Southern+Gothic


 * What is Southern Gothic literature? **
 * “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. Foremost among these authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Tennessee Williams, and Carson McCullers. ”  **[1]  ****

**“I write out of love for the South… It is out of a regret for a South that no longer exists that I write of the forces that have destroyed it.** **…once a way of life that I am unable to remember – not a society based on money… I write about the South because I think the war between romanticism and the hostility to it is very sharp there.”** (Tennessee Williams, quoted by his mother in //Remember Me To Tom//)

[1] ** [|source] : (http://www.notesinthemargin.org/glossary.html) ** · The Southern Gothic movement in literature brings the atmosphere and sensibilities of the Gothic, a genre originating in __late 18th century England__, to the American South. As early Gothic writers used the genre in part to criticize what they saw as the moral blindness of the medieval era, so Southern Gothic writers deal with their own past through Gothic tropes.

·  Like its parent genre, it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot. Unlike its predecessor, it uses these tools not for the sake of suspense, but to __explore__ __social issues__ and __reveal the cultural character__ of the American South. · Southern Gothic literature builds on the traditions of the larger Gothic genre, typically including supernatural elements, mental disease, and the grotesque. Much Southern Gothic literature, however, eschews the supernatural and __deals instead with disturbed personalities.__

· Southern Gothic is known for its __damaged and delusional characters__, such as the heroines of Tennessee Williams' plays. The Southern Gothic author usually __avoids perpetuating antebellum stereotypes__ like the //contented slave //, the //demure Southern belle //, the //chivalrous gentleman//, or the //righteous Christian preacher//. Instead, the writer takes classic Gothic archetypes, such as the damsel in distress or the heroic knight , and portrays them in a more modern and realistic manner. · __ Tennessee Williams described Southern Gothic as a style that captured "an intuition, of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience." __ · Other notable Southern Gothic writers:

Poppy Z. Brite, William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Harper Lee, Harry Crews, Lee Smith, John Kennedy Toole, Cormac McCarthy, Davis Grubb, Barry Hannah, Katherine Anne Porter, Lewis Nordan, Thomas Wolfe and William Gay

Notes by: Jesika Haria