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Gothic fiction

Canonical works of gothic fiction

Logo of Gothic fiction
First Published
Wed Jan 05 2022
Last Published
Sun May 21 2023
Number of cards
12
Number of dates
12
Number of links
0
Link density
0
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1700s

1764

Castle Of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Generally regarded as the first gothic novel

1777

The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve

Set out to take Walpole's plot and adapt it to the demands of the time by balancing fantastic elements with 18th-century realism.

1786

Vathek by William Beckford

Composed originally in French, Beckford capitalised on the eighteenth century obsession with all things Oriental, combining it with the Gothic stylings of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto.

1794

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

She has been called both "the Great Enchantress" and "Mother Radcliffe" due to her influence on Gothic literature and the female Gothic. She combined aspects of Walpole's Gothic romance with the traditions of the earlier Sentimental novel.

1796

The Monk by Matthew Lewis

Prime example of the male Gothic that specialises in the aspect of horror. Its convoluted and scandalous plot has made it one of the most important Gothic novels of its time, often imitated and adapted for the stage and the screen.

1800s

1817

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

First and most famous gothic parody. In which the naive protagonist, after reading too much Gothic fiction, conceives herself a heroine of a Radcliffian romance and imagines murder and villainy on every side, though the truth turns out to be much more prosaic.

1818

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Written when she was 18

1819

The Vampyre by JW Polidori

Product of the celebrated ghost-story competition involving Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John William Polidori at the Villa Diodati on the banks of Lake Geneva in the summer of 1816. This occasion was productive of both Frankenstein and The Vampyre

1820

Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin

Late example of traditional gothic

Victorians

1847

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering heights

1886

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

1897

Dracula by Bram Stoker