American gothic fiction is a subgenre of

gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of e ...

. Elements specific to American Gothic include: rationality versus the

irrational Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking, or acting without inclusion of rationality. It is more specifically described as an action or opinion given through inadequate use of reason, or through emotional distress or cognitive deficiency. T ...

puritanism The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...

guilt Guilt may refer to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music * ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims * "Guilt" (The Long Bl ...

, the

uncanny The uncanny is the psychological experience of something as not simply mysterious, but creepy, often in a strangely familiar way. It may describe incidents where a familiar thing or event is encountered in an unsettling, eerie, or taboo context. ...

(''das unheimliche''), ab-humans, ghosts, and

monsters A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

Analysis of major themes

The inability of many Gothic characters to overcome perversity by rational thought is quintessential American Gothic. It is not uncommon for a protagonist to be sucked into the realm of madness because of his or her inclination towards the irrational. A tendency such as this flies in the face of higher reason and seems to mock 18th-century Enlightenment thinking as outlined by ''

Common Sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...

'' and ''

The Age of Reason ''The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology'' is a work by English and American political activist Thomas Paine, arguing for the philosophical position of deism. It follows in the tradition of 18th-century Briti ...

''. Also, one cannot ignore the contemporary Gothic themes of mechanism and automation that rationalism and logic lead to.

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

imagery, particularly that of Hell, acted as potent brain candy for 19th-century authors like

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

and

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

.George Parsons Lathop
''A Study of Hawthorne''
pp 300-309 (Scholarly Press, 1970) The dark and nightmarish visions the Puritan culture of condemnation, reinforced by shame and guilt, created a lasting impact on the collective consciousness. Notions of predestination and original sin added to the doom and gloom of traditional Puritan values. This perspective and its underlying hold on American society ripened the blossoming of stories like ''

Rachel Dyer ''Rachel Dyer: A North American Story'' is a Gothic historical novel by American writer John Neal. Published in 1828 in Maine, it is the first bound novel about the Salem witch trials. Though it garnered little critical notice in its day, i ...

'' (the first novel about the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

), "

The Pit and the Pendulum "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual ''The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843''. The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of ...

", "

Young Goodman Brown "Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th-century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all ...

", and ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, ...

''. The dungeons and endless corridors that are a hallmark of European Gothic are far removed from American Gothic, in which castles are replaced with caves. Lloyd-Smith reinterprets ''

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'' to make this point convincingly. Early settlers were prone to fear linked to the unexplored territory which surrounded, and in some cases, engulfed them. Fear of the unknown stemming from environmental factors like darkness and vastness is notable in Charles Brockden Brown's ''Edgar Huntly''. The emergence of the "ab-human" in American gothic fiction was closely coupled with the emergence of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution. Ideas of evolution or devolution of a species, new biological knowledge, and technological advancement created a fertile environment for many to question their essential humanity. Parallels between humans and other living things on the planet were made obvious by the aforementioned. This is manifest in stories like H.P. Lovecraft’s "The Outsider (short story), The Outsider" and Nicholson Baker's "Subsoil". Ghosts and monsters are closely related to this theme; they function as the spiritual equivalent of the abhuman and may be evocative of unseen realities, as in ''The Bostonians''. Julia Kristeva's concepts of jouissance and abjection are employed by American Gothic authors such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman.Allan Lloyd Smith
''American Gothic Fiction: An Introduction''
pp. 94–108 (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004) Kristeva theorizes that the expulsion of all things defiling, much like a corpse, is a common coping mechanism for humanity. Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" exploits this concept. Furthermore, "The Yellow Wallpaper" can be read as a social commentary on the oppressive conditions women suffered in their home lives at the turn of the 20th century.

Early American Gothic

Early American Gothic writers were particularly concerned with frontier wilderness anxiety and the lasting effects of a Puritanical society. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving is perhaps the most famous example of Thirteen Colonies, American Colonial-era Gothic fiction. Charles Brockden Brown was deeply affected by these circumstances, as can be seen in ''Wieland (novel), Wieland''. That novel inspired ''Logan (novel), Logan'' by John Neal (writer), John Neal, which is notable for rejecting British Gothic conventions in favor of distinctly American materials. Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving are often grouped together. They present impressive, albeit disturbing, portraits of the human experience. Poe accomplished this through the window of a diseased and depressive fascination with the morose, Irving with the keen charm of a masterful storyteller, and Hawthorne with familial bonds to past abominations like the Salem Witch Trials which he addresses in "The Custom House."

Southern American Gothic

The Southern Gothic includes stories set in the Southern United States, particularly following the American Civil War, Civil War and set in the economic and cultural decline that engulfed the region. Southern Gothic stories tend to focus on the decaying economic, educational and living standards of the Reconstruction era, post-Civil War South. There is often a heavy emphasis on race and class relations, while the rural environment provides an effective substitute for traditional Old World Gothic settings; for example, plantation estates fill the role of European castles. Some writers of Southern Gothic include William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty.

New American Gothic

Authors who fall under the category of "New American Gothic" include: Flannery O'Connor, John Hawkes (novelist), John Hawkes and J.D. Salinger. These writers rely on the use of private worlds to weave their Gothic intrigue, as such the destruction of the family unit is commonplace in the New American Gothic. The psyche becomes the setting in the microcosms this particular brand of horror creates.Malin, Irving. "New American Gothic"
pp.5-12 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Press, 1962) Typically, these stories have a sort of "antihero"; an anxiety-riddled individual of little admirable strength. These features are conspicuous in stories such as "A Good Man is Hard to Find", "The Laughing Man (short story), The Laughing Man", ''Wise Blood'', ''The Lime Twig'' and ''The Beetle Leg''. ''Note: Flannery O'Connor is cross-referenced as a Southern Gothic author.''

Prominent examples

* ''Wieland (novel), Wieland'' (1798) by Charles Brockden Brown * ''Edgar Huntly'' (1799) by Charles Brockden Brown * "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) by Washington Irving * "

" (1835) by

* "The Minister's Black Veil" (1836) by

* ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'' (1838) by

* "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) by

(s:The Fall of the House of Usher, Full text at Wikisource) * "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843) by

(s:The Tell-Tale Heart, Full text at Wikisource) * ''The House of the Seven Gables'' (1851) by

* ''Moby-Dick'' (1851) by Herman Melville * "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman ''
Full text
at Project Gutenberg) * "Afterward (short story)" (1910) by Edith Wharton ''
Full Text
* "The Rats in the Walls" (1924) by H.P. Lovecraft * ''Absalom, Absalom!'' (1936) by William Faulkner * "The Lottery" (1948) by Shirley Jackson * ''The Haunting of Hill House'' (1959) by Shirley Jackson *''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1960) by Harper Lee * ''We Have Always Lived in the Castle'' (1962) by Shirley Jackson * ''Child of God'' (1973) by Cormac McCarthy * ''Interview with the Vampire'' (1976) by Anne Rice * ''The Shining (novel), The Shining'' (1977) by Stephen King * ''Beloved (novel), Beloved'' (1987) by Toni Morrison * ''House of Leaves'' (2000) by Mark Z Danielewski, Mark Z. Danielewski

Notes

External links

*
American Gothic Tales: Edited by Joyce Carol Oates
' (Plume, 1996). {{Fantasy fiction Gothic fiction, American gothic fiction American literature