Elements specific to American Gothic include: rationality versus the irrational, puritanism, guilt, the uncanny (das unheimliche), ab-humans, ghosts, and monsters.
- A Desolate, Haunted Setting. A desolate, barren, and haunted setting is one of the major key elements in Gothic literature. A Gothic novel always opens in old castles, desolate mansions, haunted and abandoned houses, enchanted monasteries and ruined buildings – all displaying the aesthetics of Gothic architecture.
- Dark and Mysterious Atmosphere. The atmosphere of darkness, mystery, and suspense always prevail over Gothic literature. The night is the key motif in Gothic novels.
- Affiliation With Supernatural Forces. Another key element of Gothic literature is its affiliation with supernatural forces such as ghosts, vampires, giants, monsters, demons and zombies.
- Emotional Extremes. The Gothic novels and stories are melodramatic. The characters are screaming, sobbing, frightening, raging, and swooning in the story.
- Mystery and Fear. One of the crucial components of a captivating Gothic story evokes feelings of suspense and fear. Anything that is beyond scientific understanding lends way to mystery, and Gothic atmospheres leverage this principle.
- Omens and Curses. Foreshadowing, a literary device used to hint at events to come, occurs in the form of visions, omens, and curses throughout many narratives in Gothic literature.
- Atmosphere and Setting. Gothic novelists set the tone by carefully choosing the physical location of a scene, as the atmosphere and environment of a Gothic novel directly contributed to the feeling of fear and uneasiness.
- Supernatural and Paranormal Activity. Much of Gothic literature’s allure comes from the genre’s suggestion of supernatural or inexplicable events, such as inanimate objects coming to life, ghosts, spirits, and vampires like that of Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic fantasy, Dracula.
Among the most striking features of the Gothic genre is the style of its architectural settings. In early Gothic these were often medievalist, involving ancient stone buildings with elaborate, "Gothic" arches, buttresses, passageways, and crypts.
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The elements of American Gothic in Brown's major works serve to illuminate early American identity by revealing the complexities and contradictions inherent in a young nation. Through dark settings and psychological turmoil, Brown reflects societal tensions related to freedom and control while challenging idealized notions of America.
May 28, 2006 · 2 The genesis of “Gothic” fiction; 3 The 1790s; 4 French and German Gothic; 5 Gothic fictions and Romantic writing in Britain; 6 Scottish and Irish Gothic; 7 English Gothic theatre; 8 The Victorian Gothic in English novels and stories, 1830-1880; 9 The rise of American Gothic; 10 British Gothic fiction, 1885-1930; 11 The Gothic on screen ...
American Gothic literature, a homegrown genre set in uniquely American settings — the frontier, sometimes even suburbia — explores the darker elements of the nation’s culture and history. Historical sins like slavery, genocide and the destruction of the wilderness are often part and parcel of American Gothic fiction.
