> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.astridalexander.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Defining Gothic Literature & Why It's Trending - URL: https://www.astridalexander.com/defining-gothic-literature-why-its-trending/ - Published: 2026-09-30T15:52:01.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-30T15:54:50.000Z - Description: Gothic literature is everywhere, but what does it mean to be gothic and why is a centuries old genre trending? - Author: Astrid Alexander Over the last year, gothic media is everywhere. In film, "Wuthering Heights" (Emerald Fennell, 2026), the highest grossing romance movie post-COVID, and Frankenstein (Guillermo del Torro, 2025), with over 29 million streams in its debut weekend, captured audience attention. More recently, Widow’s Bay, Apple TV’s gothic comedic horror starring Matthew Rhys, won 14 Emmy Awards. In publishing, every day another author announces an upcoming Gothic novel, whether or not the genre relates to their existing catalog of work. As more writers, readers, and viewers create and consume gothic media, two core questions arise: what does it mean to be gothic and why is a centuries old genre trending? First, an etymological lesson on *gothic*. The Goths, a Germanic tribe pushed westward by the invasion of their homelands, faced racism, crippling taxation, enslavement, and were pushed to the brink of starvation by the Roman Empire in the late 4th century. Fearing violence, Pope Innocent I, allowed for pagan rituals to be reinstated in Rome in order to protect the city. After repeated failed negotiations with various leaders of the empire for more rights, the release of those enslaved, and financial support, the [Visigoths invaded Rome in 410 AD](https://www.britannica.com/event/Sack-of-Rome-410?ref=astridalexander.com), led by [King Alaric I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhQO6giXAnY&ref=astridalexander.com). Their siege was the first successful invasion of Rome in 800 years and initiated the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Goths ushered in the medieval era of Europe, lasting until the late 15th century. Writing in the 16th century, Italian writer, artist, and architect Giorgio Vasari, coined [*gothic* as a derogatory term to describe medieval architecture and art](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-gothic-style-an-introduction?ref=astridalexander.com), which drew inspiration from nature, everyday life, and materiality. Blaming the Goths for the destruction of artistic refinement, he deemed their artistic influence as barbaric. The term stuck in the cultural conscience. Along with its tie to the Goths and medieval times, *gothic* picked up the connotation of subversion against norms and conventions in the 18th century. [That’s when *gothic* jumped](https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z8dwqfr?ref=astridalexander.com) from being a descriptor of the physical to intellectualizing the thematic elements. In 1746, Horace Walpole published [*The Castle of Otranto*](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30313775?ref=astridalexander.com), the first gothic novel, under a pseudonym, before adding *A Gothic Story* as subtitle a year later. His example gave rise to the works of Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis in the 1790s, who popularized the genre in literature, with hundreds more gothic novels published over the next century. With the historic context in mind, answering the first question becomes more nuanced. ## **What is Gothic Literature?** Crumbling castles, tumultuous atmospheres, paranormal intrigue, and romantic obsession color the canonical examples of Gothic literature. Darkness, death, innocence lost, and the dualism of good and evil are also frequent features. What is easy to glean of the genre are only surface level aesthetics. [Penguin Random House defines gothic literature](https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/what-is-gothic-literature?ref=astridalexander.com) as “a genre of fiction that combines mystery, suspense and psychological tension with themes such as death, obsession, the supernatural and the darker side of human nature.” I would argue that doesn’t go far enough in identifying the richness of gothicism. Gothic literature begs us to face our vices and the conditions of society at large that feeds them, by combining psychological unease, morally complex characters, and layered meaning, employing literary devices such as allegory, symbolism, and juxtaposition. That’s a mouthful. More simply, the genre invites us to ask questions without offering clear answers. Critiques of Gothic works, lambasting anticlimactic endings, ambiguousness, and slow moving plots, miss the cutting commentary beneath the atmospheric *vibes*. Leveraging culpable deniability, the genre entices characters and readers alike to rationalize or ignore uncanny events, ultimately turning that mental shield into a mirror, reflecting guilt and/or complicity. Gothic literature, in its broadest definition, is a fiction genre that explores the dark parts of humanity with a guttering candle and mirror made of mercury. Meaning derives from the interplay between the author and their socio-economic and socio-political conditions and the reader and their present conditions through a narrow aperture. *The Picture of Dorian Gray* (Oscar Wilde, 1890) frames this interplay in obvious terms through the portrait of its titular character.\* Still, what audiences focused on at the time of its publication within their cultural context differs from what audiences today understand. ## **Male vs Female** Gothic is distinct from horror because it relies more heavily on suspense and the unknown rather than overt violence or fear. History gendered this difference, polarizing the oft banned *The Monk (*Matthew Lewis, 1796), as male gothic horror, with *The Mysteries of Udolpho (*Ann Radcliffe, 1794), as female gothic terror. In the introduction to Oxford World’s Classics edition of *Zofloya, or The Moor* (Charlotte Dacre, 1806), which straddled male and female conventions in its age, Kim Ian Michasiw, Emeritus Professor of English at York University, writes: > *Terror seeks to evoke by suggestion, by suspense; horror displays in the hopes of producing disgust. Terror veils a potentially ghastly unknown and tempts the reader to peer through, to pull up a corner; horror marches readers through catacombs filled with violated nuns, with the rotting corpses of infants, with entombed lovers turned cannibal. Terror remains discrete and seeks a unity of tone; horror has an appetite for sudden variation, for the blackly comic, for the grotesque. And terror has been associated with the practice of women while horror has been judged the province of men…This opposition serves to keep women Gothicists fixed in their gentility, obscuring the source of the groans and cracks emerging from the cells of Radcliff’s Inquisition, veiling the heaps of decay from which Victor Frankenstein stitches together his creature…This opposition also caricatured Lewis as a ham-fisted adolescent, incapable of managing any but the crudest effects.* Gendering terror and horror feels obsolete, but the sliding scale between Lewisian and Radcliffian gothicism is still evident in the modern evolution of the genre. In addition to the difference in approaches, the themes investigated are distinct. The Female Gothic often explores topics such as [tyrannical patriarchy](https://archive.org/details/mistressofudolph0000nort/page/n9/mode/2up?q=patriarchy), [domestic oppression](https://academic.oup.com/book/34602?ref=astridalexander.com), and [emotional invalidation](https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/gothic.2020.0044?ref=astridalexander.com). The “masculine” gothic style often explores [mortality and religious authoritarian power](https://sheffieldgothic.home.blog/2015/10/16/forshadowings-religious-gothic-and-the-monk-by-matthew-lewis/?ref=astridalexander.com), [identity within a changing world amidst class destabilization](https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public%5Fview/zs25x8631?ref=astridalexander.com), and [political corruption](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAjtdsqXqk4&t=7s&ref=astridalexander.com). Both male and female gothic literature holds up a mirror to ask: Who are *you*? And who are *we*? ## **Examples of Gothic Literature Past and Present** Perhaps the easiest way to understand the Gothic genre is to consider canonical examples. ****Conception (1746 - 1837)** **The Castle of Otranto* by Horace Walpole (1746) **The Monk* by Matthew Lewis (1796) **The Mysteries of Udolpho* by Ann Radcliffe (1794) **Zofloya, or The Moor* by Charlotte Dacre (1806)\*\* **Frankenstein* by Mary Shelley (1818) **Northanger Abbey* by Jane Austen (1818) **The Legend of Sleepy Hollow* by Washington Irving (1820) ****Gothic Revival in the Victorian Era (1837-1901)** **The Fall of the House of Usher* by Edgar Allen Poe (1839) **Wuthering Heights* by Emily Brontë (1847) **The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde* by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) **The Picture of Dorian Gray* by Oscar Wilde (1890) **The Yellow Wallpaper* by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892) **Dracula* by Bram Stoker (1897) **Carmilla* by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1897) **The Turn of the Screw* by Henry James (1898) For a deeper dive on some of these classics, check out my [instagram post](https://www.instagram.com/astridalexander.author/p/DanP%5FGQDB6n/?ref=astridalexander.com) on the topic. This time period also popularized penny dreadfuls, serialized gothic stories sold for a penny to the masses. Most recognizable to modern audiences are *Varney the Vampire* (published between 1845 and 1847) and *The String of Pearls* (from which Sweeney Todd originates, published between 1846 and 1847), both attributed to James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest. ****Contemporary** **Rebecca* by Daphne du Maurier (1938) **A Good Man Is Hard to Find* by Flannery O’Connor (1955) **Haunting of Hill House* by Shirley Jackson (1959) Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice (1976) **Beloved* by Toni Morrison (1987) **Dead Until Dark* by Charlaine Harris (2001) turned into the hit HBO TrueBlood show in 2008 **Twilight* (2008) **Locke & Key* (2008) **One Dark Window* by Rachel Gillig (2022) **What Moves the Dead* by T. Kingfisher (2023) **Anathema* by Keri Lake (2024) **She Made Herself a Monster* by Anna Kovatcheva (2024) **The Bewitching* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2025) **Hungerstone* by Kat Dunn (2025) **Blood on Her Tongue* by Johanna van Veen (2025) ## **Why is Gothic Literature Trending Again?** The answer lies in history. Foregrounding the conception of Gothic literature, the [Enlightenment sought to quelle centuries of monarchical and religious conflict](https://www.cfr.org/education/learn/reading/what-enlightenment-and-how-did-it-transform-politics?ref=astridalexander.com) through separation of church and state, logical reasoning, free market capitalism, and equality. This period of progress yielded the collapse of existing political and social systems. Religious institutions weakened, bringing questions of morality to the forefront of public discourse. The beginning of the industrial revolution sent families to work in urban factories with low wages and a greater supply of mass produced goods to consume. Influenza and cholera pandemics plagued cities. The bourgeoisie revolted in France and America, dethroning monarchs for militaristic replacement regimes seated by wealthy elites. Leaders scrambled for unifying national identities, symbols, and mythologies. Every aspect of society was on the precipice of change without a clear vision of what lay ahead, precipitating both nostalgia and disdain for the past. Gothic literature responded with crumbling European castles, morally dubious religious figures, and unscrupulous schemers. During the Gothic Revival in the Victorian Era, the middle class rose in wealth and status with the expansion of voting rights. At the same time, rapid urbanization without supporting infrastructure led to rampant poverty and unsafe living conditions. Disillusioned with the soullessness of capitalism, people recoiled toward handmade goods, sought answers in the supernatural, and leaned into human connection. Rejecting the supremacy of foreign antiquity, politicians searched for a [collective conception of national identity](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319105734%5FThe%5FClassical%5FIdeal%5Fand%5FGothic%5FNationalism%5FJohn%5FSoane%5Fand%5Fthe%5FArchitectural%5FPatriotism%5Fof%5Fthe%5FEarly%5F19th%5FCentury?ref=astridalexander.com), past and present. Gothic literature critiqued class inequity beneath urban fog, exposed the dark duality of public and private self, and birthed sexually unrepressed vampires. The genre surged again in the late 1950s through the 1970s with *The Haunting of Hill House* by Shirley Jackson (1959), the works of Flannery O'Connor (1950s-60s), *Salem’s Lot* by Stephen King (1975), and *Interview with a Vampire* by Anne Rice (1976). The late 1980s and early 1990s gave rise to Southern Gothic classics like *Beloved* by Toni Morrison (1987). Following the Great Recession, gothic literature swelled in popularity with series like *Twilight* (2008) and *Locke & Key* (2008). The same precursory conditions yield peaks in gothic literature again and again. A period of progress and relative stability ends with disillusionment and systems decay. Wealthy elites fill the power vacuum, leaning on nostalgia for the pre-progress era and national identity, real or fabricated, to garner public support. New abuses of power, mass financial struggle, and directionlessness invite the gothic interrogation of society. **Progress > Disillusionment > Systems decay > Ascension of Capitalist Elites > Nationalism + Nostalgia > Chaos > Gothic Literature* Does that pattern sound familiar? That brings us to the present gothic trend. Gothicism trends when the world around its readers begins to destabilize and it no longer feels safe to ask questions out loud. The rise in nationalism worldwide, the existential threat of AI and the technofeudalism it buoys, and the collapse of American hegemony as orchestrated by the Heritage Foundation feed the popularity of a genre that interrogates and challenges their existence. Writers and readers are the heroines locked in decaying systems, who sense what is to come, through feeling rather than explicit knowledge, and are dismissed by those upholding the status quo. Fear immobilizes in the dark, but when drawn into the light through gothic stories, it provokes reader critique, weakening its strength. For deeply thinking, deeply feeling people, gothic literature trends again. ## **Project Muse** What’s my stake in all this? Besides being a voracious reader of Gothic literature since the second grade, my current work in progress, [Project Muse](https://www.astridalexander.com/the-muse/), is Gothic Fiction. To reclaim her identity, a muse must destroy the soul of a licentious poet, but the cost is greater than she intends when he becomes a fledgling nation’s hero. It’s *Wuthering Heights* meets a supernatural Promising Young Woman, set in the Duchy of Carniola of the Austrian Empire from the 1830s to present. Steeped in Slavic monster folklore, ancient theology, and multilayered power struggles, the story shares a shelf with classic gothic tales. I’ve spent the last nine months studying Gothic literature as I write to ensure genre fit. OG readers of *The Monk* and *Zofloya* would enjoy it, I tell myself, although Project Muse would definitely join them on banned book lists for its depiction of sex, subversion of religious doctrine, and challenge of powerful men. When looking at recent examples (within the last year or two) within the genre, the megasuccessful titles are Gothic Romance or lean toward Horror. I love a fulfilling romance; my other manuscript is Romantasy. But Project Muse has no romantic happily ever after. I considered it early on before deciding it would curtail the muses’ development. It sits on the darker end of early Gothic literature without veering into Horror, which means it won’t be of interest to many commercial audiences. It’s for the weird girls, the quietly angry girls ready to release their rage, the truth tellers fed up with current power structures. Why preemptively narrow the audience? Why not pick a different genre, subset of the genre, or lighten the darker elements of the story? Why not a fairy tale retelling? Why not another genre that challenges readers to investigate our world? I love Romantasy for its ability to do so in a gentle way. Science Fiction is rich with cautionary tales about corrupt men and AI take over. Dystopian literature is trending again for many of the same reasons. Unease, fear, and terror, base human emotions, shake things loose from the psyche in a way that being coddled by cozy stories do not. Like many classic gothic arcs, I want readers to carry their discomfort from the absence of a perfect resolution into real life, bringing the guttering candlestick and mirror ever closer until what is seen can no longer be silenced. *Comment your thoughts below. What are you reading? Do you find yourself reading more Gothic literature lately? If so, is it contemporary or classic?* \*Sadly the directness of the social commentary in *The Picture of Dorian Gray* led to the downfall of its author. Between its initial publication in a magazine and subsequent release as a standalone novel, Oscar Wilde censored its contents, obscuring the homosexual relationship between characters. Victorian investigators weaponized the text as evidence of self-incrimination and sentenced Wilde to two years of hard labor. He never recovered and died a few years later while exiled in France. \*\* *Zofloya, or The Moor* by Charlotte Dacre is not traditionally considered part of the Gothic canon because it subverted Female Gothic norms with an unrepentantly ambitious female lead, explicit sexual content drawing inspiration from *The Monk*, and a romantic interest in a servant. Lord Byron publicly and privately shamed Charlotte Dacre at the time (notably in *English Bards and Scotch Reviewers*), despite drawing inspiration from her work for his byronic heroes and *Hours of Idleness* (Dacre published her *Hours of Solitude* two years prior). Dacre and *Zofloya* were excluded from the Gothic canon for hundreds of years as a result. I’m glad it's earning recognition now. ## **Selected Resources** Carlick, S. (2026, September 22). *A guide to Gothic literature.* [https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/what-is-gothic-literature](https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/what-is-gothic-literature?ref=astridalexander.com). Eggebrecht, P. (2014, April 25). “*Gothic Populations: Matthew Lewis’s The Monk.*” [https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public\_view/zs25x8631](https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/public%5Fview/zs25x8631?ref=astridalexander.com). Howard, K. (n.d.). *LibGuides: The rise of Gothic fiction in England & the United States: A Gothic Timeline.* [https://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/c.php?g=824030&p=5883640](https://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/c.php?g=824030&p=5883640&ref=astridalexander.com). Howard, J. (1994, April 7). *Reading Gothic Fiction: A Bakhtinian Approach*. Oxford University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119920.001.0001](https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119920.001.0001?ref=astridalexander.com). Hudson, K. (2024, December 6). *Foreshadowings: Religious Gothic and ‘The Monk’ by Matthew Lewis*. Sheffield Gothic. [https://sheffieldgothic.home.blog/2015/10/16/forshadowings-religious-gothic-and-the-monk-by-matthew-lewis/](https://sheffieldgothic.home.blog/2015/10/16/forshadowings-religious-gothic-and-the-monk-by-matthew-lewis/?ref=astridalexander.com) Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press). (2016, January 19). *Why should modern readers read The Monk?* \[Video\]. YouTube. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAjtdsqXqk4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAjtdsqXqk4&ref=astridalexander.com). Williams, A. (2020). *Grad School Gothic: The Mysteries of Udolpho and the academic #MeToo movement*. Gothic Studies, 22(2), 115–130\. [https://doi.org/10.3366/gothic.2020.0044](https://doi.org/10.3366/gothic.2020.0044?ref=astridalexander.com).