Modern gothic horror?

[AE35Unit]

I like stuff like Edgar Allan Poe (Pit and the Pendulum,The Raven)and MR James, but are there many modern authors now writing this kind of horror,or is it 'too last century?'

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by AE35Unit

I like stuff like Edgar Allan Poe (Pit and the Pendulum,The Raven)and MR James, but are there many modern authors now writing this kind of horror,or is it 'too last century?'

Depends on what you're calling "Gothic horror". There's not a lot of the "ghosts, castles, and victims" in the modern Gothic (unless you include Gothic romance novels), but they're still using the same basic emotional template and, in many ways, the same basic archetypes, but transmuted or transformed to a modern sensibility. I'd suggest you check out a few of the anthologies of Gothic literature, myself, such as The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, The Evil Image: Two Centuries of Gothic Short Fiction and Poetry (if you can find a copy... they're apparently fairly easy to find on the 'net), etc. This will give you an idea of how the form has changed over time.

For the sort of story you mention above, try Thomas Ligotti, T. E. D. Klein, Caitlin R. Kiernan, H. Russell Wakefield, Russell Kirk, etc., or look into the links given by Tartarus Press or Ash-Tree Press on their websites....

[AE35Unit]

Thanks JD.
What im thinking is that modern horror seems to be all a la Stephen King, or SAW, you know, all big scares, blood and gore, but i like the psychological stuff, what I'd call quiet horror I suppose. You read it by candlelight to the sound of a fire crackling in the hearth and afterwards you hear a noise, and the hair stands up on the back of your neck. You know there's no-one out there, you know that the room is empty apart fropm you but still, you feel something....

[j. d. worthington]

Ligotti would definitely fit, then. As would a lot of Charles L. Grant (the Oxrun Station books, for instance). Ramsey Campbell uses this approach quite a lot -- in fact, a fair amount of his work takes the workaday world, bends something just slightly, and from that point on, you're in a very familiar, yet very disturbing world that makes you reassess your views of reality. T. E. D. Klein's stories are also of the "quiet horror" type, though he writes far too little (one novel and one story collection in the past 25+ years, another novel still unfinished, a few scattered stories here and there). Look for The Ceremonies (his novel) and Dark Gods (s.c.) -- both very much worth reading.

Caitlin R. Kiernan (mentioned above) also takes the "slightly twisting the world to redefine reality" approach; her work often has a rather dreamlike (or nightmarish) atmosphere to it where the usual logic doesn't quite apply... yet she can very much get under your skin if you're a careful reader. My only complaint against her style is that she sometimes melds words into unusual compounds that are more like smashing words together than actually blending them... but this is only occasionally the case, and a very minor complaint in comparison to the richness of her atmospheric abilities....

[AE35Unit]

Now,I'm sure I've heard of E D Klein from somewhere...
Good stuff J D,good stuff

[ghyle]

Among the older writers of the quiet type of horror, may I add some of Blackwood's fiction. "The Willows" is an absolute classic in this regard, and is a must-read.

[AE35Unit]

Ha quiet horror,have I created a new phrase here?

[j. d. worthington]

Not quite, though you may not hear it much. It's something of an established subgenre. Richard Matheson is also among the still-living writers who has done quite a bit in this vein, as well.

Blackwood, Arthur Machen, E. F. Benson, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu... in fact, the majority of the better Victorian and Edwardian writers of the supernatural, macabre, and weird tales, are ones you'd probably enjoy. I'd also highly recommend Walter de la Mare, whose "Seaton's Aunt" and "The Beckoning Fair One" (among many, many others) are among the true gems of the genre. (In fact, it's often said -- and I tend to agree -- that the finest ghost story in the English language is probably "The Beckoning Fair One".) You might also check out some of his supernatural poetry... very quietly effective. Below you'll find a sample (probably his most famous of this type):

Walter De La Mare: The Listeners

There are also some that came from the weird pulps that might appeal: Carl Jacobi, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, G. G. Pendarves, Joseph Payne Brennan, Manly Wade Wellman, and even a fair amount of August Derleth's supernatural fiction (often derivative though it is) may fit the bill with what you seem to be looking for....

In other words... it's actually a very rich field; it's just that the "blood-and-thunder" school tends to get more attention these days, while the quieter, subtler, and much more effective branch tends to be known only to those who've delved a bit more deeply.

[brsrkrkomdy]

A little bit of correction here, JD. Walter De La Mare did not write "The Beckoning Fair One". It was actually Oliver Onions who wrote it.

[brsrkrkomdy]

Besides "Seaton's Aunt", you might want to read others of De La Mare's, The Riddle & Bad Company. There's a lot of sinister touches with these stories. Shirley Jackson and Edith Wharton both wrote gothic horror and quiet terror of their own.

[AE35Unit]

Oh dear J D and I thought i'd come up with something new there I just plucked that phrase out of thin air.

[j. d. worthington]

Oh, my... right you are (wherever did I get it into my head it was de la Mare????? The only thing I can figure is I must have been more tired than I thought....) Yes. Oliver Onions wrote "The Beckoning Fair One" -- along with quite a number of other fine supernatural tales, all of which have been collected together into a single-volume collection.

Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions, published by Tartarus Press

*sigh* With slips like this, I really do begin to feel my mind has gone walkabout.....

And I'd second the suggestions on Jackson and Wharton -- the latter of whose ghostly tales have also been collected together, as have Walter de la Mare's (though in that instance, into a three-volume set which includes his tales for children....

[Nesacat]

I'll third Shirley Jackson and add a few more

Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

[AE35Unit]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

I'd suggest you check out a few of the anthologies of Gothic literature, myself, such as The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, The Evil Image: Two Centuries of Gothic Short Fiction and Poetry (if you can find a copy... they're apparently fairly easy to find on the 'net), etc. This will give you an idea of how the form has changed over time.

....

j'd i just found this on bookmooch, is this what you mean?

Author:Chris Baldick Title:The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (Oxford Books of Prose)

[j. d. worthington]

That would be the one (though the copy I have has different cover art: Death the Bride, by T. C. Gotch, 1854-1931 -- very much of the pre-Raphaelite school, so very fitting for an anthology of Gothic tales).

http://www.goodart.org/blog/ThomasCo...thTheBride.jpg

It takes you from some of the earliest (including some of the old chapbooks) through the 19th century and into the modern use of the Gothic approach...