Gothic 1950 to the Present

Abstract

“We live in Gothic times,” asserted Angela Carter in 1974, a much‐quoted statement that has come to define the postwar era (Carter 1995: 460). Gothic has become incrementally more prevalent in Western culture as the twentieth and twenty‐first centuries have gone on. By the end of the twentieth century it was arguably more popular, and certainly more diverse, than it had ever been since the peak of the Gothic novel's production in the 1790s. As a result it is difficult to impose a single narrative on postwar Gothic: rather, it has developed in a multitude of different and sometimes overlapping directions. The main distinguishing features of Gothic in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond, however, are extreme generic hybridity, hermeneutical self‐awareness, and globalization.

The Hysteric Yell from Women:

“…Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his novel The Castle of Otranto. It is characterized by expressions of terror, gruesome narratives, supernatural elements, and dark, picturesque scenery [9]. The basic elements of Gothic literature include mystery and suspense, atmosphere and setting, and omens and curses.…”