Chapter 4: Gothic Introductions

A possible reason for my sudden influx of posts is that I have recently started school again. For most this might cause a decline in reading but as an English major I find it quite the opposite. One of my more interesting classes that I've enrolled in is a study of Gothic Literature. Having gone to my first two classes I've realized how little I've known of this genre up until now. My only exposure so far has been Poe (and who doesn't like a little Pit and Pendulum?) and assorted Victorian poetry. To me, the word Gothic brought up pictures in my mind of ghosts and monsters and damsel's-in-distress (a la the intro sequence to Masterpiece Mystery which I used to both love and fear as a child). However my first forrays into the genre have revealed some things I wasn't quite expecting.


The first story I read was The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve and I hated it. Granted, it was an early Gothic novel and one that was trying to be minimalist about its Gothic elements but it was soooo boring. It really felt like one of those old courtly romances where all the characters are stock and perfect and way too obsessed with honor to do anything interesting. There were tiny glimmers of supernatural with a few ghostly visitors but they didn't even inspire interest in the characters, let alone me. I can see how it was important for setting up the boundaries of the genre but if I have to go through another 30 pages of epilogue and castle hopping I might go mad.

The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve (176 pages)
Judgement: Dreadfully Dull (1 out of 10)

The next one I read, which I later learned should have been the first if I was to read chronologically, was The Castle of Otronto by Horace Walpole. This, was a crazy book! If you're looking for complete ideas and fulfilled plot points this is probably not the book for you but there is certainly a good deal of excitement to be found, especially noting the giant helmet that falls from the sky and crushed a boy about halfway through page two. This became almost a humerous meme in my Gothic Lit class, along the lines of "Well, it wasn't like being crushed by a helmet but..." The author was a bit all over the place and it had a feeling of being unfinished but there was a lot of fun and humor (sometimes probably intentional). There were ghosts and spirits and miracles galore as well as love triangles and fights and revenge. It had the distinct feel of a Shakespearian play and I would suggest it as a fun, light read to anyone who's a fan of the bard. All in all, not one of my favorite books but definitely not the worst I've ever read for a school assignment (see above).

The Castle of Otronto by Horace Walpole (176 pages)
Judgement: Ridiculous but Readable (6.5 out of 10)