Side note: If you’d like to learn more about the origins of Dracula (Vlad the Impaler), I took a trip to Transylvania, including the legendary Bran Castle, and you can read all about it here.īuy a copy here! Wuthering Heights by Emily BrontëĮmily Brontë was one of three sisters who all became legendary novelists of the romantic and gothic genres, and Wuthering Heights was her only published work.īut one is all you need when it’s Wuthering Heights, one of the finest gothic novels ever written. These are powerful and universal themes that remain as relevant today as they always have been. It presents a commentary on modernity vs tradition, and the religious versus the blasphemous and the unnatural. It’s an exciting gothic read from beginning to end.Īs for its themes, Dracula explores the concept of “othering”: fear of the outsider, of the stranger, of those who are different. Meaty, dynamic, packed with lust and fear and rage. It’s not often that a single literary work has such a profound impact, and not only on the genres of gothic fiction, horror, and vampire stories, but also on contemporary fiction and epistolary novels in general.īeyond all of that, Dracula remains an excellent novel. This is the novel that firmly established the rules of vampire lore in popular culture, even down to their aesthetics and behaviour. A legendary vampire novel dripping with blood and atmosphere.Īn epistolary gothic novel soaked in dread and shrouded by fear and anxiety, Dracula is a supernatural gothic novel through and through. Terrifying and exciting, written with a poetic flair, Frankenstein is the very best of classic gothic novels and, in my opinion, the best novel ever written.īram Stoker’s Dracula is another unmissable classic in the canon of gothic novels. The creature himself is left to wander the Earth, learn on his own, and develop an overwhelming sense of revenge against the father who abandoned him. A true genius.Īs for the novel itself, Frankenstein tells the story of a young budding scientist who becomes obsessed with conquering death after losing his mother.Īnd so the arrogant and naive Frankenstein pieces together a new being from dead flesh and body parts, reanimates it successfully, regrets it immediately, and flees. The teenage Mary Shelley, daughter of history’s most renowned feminist, defined both the gothic and sci-fi genres in one fell swoop. This inspired one of the novel’s main themes: parental responsibility and the abandonment of our children (or creations).įrankenstein is considered to be not only one of the greatest gothic novels ever written, but also the very first science fiction novel. Shelley herself gave birth to a child who died shortly after, and her new husband was off galavanting with other women. The story behind Frankenstein is a dark affair. Written by the teenage Mary Shelley, after falling in love with the renowned poet Percy Shelley and fleeing with him and Lord Byron to Switzerland, Frankenstein is a masterpiece. Where to even begin with Frankenstein? It’s tough for this writer to be calm when writing about her favourite novel of all time. These are your must-read classic gothic novels. When we talk about gothic novels, there are many classics that spring to mind - from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and you’ll find them all here. A Good House for Children by Kate Collins.The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward.Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe.The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
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