The eighteenth-century Gothic novel is a genre of

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

published between 1764 and roughly 1820, which had the greatest period of popularity in the 1790s. These works originated the term "Gothic" to refer to stories which evoked the sentimental and

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

qualities of

medieval romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...

with the new genre of the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. After 1820, the eighteenth-century Gothic novel receded in popularity, largely overtaken by the related genre of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

as pioneered by

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

. The eighteenth-century Gothic was also followed by new genres of Gothic fiction like the Victorian penny dreadful.

Historical development

The rise of the Gothic

The first work to call itself "Gothic" was

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

's '' The Castle of Otranto'' (1764). Walpole's declared aim was to combine elements of the

, which he deemed too fanciful, and the modern novel, which he considered to be too confined to strict realism. Walpole's novel was popular but did not initially prompt many imitators. Beginning with Clara Reeve's ''

The Old English Baron ''The Old English Baron'' is an early Gothic novel by the English author Clara Reeve. It was first published under this title in 1778, although it had anonymously appeared in 1777 under its original name of ''The Champion of Virtue'', before Samue ...

'' (1778), the 1780s saw more writers attempting the Gothic combination of supernatural plots with emotionally realistic characters.

1790s Gothic boom

At the height of the Gothic's popularity in the 1790s, in England the genre was almost synonymous with Ann Radcliffe, whose works were highly anticipated and widely imitated. She has been called both "the Great Enchantress" and "Mother Radcliffe" due to her influence.KREMMEL, L. R. "Ann Radcliffe, Romanticism and the Gothic ed. by Dale Townshend and Angela Wright (review)". ''Keats-Shelley Journal'', vol. 64, no. 1, 2015, pp. 156–158. ''Project MUSE'' She combined aspects of Walpole's Gothic romance with the traditions of the earlier sentimental novel.Crawford, Joseph. ''Gothic Fiction and the Invention of Terrorism: The Politics and Aesthetics of Fear in the Age of the Reign of Terror'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013, p.39
/ref> Radcliffe's defining narrative technique was the "explained supernatural," or, seemingly-magical events which turn out to have mundane explanations.Smith, Andrew, and Diana Wallace, "The Female Gothic: Then and Now." ''Gothic Studies'', 25 August 2004, pp. 1–7. Radcliffe's success attracted many imitators, and the 1790s were characterized by a boom in Gothic publications, especially through the

Minerva Press Minerva Press was a publishing house, noted for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It was established by William Lane (c. 1745–1814) at No 33 Leadenhall Street, Lon ...

publishing house. Radcliffe's works were often seen as the feminine and rational opposite of a more violently horrifying male Gothic associated with Matthew Lewis. Lewis's '' The Monk'' (1796) contrasted strongly with Radcliffe's bestselling '' The Mysteries of Udolpho'' (1794), and Radcliffe responded to Lewis in her final novel ''The Italian'' (1797). Lewis's ''The Monk'' was also seen as bringing the continental horror mode to England, drawing on the German Schauerroman.

German ''Schauerroman''

The term ' is sometimes equated with the term "Gothic novel", but this is only partially true. Both genres are based on the terrifying side of the Middle Ages, and both frequently feature the same elements (castles, ghost, monster, etc.). However, ''Schauerroman'''s key elements are necromancy and secret societies and it is remarkably more pessimistic than the British Gothic novel. All those elements are the basis for

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

's unfinished novel ''

The Ghost-Seer ''The Ghost-Seer'' or ''The Apparitionist'' (full title: ''Der Geisterseher – Aus den Papieren des Grafen von O**''; literally, ''The Ghost-Seer – From the papers of the Count of O**'') is a novel by Friedrich Schiller. It first ap ...

'' (1786–1789). The motive of secret societies is also present in

Carl Grosse Carl Friedrich August Grosse (5 June 1768 – 15 March 1847) also known as Edouard Romeo Vargas-Bedemar was a German author, translator, aesthetic philosopher, and mineralogist. He is best known for his Gothic fiction, gothic novel ''Der Genius'', ...

's ''

Horrid Mysteries ''The Horrid Mysteries'', subtitled "A Story From the German Of The Marquis Of Grosse" is a translation by Peter Will of the German Gothic novel ''Der Genius'' by Carl Grosse. It was listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in ...

'' (1791–1794) and

Christian August Vulpius Christian August Vulpius (23 January 1762 – 25 June 1827) was a German novelist and dramatist. His sister married the noted German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Biography He was born at Weimar, and was educated at Jena and Erlangen. In ...

's'' Rinaldo Rinaldini, the Robber Captain'' (1797). Genres of ''Gespensterroman''/''Geisterroman'' ("ghost novel"), ' ("robber novel"), and ''Ritterroman'' (

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...

) also frequently share plot and motifs with the British "gothic novel". As its name suggests, the ''Räuberroman'' focuses on the life and deeds of outlaws, influenced by Friedrich Schiller's drama '' The Robbers'' (1781).

Heinrich Zschokke Johann Heinrich Daniel Zschokke (22 March 177127 June 1848) was a German, later Swiss, author and reformer. Most of his life was spent, and most of his reputation earned, in Switzerland. He had an extensive civil service career, and wrote hist ...

's ''Abällino, der grosse Bandit'' (1793) was translated into English by M. G. Lewis as ''The Bravo of Venice'' in 1804. The ''Ritterroman'' focuses on the life and deeds of the knights and soldiers, but features many elements found in the gothic novel, such as magic, secret tribunals, and medieval setting.

Benedikte Naubert Benedikte Naubert (born Christiana Benedicta Hebenstreit; 13 September 1756 – 12 January 1819) was a German writer who anonymously published more than 50 historical novels and is considered a pioneer of the genre in the 1780s. Naubert wrot ...

's novel ''Hermann of Unna'' (1788) is seen as being very close to the ''Schauerroman'' genre. Other early authors and works included

Christian Heinrich Spiess Christian Heinrich Spiess (4 April 1755 – 17 August 1799) was a German writer of romances and later pulp fiction, horror stories. Life He was born in Freiberg in Saxony. For a time an actor, he was appointed in 1788 controller on the estate of ...

, with his works ''Das Petermännchen'' (1793), ''Der alte Überall und Nirgends'' (1792), ''Die Löwenritter'' (1794), and ''Hans Heiling, vierter und letzter Regent der Erd- Luft- Feuer- und Wasser-Geister'' (1798); Heinrich von Kleist's short story "Das Bettelweib von Locarno" (1797); and Ludwig Tieck's ''

Der blonde Eckbert Der blonde Eckbert is a Romantic fairy tale written by Ludwig Tieck at the end of the eighteenth century. It first appeared in 1797 in a collected volume of folktales published by Tieck under the publisher Friedrich Nicolai in Berlin. For some ...

'' (1797) and ''

Der Runenberg ''Der Runenberg'' is a fairy tale written by German writer, translator and poet Ludwig Tieck. It was written in 1802 and first published in 1804 in the '' Taschenbuch für Kunst und Laune''. It was later published in the 1812 collection ''Phantasu ...

'' (1804). Early examples of female-authored Gothic include Sophie Albrecht's ''Das höfliche Gespenst'' (The Polite Ghost) (1797) and ''Graumännchen oder die Burg Rabenbühl: eine Geistergeschichte altteutschen Ursprungs'' (Graumännchen, or Castle Rabenbühl: A Ghost Story) (1799).

French ''roman noir''

The ''roman noir'' ("black novel") appeared in France, by such writers as

François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil (1761, Paris - 29 October 1819, Ville-d'Avray) was a French novelist, poet and songwriter. Career Born in Paris, from 1790 onward, Ducray-Duminil was the literary editor of ''Les Petites Affiches'' where he wa ...

, Baculard d'Arnaud and

Madame de Genlis Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

. The

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...

used a subgothic framework for some of his fiction, notably ''

The Misfortunes of Virtue ''Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue'' (French: ''Justine, ou Les Malheurs de la Vertu'') is a 1791 novel by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade. ''Justine'' is set just before the French Revolution in Fra ...

'' (1791) and ''Eugenie de Franval'', though the Marquis himself never thought of his work like this. Sade critiqued the genre in the preface of his ''Reflections on the novel'' (1800) stating that the Gothic is "the inevitable product of the revolutionary shock with which the whole of Europe resounded". Contemporary critics of the genre also noted the correlation between the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

ary Terror and the "terrorist school" of writing represented by Radcliffe and Lewis.

Gothic and Romanticism

In 1799 the philosopher

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous for ...

wrote '' St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century'', which influenced '' St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian'' (1811) by Godwin's future son-in-law

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

and ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

'' (1818), which was dedicated to Godwin, and written by his daughter Mary Shelley.Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein. The 1818 Text, Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Responses, Modern Criticism''. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 1996, p. 4. Female Anglo-Irish authors also wrote Gothic fiction in the 19th-century, including

Regina Maria Roche Regina Maria Roche (1764–1845) is considered a minor Gothic novel, Gothic novelist, encouraged by the pioneering Ann Radcliffe. However, she was a bestselling author in her own time. The popularity of her third novel, ''The Children of the Abbe ...

, whose novel ''Clermont'' (1798) went through several editions, and Sydney Owenson, most famous for ''

The Wild Irish Girl ''The Wild Irish Girl; a National Tale'' is an epistolary novel written by Irish novelist Sydney Owenson (later Lady Morgan) in 1806. Plot The Hon. Horatio M———, the younger son of the Earl of M———, is banished to his father's est ...

'' (1806). Gothic tales started to appear also in women's magazines like ''

The Lady's Monthly Museum ''The Lady's Monthly Museum; Or, Polite Repository of Amusement and Instruction'' was an English monthly women's magazine published between 1798 and 1832. History ''The Lady's Magazine'', a women's magazine founded in 1770 with a "pseudo-genteel ...

'' (1798-1832). Further contributions to the Gothic genre were seen in the work of the first generation of Romantic poets:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

's ''

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'') is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–1798 and published in 1798 in the first edition of ''Lyrical Ballad ...

'' (1798) and '' Christabel'' (1816).

References

{{reflist Literary genres Horror genres 18th-century British literature