Getting into the Halloween spirit at the beginning of the month, the topic for the October 2023 meeting was Gothic Fiction or Horror. Beyond classic Gothic fiction, collectors were encouraged to include other sub-genres, including Modern, Southern, and Urban Gothic. One collector presented a pre-Gothic work to show its influence on a classic Gothic novel, Frankenstein, while another collector presented Shelley's story itself. Beyond the fictional works, one collector also shared a nonfiction book on horror and Gothic tales, which touched on many of the fictional works shown during the meeting.
Pre-Gothic Influence
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| Paradise Lost |
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. New York: Pollard & Moss, 1887. With Fifty Full-Page Illustrations by Gustave
Doré. First published in 1667, Milton's
epic poem predates the Gothic genre by a century, but the aesthetic and elements
of the genre are abundant in the work.
Mary Shelley was strongly influenced by Paradise Lost, and it
appears in multiple ways throughout Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein and the monster both
quote Milton. Frankenstein’s name,
Victor, is derived from Milton's references to God as "the victor," and the
monster refers to himself as the fallen angel, a term Milton uses for Satan. Shelley writes that the monster reads Paradise
Lost in the novel. [See Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein below.]
Classic Gothic Fiction
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| The Castle of Otranto |
Walpole, Horace. The Castle of Otranto. London: The Folio Society, 1976. Introduction by Devendra P. Varma. Lithographs by Charles Keeping. First published in 1764, The Castle of Otranto is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, inspiring a new literary genre popular throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The medieval aesthetic established by Walpole not only shaped the Gothic stories of his contemporaries and the next generation of writers such as Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker—all shown below—but also continues to shape Gothic literature today.
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| The Mysteries of Udolpho |
Radcliffe, Ann. The Mysteries of Udolpho. London: J.M. Dent, 1962. In 2 volumes. The Mysteries of Udolpho was first published in 1794 in four volumes and is regarded as the archetype of the Gothic novel. Its elements of physical and psychological terror, questionably supernatural events, and a scheming villain and persecuted heroine are closely imitated by other Gothic writers. Radcliffe's characters and the story itself is alluded to, if not directly quoted, by other writers such as Poe in "The Oval Portrait" and Henry James in The Turning of the Screw (see below). Non-Gothic writers such as Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Anthony Trollope, and Herman Melville also reference Radcliffe and her story in their works.
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| The Monk |
Lewis, Matthew. The Monk. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Introduction by Stephen King. The Monk: A Romance was first published in 1796 in three volumes. It was published anonymously, listing the author only as "M. L." The book reviewed well, and subsequent editions were published under Lewis’s full name. The novel drew praise both for Lewis's attention to the horror aspect of the novel and its convoluted plot. These two elements helped grow the genre and made it one of the most important Gothic novels of the time.
Lewis, Matthew. The Monk. New York: Evergreen / Grove Press, 1959. Introduction by John Berryman. One of the plot lines of the book traces the
corruption and downfall of Ambrosio, the monk.
The scandalous plot caused some controversy at the time, triggering
considerable distress within Lewis's family.
Lewis attempted to make reparation with his family by revising the work
and expurgating "every syllable which could be grounded the slightest
construction of immorality," he wrote to his father in a letter in advance of
the fourth edition, revised, published in 1798.
This copy is a reprint of the first unexpurgated American edition,
returning to the original text of the third edition. [Photographed below with Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.]
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| Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus |
Shelley, Mary W. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1833. In 2 volumes. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was first published anonymously in 1818, in three volumes, with a preface by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The second edition, published in 1823, credited Mary Shelley as the author and divided the publication into two volumes. This 1833 American edition continued the 2-volume division of the second English edition even though a "popular" edition in one volume was released by a British publisher in 1831. That edition was heavily edited by Shelley to make the story less radical and has become the more widely published edition today. Some readers and scholars, however, prefer the original version of the story, claiming it preserves the spirit of the genesis of the story. Mary wrote Frankenstein as her contribution to a competition among friends—Mary, her husband Percy, Lord Byron, and John Polidori—in 1816 to see who could write the best horror story.
Nota Bene: John Polidori's contribution to the horror
story competition was "The Vampyre," a short story first published in
1819. Polidori’s story was the first
published modern vampire story and is considered the progenitor of the romantic
vampire genre, influencing such works as Bram Stoker's Dracula,
published in 1897 (see below).
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| Melmoth the Wanderer |
Maturin, Charles. Melmoth the Wanderer. London: The Folio Society, 1993. Melmoth the Wanderer was first published in 1820. The plot leans heavily into the supernatural as the titular character sells his soul to the devil in exchange for an extended lifespan. By highlighting the supernatural element of the Gothic genre, H. P. Lovecraft in Supernatural Horror in Literature professes Melmoth the Wanderer as "an enormous stride in the evolution of the horror-tale" (see below) and Devendra Varma in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural describes it as "the crowning achievement of the Gothic Romance."
"The Fall of the House of Usher"
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The
Fall of the House of Usher." Burton's
Gentleman's Magazine, Volume V, July to December 1839. Poe's short story was first published in Burton's
Gentleman's Magazine in 1839 before being revised for inclusion in Tales
of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840).
In the introduction to a later collection of Poe stories, G. R. Thomson
writes, "the tale has long been hailed as a masterpiece of Gothic horror." The story develops themes of isolation,
madness, and the metaphysical to craft its Gothic aesthetic. The element of the physical deterioration and
crumbling of the physical house in the story is an oft-repeated device in
Gothic horror, harkening back to Walpole's The Castle of Otranto.
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| The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
Dickens, Charles. The Mystery of Edwin Drood. London: Macmillan & Co., 1925. The Mystery of Edwin Drood is Dickens's final, though unfinished, novel. The book was scheduled to be published in twelve installments from April 1870 to February 1871, but Dickens died in June 1870 before completing the story. Chapman & Hall published the six completed installments from April to September 1870. In part because the novel is incomplete, Dickensian readers have debated whether Drood is a Gothic novel since the ending is unknown and the murderer and motive are not revealed. Some of Dickens's other works, notably Oliver Twist and Bleak House, have been described as Gothic due to the descriptions of the slums of London, the sheer depravity of the poor, and the conditions in which they live; thus, these novels are often called "London Gothic," depicting the seedier side of the city. London’s opium dens feature prominently in Drood, especially after Edwin's death when the other characters all migrate to London. It is here, near the end of Dickens's completed installments, that London's darker side begins to emerge and moves the story to what by more modern classifications would be considered Urban Gothic.
The Monk and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Weir of Hermiston. London: Folio Society, 2006. Illustrated by Grahame Baker Smith. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
was first published in 1886 and is considered a defining book of the Gothic
horror genre for its interplay of the dualities of good versus evil and
civility versus barbarism. While many Gothic
writers employ supernatural causes of evil, Stevenson draws on Freudian
theories of the conscious and unconscious mind to explore the idea of the evil
within oneself, an evil far more sinister and frightening than any external source. This Folio Society edition is published
together with Stevenson's unfinished novel, Weir of Hermiston.
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| The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray |
Wilde, Oscar. The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011. The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in the July 1890 issue. Without Wilde's knowledge, the story was heavily edited with a section of more than 500 words removed, fearing the story was indecent as originally submitted. When it was first published in book form the following year, some of the deleted content was restored, but some material was still edited to tone down the homosexual content. In this 2011 unexpurgated edition, The Picture of Dorian Gray finally appears for the first time as originally written by Wilde. His only novel, Wilde's tale is hailed as a classic of late-Victorian Gothic literature.
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| Dracula |
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1931. Photoplay edition with illustrations from the Universal Picture produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr. Dracula was first published in 1897. Some contemporary critics reviewed the book positively noting its effective use of horror, but others critiqued it negatively for being excessively frightening. With mixed reviews, the book was not an instant success and Stoker earned very little money from it during his lifetime. The book surged in popularity after Universal Studios purchased the movie rights and released the 1931 film Dracula. The film adaptation gave Dracula a second life (pun intended) and helped cement the novel as a classic of Gothic fiction.
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| Title page and frontispiece with studio still of Bela Lugosi as Dracula and Helen Chandler as Mina |
Nota Bene: When Stoker applied for copyright in the United States, he provided only one copy of the book instead of two to the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. Having not fully complied with US copyright law, Dracula prematurely fell into the public domain. This error was not discovered until Universal Studios purchased the rights to adapt the story to film. US publishers, therefore, were able to reprint the book without license. Also, because the story—and, more importantly, the character Dracula—is in the public domain, countless Dracula movies have been made without securing rights, each renewing interest in the original story. As a result, Dracula has never been out of print.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Wynne-Jones, Tim. Dracula
by Bram Stoker. Toronto: Key Porter
Books, 1997. Illustrated by Laszlo
Gal. Dracula by Bram Stoker is a fully
illustrated abridgement of the classic novel targeted to young readers.
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| The Turn of the Screw |
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw, The Aspern Papers, and Seven Other Stories. London: Collins, 1956. With an introduction by Michael Swan. The Turn of the Screw was originally published in 12 serial installments in Collier's Weekly from January to April 1898. Later that year, it was published in book form in The Two Magics together with James's "Covering End." James made many minor revisions to the text for inclusion in the 1908 New York Edition, a 24-volume collection of his works published and released between 1907 and 1909. Early reviews of the 1898 publication quickly located The Turn of the Screw within the canon of Gothic fiction. It was hailed as a brilliant ghost story and praised for its ability to frighten the reader. Initial reviewers bought into the supernatural ghost story form, but later critics proffered the supernatural elements as figments of one character's imagination. The question of real versus perceived supernatural events has been an ongoing tension of the Gothic genre since Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho.
Modern Gothic Fiction
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| The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story |
Hill, Susan. The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story. New York: David R. Godine, 1986. First published in 1983, The Woman in Black is a Victorian-styled traditional ghost story about a mysterious specter which haunts a small Edwardian English town. The book is acclaimed for the author's ability to create not simply a setting but an atmosphere for horror; and, though thrilling from the start, Hill is able to pace the suspense in what critics have called "controlled horror."
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| A Density of Souls |
Rice, Christopher. A Density of Souls. New York: Hyperion, 2000. A Density of Souls is the debut novel of Christopher Rice, the son of Anne Rice. Seeking to distinguish his own writing from that of his mother's horror novels—as well as the horror novels of his aunt, Alice Borchardt—Christopher preferred to call his early works "supernatural thrillers." The story is set in New Orleans—where Christopher was living and caring for his mother while she recovered from a medical crisis when he started writing the book—and, like Dickens, Rice explores the seedier side of the city. Rice said he "put the city through such hell, both figuratively and literally," as he wrote what became a quintessential Urban Gothic thriller.
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| Light Before Day |
Rice, Christopher. Light Before Day. New York: Hyperion, 2005. As Rice developed as a writer, he became more comfortable with his inclination to write horror. He relinquished his self-described "supernatural thriller" style and by his third novel, Light Before Day, fully leaned into the Urban Gothic thriller. The novel is set in Los Angeles, where the main character, a journalist, must enter the seedy underbelly of the city to uncover a hidden story, putting his own life in great peril in the process. Rice crafts a modern noir thriller in a Gothic 21st century California landscape.
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| Marina: A Gothic Tale |
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz. Marina: A Gothic Tale. New York: Little Brown and Co., 2014. Marina is a young adult novel first published in 1999. It is a supernatural mystery set in 1970s Barcelona, where the main characters navigate and explore haunting trails, abandoned mansions, and hidden gardens, creating a multitude of mysterious settings where horror awaits.
Nonfiction
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| Supernatural Horror in Literature |
Lovecraft, Howard Phillips. Supernatural Horror in Literature. New York: Ben Abramson, 1945. Introduction by August Derleth. "Supernatural Horror in Literature" is an extended essay first published in the one-issue magazine The Recluse in August 1927. It was updated and expanded in book form in Lovecraft's The Outsider and Others in 1939. Lovecraft surveys the development of horror fiction and evaluates the achievements of the genre as of the time of publication. Closely following a similar work, Edith Birkhead's The Tale of Terror (1921), Lovecraft traces horror fiction from early Gothic horror to later Edwardian thrillers. Lovecraft expounds on many of the writers and works shown above, including The Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk, Frankenstein, Melmoth the Wanderer, "The Fall of the House of Usher," The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, and The Turn of the Screw.
