In which I discuss three key elements that make a piece of fiction "gothic". ***** Modern gothic books: booksandbao.com/best-modern-g... Patreon: / booksandbao
I've always taken the main element of Gothic to be the idea of the past haunting the present - things that ought to be dead & buried coming back to disturb the living. Alternatively, to appallingly travesty China Miéville - Gothic is when there's a skull, Weird is when there's tentacles.
That is a very very good perspective, I like it! And I love the Mieville quote! I once met him at a book signing and was so nervous I kept calling him "mate" lol
This is great! I think for me it’s that first point, the broken characters, that keeps me interested when reading a gothic novel. There’s this simultaneous desire for me to say “what a horrible person, I’d never want to be like that” but then still see a bit of myself in the character anyway. That aspect isn’t something I always notice right away, but in the end it’s far more unsettling to me than superstitions, vampires, or monsters.
@@WillowTalksBooks Thank you 🙏🏻. I collect Frankenstein with different forwards to the novel. I wonder if you have read Dracula Undead and Dracul by Stoker's grand-nephew?
LOVE gothic and horror. It's a lifestyle for me. And I agree with you on your points. Intriguing to hear your overall thoughts on this subject. Damaged characters attract "Damaged" readers, I sometimes think. Much respect ❤ from Denmark 🇩🇰
My favourite cinnamon roll discussing nearly all of my favourite books (Frankenstein, Rebecca, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, & Dracula)? I just keep winning!
Great video! I was just trying to explain what Gothic is to my cousin yesterday. I told her to just read Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre so I could stop having to explain it to her 😂😂. For the longest time I thought Gothic meant one place, so I never realized until one of your other videos that Frankenstein actually is Gothic literature. I agree with the points you made here. And your hair looks great!
dont know if you've read it but the whole time you were talking i was thinking of "the little stranger" by sarah waters. very much gothic and so incredibly scary especially the ending. such a good read would really recommend!
Such a great video and channel, my reading list keeps getting longer and longer. Thank you! P.-S. I read Rebecca a couple of months ago...What an incredible book! The kind that stays with you for a long long time.
This is great. In my head, a gothic had to be dark, but it seems like the definitions avoided that vague word. Are there any gothic novels that aren’t dark or that seem lighthearted almost?
Hm, I do think a "dark" mood is pretty vital to gothic lit but it's tough to define that word. But I can't really think of any gothic works that wouldn't be describes as dark.
Thank you, that was very useful, Willow! It was interesting to hear your defining features of a gothic novel, because I always associated it only with horror and/or classics. And now I realised some sci-fi books would classify as gothic as well (like a recent 'Dead silence' from SA Barnes)!
I loved this simple yet thorough breakdown of the genre- it's my favorite too! One of the first books that comes to mind for me is Affinity by Sarah Waters. I wish I could go back and read Rebecca for the first time again!
Thank you for this clear and concise definition! I have been wondering about this for a long time and I'm excited to try Wuthering Heights again now i get what it is. Also, unrelated, ❤️ your ring!
And here I am wondering this very question this morning and the along comes this channel and this video! Loved your explanation. I really appreciate how thorough and clear you were with it. Thank you so much. While I have always read voraciously, I am not adept at understanding literary genres and would love it if you would almost turn this into a little series and continue to explain various genres. Especially the non-obvious ones like symbolism, Impressionism etc
Great video, Willow!! I was recently thinking about this exact topic and I'm so glad you made this video. And when you mentioned Wuthering Heights, I remembered that short vid where you yell 'Heathcliff, Heathcliff!!' That was iconic 😄
Look up the game "A Ghastly Affair" rpg, for a really good breakdown of Gothic elements. The focus is Romantic era fantasy, but it's in the sense of literary romanticism which Frankenstein was crafted in, which includes the Gothic. The discussion iirc includes things like a ruin of some sort, a labyrinth, lots of other examples.
Hi Willow! I keep coming back to this video because I am a writer of gothic fiction myself and a fellow lover of the gothic and I love the way you categorize things here. I also wondered if you have ever read The Drowning Girl by Caitlin Kiernan. I recently finished reading it and it put me in mind of a lot of things you said in this video. It’s also a deliciously twisted and haunting gothic story about mental illness and queerness and a bouquet of other things I feel like you would dig. Anyway, I hope you have a lovely day! Jona
I am so IN for these gothic reviews! My favorite genre. I really can't read anything else... or want to! 😁 I am so excited about the new Laura Purcell book. She is the queen on the "modern" victorian gothic.
@@WillowTalksBooks me too! I honestly can't read another genre anymore. I am so hooked! Waiting for the summer to read her new book. Please make more videos about gothic novels am I always searching for more to read. Thank you for these one.
I love this! And I agree with you about the elements that make a novel 'gothic'. I read Mexican Gothic about a year ago (have you read that one, btw?), and was aghast to see so many people on Goodreads found it "lacking" and "not gothic at all". I loved that book, not only because it did its' job of creeping me out by using all the elements you mentioned but also because the place it's set in is all too familiar to me. We have a lot of that kind of 'pueblitos' here, even some parts of the city still look and feel like that. So reading about a haunted place so close and familiar to me added an extra layer of creepiness to the whole experience. But, I don't know, maybe it was an identity thing? Like, obviously not a lot of people would be able to feel the same kind of connection as I did beign mexican but still... I think the author did an excellent job of creating a very atmospheric, historical piece of gothic horror that honestly robbed me of several hours of sleep. But that's just my humble opinion, lol. I hope everything is coming along nicely with the moving 💜
I'm so happy to hear that Mexican Gothic spoke to you so strongly! That's really awesome to see. My friend read it and couldn't get along with the writing style; they said it read like awkward YA. So I didn't end up reading it for that reason. But your glowing recommendation makes me want to!
@@WillowTalksBooks I hope you do give it a chance! I'd love to hear your honest thoughts about it. I'm not sure if it's cataloged as YA but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 18 as it has some very disturbing and nasty scenes that could be triggering. I myself had to check with other reliable reviewers before diving into it precisely for that reason, lol. And like I said, it did creep me out badly. Still was able to enjoy it, though.
That is a pretty good definition. I own the Doll Factory and I have yet to read it. I never heard anyone talk about it before. I just thought the synopsis was interesting. Frankenstein and We Have Always Lived in the Castle are two of my favourite books. I have yet to read Wuthering Heights and Rebecca.
What a timing I just finished the French translation of "The Quick" last weekend which had a very gothic feel. It's delightful take on the vampire mythos, where the acctual word vampire is maybe used twice, and there's nothing romantic about them. It's a heavy read literally, over 500 pages 😉 It breaks the rules concerning the small number of people and isolation (for moste parts it's starts in one but then jumps to London). You have the events seen from perspective of diffrent characters and their orgin stories, for me it almost felt like short stories collection.
Ever since your Our Wives Under the Sea review I've been asking myself what gothic means. I loved OWUTS, but my first question when watching your vid was "it's gothic???"
Thank you for this…i normally shied from gothic novels because I prefer to read literature lifts my spirits or nurtures my soul. I do not like any horror, gory or super dark literature (or movies, dramas, etc). But based on this definition, I need to explore more about it. I have enjoyed reading books that would fit this definition especially historical fiction ones since i like to read historical fiction. I have nit read Rebeca. Now on my list.
What are your thoughts on Beloved? It definitely has all the elements you discussed, and one could argue that outside of the haunted house, there’s the plantation as place, so not one isolated area, but all characters are haunted by slavery and their trauma unfolds the impact it has (continues) to have on Black folks. Can “isolated area” be more fluid in that aspect?
I have been thinking about this lately. I recently put down Rebecca after 33 pages, deciding that I didn't think I'd like it. I attributed it to it being a classic gothic novel and I have a history of just not liking them (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights). Then I immediately picked up The Magic Toyshop and completely loved it. Like, a lot. I ended up thinking of the Magic Toyshop as gothic and realizing how broad 'gothic' has to be to include things that are so different from one another. Toyshop so neatly fits into your description. And, of course, now I'm reconsidering Rebecca. 😆
I'm sure I read The Magic Toyshop... Or did I? I think I'm thinking of Toymakers? Not sure. Either way, please do try Rebecca again! It's such a pleasure 😭
@@WillowTalksBooks The Magic Toyshop is by Angela Carter and it's SO good. I feel like you might like it. And, yes, I am definitely revisiting Rebecca, because ever since I put it down I can't get it off my mind for one reason or another. xo
Very interesting video and I agree with what you've said. I always feel that gothic fiction should have a sinister supernatural feel, whether real or imagined. I think the term is often overused now for anything historical that in a contemporary novel would be described as a thriller.
Gothics are one of my favorite genres too. How do you feel about Southern gothics? I love that subgenre and it definitely has its own character to it. Also have you read Carmilla? I read it a few years ago and am so surprised it isn't discussed much when people talk about horror/gothic/vampire classics.
Question, can the monster in a Gothic sometimes be about the monster within rather than without? One reason I hesitate to distinguish between Goth Rock and Emo, is the kind of "Emo" stories I like blur the line between Goth Rock and Emo.
Is Alien 1 Gothic. That spaceship. That Alien. That awful corporate guy. Sense of place here freaked me out. Alien was definitely not to be tampered with but hungry mummy!! Yes Mary Shelly is a genius. I have been meaning to read her second end of world book.
Have you read the danish classic “Seven Gothic Tales” by Isak Dinesen (a pseudonym for Karen Blixen) Some absolutely fantastic tales. Highly recommend.
Your definition makes me think of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I really enjoyed the film adaptation. Have you read the book? What are your thoughts on it?
Have you ever read The Book Of Shadows by James Reese?? It's one of my favorite gothic novels from the early 2000s and the first book I'd ever read with a trans/intersex main character. It's about a gender variant witch who's orphaned and raised by nuns in an all girls convent school in 19th century France. I don't think the book is in print anymore, but if you can find a copy, I'd highly recommend it.
I always thought gothic novels feature a woman in distress. You kind of hint at that with Rebecca but don't explicitly state that as one of the main ingedients.
I hate every single character in Rebecca. Just saying. Gothic novels...Leah Purcell springs to mind as a contemporary author of gothic novels. In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt?
I've always taken the main element of Gothic to be the idea of the past haunting the present - things that ought to be dead & buried coming back to disturb the living.
Alternatively, to appallingly travesty China Miéville - Gothic is when there's a skull, Weird is when there's tentacles.
That is a very very good perspective, I like it! And I love the Mieville quote! I once met him at a book signing and was so nervous I kept calling him "mate" lol
I was googling this exact question yesterday- great minds think alike! Thanks for the explanation, you've described it simply and articulately
Oh wow, what wonderful timing! And thank you 💜
I love love love your channel ! Please review more gothic classics ! I can never get enough of those ! 👻💀🖤
I absolutely will! I'd love to re-read Wuthering Heights and do a video soon :)
This is great! I think for me it’s that first point, the broken characters, that keeps me interested when reading a gothic novel. There’s this simultaneous desire for me to say “what a horrible person, I’d never want to be like that” but then still see a bit of myself in the character anyway. That aspect isn’t something I always notice right away, but in the end it’s far more unsettling to me than superstitions, vampires, or monsters.
I prefer the supernatural aspect of Gothic more than a mystery.
Also, Frankenstein is my favourite Gothic novel ever.
Can't fault you for that! And you have very good taste.
@@WillowTalksBooks Thank you 🙏🏻.
I collect Frankenstein with different forwards to the novel.
I wonder if you have read Dracula Undead and Dracul by Stoker's grand-nephew?
LOVE gothic and horror. It's a lifestyle for me. And I agree with you on your points. Intriguing to hear your overall thoughts on this subject.
Damaged characters attract "Damaged" readers, I sometimes think.
Much respect ❤ from Denmark 🇩🇰
Haha it's a lifestyle for me as well. Much love back to Denmark, one of my favourite places 💜
@@WillowTalksBooks thank you. Denmark has a deliciously spooky atmosphere 🙂
My favourite cinnamon roll discussing nearly all of my favourite books (Frankenstein, Rebecca, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, & Dracula)? I just keep winning!
You keep winning because you have the best taste in books and cinnamon rolls 😇
Great video! I was just trying to explain what Gothic is to my cousin yesterday. I told her to just read Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre so I could stop having to explain it to her 😂😂. For the longest time I thought Gothic meant one place, so I never realized until one of your other videos that Frankenstein actually is Gothic literature. I agree with the points you made here. And your hair looks great!
Haha that is one way to do it! Gothic is something you can almost feel, so just reading a bunch of good gothic lit will make it click!
dont know if you've read it but the whole time you were talking i was thinking of "the little stranger" by sarah waters. very much gothic and so incredibly scary especially the ending. such a good read would really recommend!
I’ve read Fingersmith but that’s all. A few friends have read The Little Stranger and loved it. I’ll definitely get to it
Such a great video and channel, my reading list keeps getting longer and longer. Thank you! P.-S. I read Rebecca a couple of months ago...What an incredible book! The kind that stays with you for a long long time.
Thank you so much! I think you’ll definitely enjoy my next video in that case (it’s not on Rebecca but something similar!)
This is great. In my head, a gothic had to be dark, but it seems like the definitions avoided that vague word. Are there any gothic novels that aren’t dark or that seem lighthearted almost?
Hm, I do think a "dark" mood is pretty vital to gothic lit but it's tough to define that word. But I can't really think of any gothic works that wouldn't be describes as dark.
i feel the same way as these characteristics seem fit well with Before the Coffee Gets Cold and i wouldnt exactly describe it as dark
I know the feeling…I am ok with certain amount of darkness…but not all the time
Thank you, that was very useful, Willow! It was interesting to hear your defining features of a gothic novel, because I always associated it only with horror and/or classics. And now I realised some sci-fi books would classify as gothic as well (like a recent 'Dead silence' from SA Barnes)!
Oooh a modern gothic sci-fi? Yes please!
I loved this simple yet thorough breakdown of the genre- it's my favorite too! One of the first books that comes to mind for me is Affinity by Sarah Waters. I wish I could go back and read Rebecca for the first time again!
I love Sarah Waters but I haven't read Affinity yet! I'll get to it soon :)
Thank you so much for this video! You are amazing!
Thank you for this clear and concise definition! I have been wondering about this for a long time and I'm excited to try Wuthering Heights again now i get what it is. Also, unrelated, ❤️ your ring!
And here I am wondering this very question this morning and the along comes this channel and this video! Loved your explanation. I really appreciate how thorough and clear you were with it. Thank you so much.
While I have always read voraciously, I am not adept at understanding literary genres and would love it if you would almost turn this into a little series and continue to explain various genres. Especially the non-obvious ones like symbolism, Impressionism etc
Each one of your video is amazing! I'm seriously addicted to them. I also love reading gothic novels the most.
That’s very flattering, thank you!
Great video, Willow!! I was recently thinking about this exact topic and I'm so glad you made this video. And when you mentioned Wuthering Heights, I remembered that short vid where you yell 'Heathcliff, Heathcliff!!' That was iconic 😄
Hahaha thank you. I breathe that book lol
This was great! I have to do a uni essay on genre conventions in the Gothic and this was v helpful/interesting. Many thanks for fab content x
Ooh that's a fun essay! Hope I helped!
i love the eyeliner :)
Omg thank you 💜
Your hairs look so pretty😭
omg thank you! I base a lot of my self-worth on my hair lol
@@WillowTalksBooks they look so healthy :))
Look up the game "A Ghastly Affair" rpg, for a really good breakdown of Gothic elements. The focus is Romantic era fantasy, but it's in the sense of literary romanticism which Frankenstein was crafted in, which includes the Gothic. The discussion iirc includes things like a ruin of some sort, a labyrinth, lots of other examples.
Hi Willow!
I keep coming back to this video because I am a writer of gothic fiction myself and a fellow lover of the gothic and I love the way you categorize things here.
I also wondered if you have ever read The Drowning Girl by Caitlin Kiernan. I recently finished reading it and it put me in mind of a lot of things you said in this video. It’s also a deliciously twisted and haunting gothic story about mental illness and queerness and a bouquet of other things I feel like you would dig. Anyway, I hope you have a lovely day!
Jona
I am so IN for these gothic reviews! My favorite genre. I really can't read anything else... or want to! 😁
I am so excited about the new Laura Purcell book. She is the queen on the "modern" victorian gothic.
omg she is my absolute hero! When her last book came out I read it in a day. I have an absolute addiction to her work 💜
@@WillowTalksBooks me too! I honestly can't read another genre anymore. I am so hooked! Waiting for the summer to read her new book.
Please make more videos about gothic novels am I always searching for more to read. Thank you for these one.
I love this! And I agree with you about the elements that make a novel 'gothic'. I read Mexican Gothic about a year ago (have you read that one, btw?), and was aghast to see so many people on Goodreads found it "lacking" and "not gothic at all". I loved that book, not only because it did its' job of creeping me out by using all the elements you mentioned but also because the place it's set in is all too familiar to me. We have a lot of that kind of 'pueblitos' here, even some parts of the city still look and feel like that. So reading about a haunted place so close and familiar to me added an extra layer of creepiness to the whole experience. But, I don't know, maybe it was an identity thing? Like, obviously not a lot of people would be able to feel the same kind of connection as I did beign mexican but still... I think the author did an excellent job of creating a very atmospheric, historical piece of gothic horror that honestly robbed me of several hours of sleep. But that's just my humble opinion, lol. I hope everything is coming along nicely with the moving 💜
I'm so happy to hear that Mexican Gothic spoke to you so strongly! That's really awesome to see. My friend read it and couldn't get along with the writing style; they said it read like awkward YA. So I didn't end up reading it for that reason. But your glowing recommendation makes me want to!
@@WillowTalksBooks I hope you do give it a chance! I'd love to hear your honest thoughts about it. I'm not sure if it's cataloged as YA but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 18 as it has some very disturbing and nasty scenes that could be triggering. I myself had to check with other reliable reviewers before diving into it precisely for that reason, lol. And like I said, it did creep me out badly. Still was able to enjoy it, though.
That is a pretty good definition. I own the Doll Factory and I have yet to read it. I never heard anyone talk about it before. I just thought the synopsis was interesting.
Frankenstein and We Have Always Lived in the Castle are two of my favourite books. I have yet to read Wuthering Heights and Rebecca.
The Doll Factory and Circus of Wonders are both great but the former is definitely the stronger book imo. And I can't recommend Rebecca enough!
Willow Heath’s master class, sign me up ✅
Hahaha I'm flattered 😅
What a timing I just finished the French translation of "The Quick" last weekend which had a very gothic feel. It's delightful take on the vampire mythos, where the acctual word vampire is maybe used twice, and there's nothing romantic about them. It's a heavy read literally, over 500 pages 😉 It breaks the rules concerning the small number of people and isolation (for moste parts it's starts in one but then jumps to London). You have the events seen from perspective of diffrent characters and their orgin stories, for me it almost felt like short stories collection.
This sounds like s very fun book! Adding it to my list!
Ever since your Our Wives Under the Sea review I've been asking myself what gothic means. I loved OWUTS, but my first question when watching your vid was "it's gothic???"
Hopefully that makes a little more sense now!
Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripely, Hitchcock’s Marnie, Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables also come to mind.
Thank you for this…i normally shied from gothic novels because I prefer to read literature lifts my spirits or nurtures my soul. I do not like any horror, gory or super dark literature (or movies, dramas, etc). But based on this definition, I need to explore more about it. I have enjoyed reading books that would fit this definition especially historical fiction ones since i like to read historical fiction. I have nit read Rebeca. Now on my list.
I think a lot of gothic lit would definitely not be to your tastes, in that case, but Rebecca is definitely one to check out!
@@WillowTalksBooks thank you!
What are your thoughts on Beloved? It definitely has all the elements you discussed, and one could argue that outside of the haunted house, there’s the plantation as place, so not one isolated area, but all characters are haunted by slavery and their trauma unfolds the impact it has (continues) to have on Black folks. Can “isolated area” be more fluid in that aspect?
I have been thinking about this lately. I recently put down Rebecca after 33 pages, deciding that I didn't think I'd like it. I attributed it to it being a classic gothic novel and I have a history of just not liking them (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights). Then I immediately picked up The Magic Toyshop and completely loved it. Like, a lot. I ended up thinking of the Magic Toyshop as gothic and realizing how broad 'gothic' has to be to include things that are so different from one another. Toyshop so neatly fits into your description. And, of course, now I'm reconsidering Rebecca. 😆
I'm sure I read The Magic Toyshop... Or did I? I think I'm thinking of Toymakers? Not sure. Either way, please do try Rebecca again! It's such a pleasure 😭
@@WillowTalksBooks The Magic Toyshop is by Angela Carter and it's SO good. I feel like you might like it. And, yes, I am definitely revisiting Rebecca, because ever since I put it down I can't get it off my mind for one reason or another. xo
@@DynamiteTrujillo Ohhh it's Angela Carter? I love her short stories! Thanks for bringing this to my attention :)
Very interesting video and I agree with what you've said. I always feel that gothic fiction should have a sinister supernatural feel, whether real or imagined. I think the term is often overused now for anything historical that in a contemporary novel would be described as a thriller.
Gothics are one of my favorite genres too. How do you feel about Southern gothics? I love that subgenre and it definitely has its own character to it. Also have you read Carmilla? I read it a few years ago and am so surprised it isn't discussed much when people talk about horror/gothic/vampire classics.
Question, can the monster in a Gothic sometimes be about the monster within rather than without?
One reason I hesitate to distinguish between Goth Rock and Emo, is the kind of "Emo" stories I like blur the line between Goth Rock and Emo.
I was just thinking this watching your other video on Gothic literature..
Yay, what good timing!
Is Alien 1 Gothic. That spaceship. That Alien. That awful corporate guy. Sense of place here freaked me out. Alien was definitely not to be tampered with but hungry mummy!! Yes Mary Shelly is a genius. I have been meaning to read her second end of world book.
Have you read the danish classic “Seven Gothic Tales” by Isak Dinesen (a pseudonym for Karen Blixen)
Some absolutely fantastic tales. Highly recommend.
I haven't! Thank you so much. I do want to read more Danish lit!
Your definition makes me think of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I really enjoyed the film adaptation. Have you read the book? What are your thoughts on it?
I haven’t but a bunch of my friends have and they all had really different feelings on it! So that got me intrigued
Australian Gothic: The Hunter. Set in Tasmania.
Have you ever read The Book Of Shadows by James Reese??
It's one of my favorite gothic novels from the early 2000s and the first book I'd ever read with a trans/intersex main character.
It's about a gender variant witch who's orphaned and raised by nuns in an all girls convent school in 19th century France. I don't think the book is in print anymore, but if you can find a copy, I'd highly recommend it.
Omg I’ve never heard of it and it sounds amazing!! Thanks!
Would you consider Gormenghast a Gothic book?
I haven't read it 😭
If you love the gothic genre you should read “our share of night” by Mariana Enriquez
I have
@@WillowTalksBooks omg! Just discovered your review!!
Me, a month a way from submitting my gothic adjacent novel -- *frantically takes notes*
Hahaha I hope I helped 😅
I always thought gothic novels feature a woman in distress. You kind of hint at that with Rebecca but don't explicitly state that as one of the main ingedients.
I hate every single character in Rebecca. Just saying. Gothic novels...Leah Purcell springs to mind as a contemporary author of gothic novels. In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt?
Hating gothic characters is part of the fun :)
I'll check out the book you mentioned, thanks!