’Modern Gothic is shaped by the development of industrialised societies, the rapid growth of cities and the horrors of WWI. These events led to the destabilisation of self and fragmentation of reality which the genre represents with its fragmented, internalised, and multiplied perspectives. New genre like science fiction, fantasy, suspense, and crime fiction borrow from the Gothic to the present day.’

‘The Uncanny is the experience of something as strangely familiar, and often occurs when a familiar object or event is encountered in an unsettling, eerie, or taboo context. From Sigmund Freud’s 1919 essay “Das Unheimliche”, which explores the eeriness of dolls and waxworks which are “unheimliche” or uncanny because of their strange imitation of humanity.’

The Gothic genre spread beyond the written word with the advent of modern cinema, here are some notable works:

‘Directed by Robert Wiene and starring Conrad Veidt, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a quintessential work of German Expressionaist cinema that tells the story of a nefarious hypnotist who uses a somnambulist or sleepwalker to commit murders.’

Followed in 1922 by Nosferatu, wine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror) is an unathorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897).

In 1924 The Hands of Orlac directed by Robert Wiene and starring Conrad Veidt from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Orlac is about a pianist who loses his hands in a railway accident and receives the transplanted hands of a murderer.

Metropolis follows in 1925 directed by Fritz Lang, Metropolis is a science fiction film that uses the German expressionist style to depict a futuristic dystopia where class division and industrial technology divide the masses.  

‘The story creates a world of lurking horrors and bizarre denizens: A demented mesmerist, hellbent on mentally crushing the girl he loves; a gigantic kite raised to rid the lan of an unnatural infestation of birds; and all the while, the great white worm slithers below, seeking its next victim.’

‘Weird Tales was an American Pulp Magazine that printed fantasy and horror fiction. They are known for printing H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos stories and influencing generations of genre writers.

H.P Lovecraft [was] an American author of weird fiction and horror, Lovecraft published The Call of Cthulhu in Weird Tales. This work along with The Rats in the Walls, At the Mountains of Madness, THe Shadow over Inssmouth, and THe Shadow Out of Time create the basis of his Cthulhu Mythos, a universe of otherworldly beings and psychological terror that characterises Lovecraftian Horror.

’Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel by the English author Daphne du Maurier. It depicts an unnamed young woman who impetuously marries a wealthy widower, before discovering that both he and his household are haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the title character.’

Charles ‘Chas’ Addams, while he didn’t create Gothic literature, absolutely created cartoons and comics within the Gothic wheelhouse, that has inspired Gothic works, and made a huge impact on the genre.

I’ve chosen this book in particular to represent his works, as although published in 2010, it covers the vast span of his works creating The Addams Family cartoons for The Newyorker starting in 1938. Cartoons that he continued making and publishing with The Newyorker until his death.

Featuring themes of death, black comedy, murder, hauntings, and other classically gothic themes, Chas has become a huge name in the gothic genre and set the stage for creators such as Edward Gorey and Tim Burton.

‘Mervyn Peake publishes Titus Groan, later followed by Gormenghast and Titus Alone.

Peake’s epic trilogy for adults introduces the castle-kingdom of Gormenghast, an exaggerated, baroque, stylised world that merges Gothic and fantasy literature inspiring future generations of children’s writers.’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/articles/zvr9vk7

A Gothic novel written by Rebecca author Daphne du Maurier. This novel bears thematic similarities to Rebecca. It is a Gothic mystery romance set in a large estate in Cornwall, England. This work features the common Gothic theme of doubles. ‘Closely related to the concept of doppelgängers, Gothic doubles may or may not bear a close physical resemblance to each other, but their lives always parallel each other in some way and their fates may be deeply intertwined.’

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Dragonwyck is a Gothic historical romance novel written by the American writer Anya Seton. It tells the story of Miranda Wells and her abusive marriage to Nicholas Van Ryn. Set in the ‘historical background of the Patroon system, Anti-Rent Wars, Astor Place Riots, and steamboat racing on the Hudson River.’

The typical gothic elements are abound with ‘mysterious deaths, a mansion with haunted rooms.’ Along with an ‘oppressive, unsettling atmosphere.’

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Arguably Edward Gorey’s most well known work, I’ve again chosen this book to represent his body of work. Like Chas Addams, Gorey took the Gothic genre and elements and reinvented them in cartoon and illustrative form.

His work frequently featured themes of otherness, death, hauntings, murder, and black comedy. Gorey’s work went on to inspire creators such as Tim Burton and Lemony Snicket.

The 1959 gothic horror novel by American Author Shirley Jackson who became well known for her work in the genre.

“The author decided to write “a ghost story” after reading about a group of 19th century “psychic researchers” who studied a house and somberly reported their supposedly scientific findings to the Society for Psychic Research. What Jackson discovered in their “dry reports was not the story of a haunted house, it was the story of several earnest, I believe misguided, certainly determined people, with their differing motivations and background.” Excited by the prospect of creating her own haunted house and the characters to explore it, she launched into research. She later claimed to have found a picture in a magazine of a California house she believed was suitably haunted-looking. She asked her mother who lived in California, to help find information about the dwelling. According to Jackson, her mother identified the architect was the author’s own great-great-grandfather, who had designed some of San Francisco’s oldest buildings. Jackson also read volume upon volume of traditional ghost stories while preparing to write her own. “No one can get into a novel about a haunted house without hitting the subject of reality head-on; either i have to believe in ghosts, which i do, or i have to write another kind of novel altogether.”’

By Paula Guran (1999) Shirley Jackson & the Haunting of Hill House

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Another Gothic horror by Shirley Jackson, writer of The Haunting of Hill House. This works features all the trappings of a classic Gothic novel, from a decaying old mansion, themes of murder, and family power.  There is a large emphasis on death, rituals and a sense of foreboding or impending doom.