Gothic Literature

Edgar Allan Poe “Father” of Gothic Literature in America Lived with foster parents (Allans) since age 3 His mom, foster mom & wife died of TB Expelled from West Point for deliberately misbehaving At 22, he moved in with Aunt & cousin Married cousin in 1836 (he was 27, she was 13)

Poe’s Legacy He reached popularity while alive, but lived most of his life in poverty Considered the “founder” of the modern short story Originator of the detective story Collapsed in a Baltimore street; died in the hospital a few days later

Poe’s Unique Style Use of dashes or other interrupters in sentences to suggest hurried or excited speech Strong rhythm, produced by repetition of phrases and word patterns Frequent use of figurative language (similes & metaphors) Formal language suited to upper-class settings and/or intellectual characters

Works by Poe “The Masque of the Red Death” “The Raven” “The Black Cat”

Nathanial Hawthorne Born in Salem, Massachusetts Had an unhappy childhood, and became reclusive, like his mother Good friend of writers Longfellow & Emerson Like Poe, he was successful in his life, but made little money

Hawthorne, Continued Died while visiting Former President Franklin Pierce Best known/most successful work was a novel called The Scarlet Letter Wrote “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” an allegory

Hawthorne’s Style Like Poe, Hawthorne used formal language He used foreshadowing, to give clues about what is to come He used imagery and figurative to create a creepy “mood” or atmosphere in his works

Southern Gothic A modern offshoot of Gothic literature, inspired by Poe and Hawthorne Popular in the early to middle 1900’s Writers still used creepy characters and strange situations, but not to scare audiences Purpose was to comment on society

Flannery O’Connor Her characters are obsessed with sin and salvation Characters are quirky and “grotesque” Wrote “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”

William Faulkner Adopted a strange style which used “stream of consciousness” and fractured chronology Won the Nobel Prize in literature Wrote “A Rose for Emily”