Gothic: An Illustrated History

Gothic: An Illustrated History
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691229164/gothic

The word Gothic conjures associations with the dark and melancholy, the weird and feared, and haunted places and people. In Gothic, Roger Luckhurst offers readers an unprecedented look at the ways this uncanny style has manifested itself through architecture, literature, film, art, video games, and more. From the works of Victor Hugo and E. T. A. Hoffmann to Southern Gothic, ancient folklore, and classic horror movies, Luckhurst explores how an aesthetic that began in the margins has been reinvented through the centuries to become part of mainstream global culture.

Despite being published by Princeton, this isn't an academic book, and the person who wrote it isn't a professor. All in all, it's excellent, with lots of photos and illustrations. The physical copy is very handsome and definitely worth getting at a $15 discount on Amazon.

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I took three things away from this book.

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By the way, when I ordered a copy of Gothic: An Illustrated History, Amazon told me that I might also enjoy the recently published Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology. And damn if the algorithm wasn't 100% correct.

Cultural Notes on the Gothic

I think you could say that the concept of “the Gothic” originates in Germany in four ways.

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Moving on, I tend to think that there’s not really a strong Gothic genre in Japan because Japan’s material culture isn’t conducive to some of the key elements of the genre.

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And finally, I understand that there’s a lot of cool contemporary Gothic fiction in Argentina. Given the country’s history, I guess that makes sense, but I don’t know much about it. Also, the Chilean author Isabel Allende writes incredible and epic literary Gothic novels. I don’t read Spanish or Portuguese, unfortunately, but I’d love to learn more about Latin American Gothic.