GOTHIC LITERATURE

The etymology of the word "Gothic" is from the French gothique and in Latin, Gothi, which means "not classical." A reference to the ancient Germanic peoples language, it became a medieval style of art and architecture that emerged in Northern Europe in the 1640s, and came to apply to the body of work produced in England between about 1750 and about 1820. By the 19th century it had became known as a literary style that used medieval settings to suggest mystery and horror.

Romantic and Victorian authors who embraced this genre included Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and with a particular focus on psychological terror, the entire canon of Edgar Allan Poe. The word "gothic" has had a resurgence of popularity with selective young people: "goth" has come to represent a culture of dark music, dress, and attitude intent to be shocking or disturbing to others.

Originating in England and Germany in the later part of the 18th century, it grew out of Romanticism, a strong reaction against the Transcendental Movement. Dark Romanticism draws from darker elements of the human psyche, the evil side of spiritual truth. Gothic literature took that further, involving horror, terror, death, omens, the supernatural, and heroines in distress. The first recognized Gothic novel was Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764).

The historical context of Gothic Literature has evolved with the prevailing social, political, and personal events of the authors and their times. Regardless of the context and setting, such as the Salem Witch Trials, the American Revolutionary War, the Vietnam War, the post-Zombie apocalypse, unrequited love (a timeless theme), works of Gothic literature utilize common elements that keep readers coming back for more.

Though the genre has come in and out of popularity, authors throughout the ages continue to have an audience for their stories of terror, horror and mysteries of the supernatural.