Illinois Library. (2020). Libguides. Home - LibGuides at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://guides.library.illinois.edu/ 

What is Gothic? 

ProQuest. (2022). ProQuest. ProQuest. Retrieved July 6, 2022, from https://www.proquest.com/ 

ProQuest: The Female Gothic 

Pressbooks. (2022). Pressbooks. Open Education Network. Retrieved July 6, 2022, from https://oen.pressbooks.pub/ 

PressBooks: Gothic Literature in the Eighteenth Century 

- Illinois Library 
- ProQuest
- PressBooks

Arizona State University

Gothic Literature or Gothic Horror, as it was called in the 20th century, is a literary aesthetic. The name is a reference to the Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of early Gothic novels. 

Gothic Literature

Gothic Literature contains stories focused on the dark, eerie, and mysterious, often containing elements of terror, horror, and the macabre. Common themes include power, confinement, and isolation. This genre led to the rise of pulp magazines in the early twentieth century, the modern horror genre, and the Southern Gothic. 

Gothic Literature Themes

- The Castle of Otranto 
- The Mysteries of Udolpho
- The Monk
- Frankenstein
- The Picture of Dorian Gray 
- Carmilla
- Dracula

Gothic Literature Examples

Gothic literature is associated with the Gothic Revival architecture of the same era. English Gothic writers often associated medieval buildings with what they saw as a dark era with harsh laws and torture.  

Gothic Literature and Architecture 

- Eighteenth-Century Gothic Literature
- Female Gothic Literature 

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