Transcript The (Southern) Gothic

Though there are some
similiarities . . .
 starts with Horace Walpole’s house, “Strawberry Hill,”
which he refurbished with towers, turrets, battlements,
arched doors, windows, and ornaments of every
description, creating a kind of spurious medieval
architecture that survives today mainly in churches,
military academies . . . and university buildings.
Strawberry Hill
 and his novel The Castle of Otranto elaborates on
his “gothic” concerns. It featured
 a haunted castle,
 An evil male villain
 mysterious deaths,
 supernatural happenings,
 a moaning ancestral portrait,
 a damsel in distress,
 And, as the Oxford Companion to English Literature puts
it, "violent emotions of terror, anguish, and love."
 the literary Gothic emerges from the Romantic era, and
shares many of the same tropes and themes, such as . . .
 the omnipresence of death and decay
 The importance of terror as revelatory of truth
 Exploration of human psychology
 Supernatural elements, or suggestions of same.
 Reaction against modernity, often protagonist “sees the light” of
supernatural after denying it.
 The centrality of architecture
 as model of self/psyche
 as places of confinement
 as ancient power structures (castles etc.)
 Literary critic Christoph Grunenberg on the centrality of
the house in Gothic literature:
"The house functions as a matrix for memory and the
exploration of its hidden rooms, forbidden spaces, locked
doors, closely, and cupboards (a standard theme in Gothic
fiction as in film noir) summons to consciousness
displaced and undigested experiences and dreams.“
("Unsolved Mysteries: Gothic Tales from Frankenstein to the Hair-eating Doll“
211)
 the house often contains a
“madwoman” in either the
basement or the attic . . . think
“The Yellow Wallpaper” or “The
Fall of the House of Usher” by
Poe.
 Thus the secrets being explored
are often connected to
gender/sexuality.
 it frequently has to do with family secrets
 family histories
 memories either forgotten or suppressed
 deviant sexuality, incest
 since “Gothic” is embedded in yearning for an
imagined medieval past, its revival in the American
South was due to a yearning for a re-imagined past,
where their “peculiar institution” (i.e. slavery) was just
one facet of a glorious culture that deserves to be
mourned. (think “A Rose for Emily,” also an example
of the form.)
“A lurid or macabre writing style native to the American
South. Since the middle of the 20th century, Southern
writers have interpreted and illuminated the history and
culture of the region through the conventions of the
Gothic narrative (or Gothic novel), which at its best
provides insight into the horrors institutionalized in
societies and social conventions. (Source : NYPL, 678).
 The Grotesque
 includes situations, places, or stock characters that often
possess some truly awful qualities-- typically racial bigotry
and egotistical self-righteousness-- but enough good traits
that they are nevertheless interesting.
 Southern Gothic authors commonly use deeply flawed,
grotesque characters for greater narrative range and more
opportunities to highlight unpleasant aspects of Southern
culture, without being too literal or appearing to be overly
moralistic.
 thus the form allows Southern writers to examine social
institutions in a figurative way: horrors that are in fact
embedded in the “historical” past re-emerge in
supernatural or shocking ways that actually serve to
strengthen their effect.
 Anne Rice, John Behrendt, William Faulkner, Cormac
McCarthy, Truman Capote, Carson McCullers et al.
 the genre, with all its attendant focus on violence,
the grotesque, and the family, is ideally suited to
O’Connor, whose mission is to “shock” her
audience into an understanding of mortality and
Christian salvation.
 more complex than simple “horror” a la Stephen
King: SG writing is more difficult to read and
understand, and its effects more complicated.
 the genre, with all its attendant focus on violence,
the grotesque, and the family, is ideally suited to
O’Connor, whose mission is to “shock” her
audience into an understanding of mortality and
Christian salvation.
 more complex than simple “horror” a la Stephen
King: SG writing is more difficult to read and
understand, and its effects more complicated.
 "Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers
particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I
say it is because we are still able to recognize one."
 "Anything that comes out of the South is going to be
called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is
grotesque, in which case it is going to be called
realistic."
 "All my stories are about the action of grace on a
character who is not very willing to support it, but
most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless
and brutal."
 When you can assume that your audience holds the
same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more
normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume
that it does not, then you have to make your vision
apparent by shock -- to the hard of hearing you shout,
and for the almost blind you draw large and startling
figures."