Misconception: Gothic tropes are what makes a book Gothic. Regardless, after reading and studying it for several decades, I’m going to attempt to do just that.īut first, let’s clear up the most prevalent misconception about Gothic writing: that its the Gothic tropes that make a book Gothic. But that fact – what makes this genre so appealing – also makes it harder to qualify. Gothic writing is very compelling largely because it is so deep, because its themes are generally transcendent, sometimes even numinous. Many people seem to love the genre, but few can articulate what defines a Gothic novel beyond the tropes themselves. What is Gothic literature? Trying to research the subject is a long journey into superficiality.

Eventually I learned enough to know that much of what I loved most was in the Gothic genre.īut the conundrum came when I tried to define the genre. I loved the Horror genre as well, but I found myself particularly drawn to certain types of books: Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, and Jane Eyre, among so many others. I began reading it and, almost instantly, fell into the deep well of dark Romanticism and spine-tingling pleasure that is Gothic literature.Īs I grew, I read just about every book I could find. My English teacher had assigned the book. I didn’t even know that the first adult book I had come to love – Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – was in the Gothic genre. To be fair, there was a time in my life when I didn’t know anything about the genre. But it doesn’t have to, because those aren’t the definition of what makes something Gothic. And the truth is made more confusing by fact that Gothic literature sometimes includes some or all of the above. I’ve seen and heard just about every misconception – including the idea that Gothic and Horror are the same, Gothic writing is evil, Gothic literature is about the paranormal, Gothic books are “dark” (whatever that means) and every other false idea out there. The Gothic genre is one of the most misunderstood genres in all of literature.