History Main / GothicHorror

Arguably the first Gothic horror novel is Horace Wapole's ''The Castle of Otranto'', written in 1760. Ann Radcliffe helped popularize the genre, and authors such as Ludwig Flammenberg, Eliza Parsons, Eleanor Sleath, and Francis Lathom finished out the eighteenth century Gothic horror writers. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw Gothic horror being parodied by authors like JaneAusten, but there were still straight examples provided by authors such as LordByron and MaryShelley. By the time the [[VictorianBritain Victorian era]] rolled around Gothic horror was beginning to run out of steam, but there were still quite a few people writing it -- in fact, most of the Gothic horror authors and works you've heard of probably come from this era (EdgarAllanPoe, for one). There were a few more notable Gothic authors in the early 20th century, but by the 1950s or so the genre had given way to modern {{Horror}}.

* William Hope Hodgson

* Louisa May Alcott - While best known for ''LittleWomen'', [[HeAlsoDid SheAlsoDid]] reasonably successful "sensational" Gothic romances under the pen name of A.M. Barnard.

* LouisaMayAlcott - While best known for ''LittleWomen'', S{{he Also Did}} reasonably successful "sensational" Gothic romances under the pen name of A.M. Barnard.

* Louisa May Alcott

* Daphne du Maurier

The name "Gothic" comes from a kind of architecture from TheMiddleAges (built by a tribe called the Goths -- not [[{{Goth}} that kind]], obviously). There were a lot of Gothic ruins lying around Britain, and people in the 18th and 19th centuries developed an interest in them because (a) ruins are always kind of mysterious and melancholy and creepy and (b) they evoked the time period they were built in, which was thought of as a [[TheDungAges barbaric]] time where people believed in (and did) all kinds of weird stuff. For this reason, most early Gothic horror novels were set in that era. They were usually also set in Catholic countries, because the Brits who wrote them considered Catholicism [[ReligionOfEvil sinister]] (yet also kinda cool).

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vampire_art_936.jpg]]

* Arthur Machen

* Henry James

* {{M. R. James}}

* {{M.R. James}}

* M.R. James

* G W M Reynolds

!Authors who wrote partially or entirely in the Gothic fiction genre include

!!Pre-Victorian

* Eaton Standard Bennot
* Eleanor Sleath
* Eliza Parsons
* Francis Lathom
* G W M Reynolds
* Horace Wapole - [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]] and gave us HauntedCastle

* LordByron - his ByronicHero was a major contribution to gothic fiction
* Ludwig Flammenberg
* Marques De Grosse
* MaryShelley - gave us FrankensteinsMonster and is considered the first ScienceFiction writer
* Regina Maria Roche

* EdgarAllanPoe - [[{{Understatement}} made some contributions to the horror genre]]

In the late nineteenth century Gothic horror gave rise to [[LoveCraftianTropes Weird Fiction]], a genre containing hazy boundaries with Gothic horror. Both genres were axed when horror, scifi, and fantasy crystallized but weird fiction managed to hold out a bit longer.

* Emily Bronte

Arguably the first Gothic horror novel is Horace Wapole's ''The Castle of Otranto'', written in 1760. Authors such as Ludwig Flammenberg, Eliza Parsons, Eleanor Sleath, and Francis Lathom finished out the eighteenth century Gothic horror writers. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw Gothic horror being parodied by authors like JaneAusten, but there were still straight examples provided by authors such as LordByron and MaryShelley. By the time the [[VictorianBritain Victorian era]] rolled around Gothic horror was beginning to run out of steam, but there were still quite a few people writing it -- in fact, most of the Gothic horror authors and works you've heard of probably come from this era (EdgarAllanPoe, for one). There were a few more notable Gothic authors in the early 20th century, but by the 1950s or so the genre had given way to modern {{Horror}}.

* Edward Bulwer-Lytton

* HPLovecraft - mostly wrote weird fiction

In the late nineteenth century Gothic horror gave rise to [[LoveCraftianFiction Weird Fiction]], a genre containing hazy boundaries with Gothic horror. Both genres were axed when horror, scifi, and fantasy crystallized but weird fiction managed to hold out a bit longer.

For a list of tropes used in the Gothic horror genre go to [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=rfjjxgfxkxe1yspmxyzqrb7t index of Gothic horror tropes.]]

In the late nineteenth century Gothic horror gave rise to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_fiction Weird Fiction]], a genre containing hazy boundaries with Gothic horror. Both genres were axed when horror, scifi, and fantasy crystallized but weird fiction managed to hold out a bit longer.

* Horace Wapole - [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]]

* Ann Radcliffe

Gothic Horror is the oldest of the {{horror}} genres. On the Romanticism end of RomanticismVersusEnlightenment, it tends to play on both the thrill and the fear of the unknown, and places a great importance on atmosphere. In addition to being important to the horror genre, the first {{scifi}}, {{fantasy}}, {{romance}}, {{mystery}}, and {{adventure}} authors drew inspiration from Gothic horror, so it's sometimes considered the parent of all modern genre fiction.

Gothic fiction is usually used as a synonym or is the name given to gothic horror stories that are saturated with the above mentioned scifi,fantasy,romance,mystery, or adventure elements.

Arguably the first Gothic horror novel is Horace Wapole's ''The Castle of Otranto'', written in 1760. Authors such as Ludwig Flammenberg, Eliza Parsons, Eleanor Sleath, and Francis Lathom finished out the eighteenth century Gothic horror writers. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw Gothic horror being parodied by authors like JaneAusten, but there were still straight examples provided by authors such as LordByron and MaryShelley. By the time the [[VictorianBritain Victorian era]] rolled around Gothic horror was beginning to run out of steam, but there were still quite a few people writing it -- in fact, most of the Gothic horror authors and works you know of probably come from this era (EdgarAllanPoe, for one). There were a few more notable Gothic authors in the early 20th century, but by the 1950s or so the genre had given way to modern {{Horror}}.

In the late nineteenth century gothic horror gave rise to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_fiction Weird Fiction]], a genre containing hazy boundaries with gothic horror. Both genres were axed when horror, scifi, and fantasy crystallized but weird fiction managed to hold out a bit longer.

For a list of tropes used in the Gothic horror genre go to [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=rfjjxgfxkxe1yspmxyzqrb7t index of gothic horror tropes.]]

!Authors who wrote partially or entirely in the gothic fiction genre include

* CharlesDickens - gave us VictorianLondon or at least the hollywood version of it

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