1. Gothic Literature

2. Edgar Allan Poe “Father” of Gothic Literature in America 1809-1849 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)

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. Nathanial Hawthorne 1804-1864 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Flannery O’Connor 1925-1964 Her characters are obsessed with sin and salvation Characters are quirky and “grotesque” Wrote “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”

11. William Faulkner 1897-1962 Adopted a strange style which used “stream of consciousness” and fractured chronology Won the Nobel Prize in literature Wrote “A Rose for Emily”