Essential Literature for the Gothic Subculture
Explore essential Gothic literature that defines the subculture. Discover must-read books from classic to contemporary works that capture the dark, romantic, and macabre essence of the Gothic aesthetic.
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ID: 0140434062
(Type: books)
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Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Presents the story of Dr. Frankenstein and the obsessive experiment that leads to the creation of a monstrous and deadly creature, and includes a section examining the many film adaptations of the story.
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The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings
by marquis de Sade
The Marquis de Sade, vilified by respectable society from his own time through ours, apotheosized by Apollinaire as "the freest spirit that has yet existed," wrote The 120 Days of Sodom while imprisoned in the Bastille. An exhaustive catalogue of sexual aberrations and the first systematic exploration-a hundred years before Krafft-Ebing and Freud-of the psychology of sex, it is considered Sade's crowning achievement and the cornerstone of his thought. Lost after the storming of the Bastille in 1789, it was later retrieved but remained unpublished until 1935. In addition to The 120 Days, this volume includes Sade's "Reflections on the Novel," his play Oxtiem, and his novella Ernestine. The selections are introduced by Simone de Beauvoir's landmark essay "Must We Burn Sade?" and Pierre Klossowski's provocative "Nature as Destructive Principle." "Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination the like of which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism, there you have me in a nutshell, and kill me again or take me as I am, for I shall not change."-From Sade's Last Will and Testament
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The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri
The Divine Comedy, translated by Allen Mandelbaum, begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity. Mandelbaum's astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets. This Everyman's edition-containing in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso-includes an introduction by Nobel Prize--winning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticelli's marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations. (Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
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The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experiece as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.
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Nineteen Eighty-four
by George Orwell
Eternal warfare is the price of bleak prosperity in this satire of totalitarian barbarism.
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ID: 0517223651
(Type: books)
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Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft
by H. P. Lovecraft
“H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”—Stephen King “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”—H.P. Lovecraft This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction must have: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s most horrifying visions, including: The Call of Cthulu: The first story in the infamous Cthulhu mythos—a creature spawned in the stars brings a menace of unimaginable evil to threaten all mankind. The Dunwich Horror: An evil man’s desire to perform an unspeakable ritual leads him in search of the fabled text of The Necronomicon. The Colour Out of Space: A horror from the skies—far worse than any nuclear fallout—transforms a man into a monster. The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Rising from the depths of the sea, an unspeakable horror engulfs a quiet New England town. Plus twelve more terrifying tales!
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ID: 019283908X
(Type: books)
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The Italian, Or, The Confessional of the Black Penitents
by Ann Ward Radcliffe
First published in 1797, The Italian is Ann Radcliffe's classic creation of Gothic romance. Set against the backdrop of the Holy Inquisition, the narrative revolves around the sinister and mysterious monk, Father Schedoni, and the ill fated lovers, Ellena Rosalba and Vincentio di Vivaldi. With a new introduction and updated notes, this edition examines the formal, historical, and political aspects of Radcliffe's most brilliant work.
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Ghost and Horror Stories
by Ambrose Bierce
Twenty-four grotesque horror tales written by Ambrose Bierce, the nineteenth-century journalist known for his cynicism
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The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
by Tim Burton
From breathtaking stop-action animation to bittersweet modern fairy tales, filmmaker Tim Burton has become known for his unique visual brilliance -- witty and macabre at once. Now he gives birth to a cast of gruesomely sympathetic children -- misunderstood outcasts who struggle to find love and belonging in their cruel, cruel worlds. His lovingly lurid illustrations evoke both the sweetness and the tragedy of these dark yet simple beings -- hopeful, hapless heroes who appeal to the ugly outsider in all of us, and let us laugh at a world we have long left behind (mostly anyway).
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The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetlelike insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man. A harrowing—though absurdly comic—meditation on human feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and isolation, The Metamorphosis has taken its place as one of the most widely read and influential works of twentieth-century fiction. As W.H. Auden wrote, “Kafka is important to us because his predicament is the predicament of modern man.”
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Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
Marlow sails down the Congo in search of Kurtz, a company agent who has, according to rumors, become insane in the jungle isolation.
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The Blackstone Chronicles
by John Saul
Now, for the first time, the New York Times bestselling serial thriller is complete in one terrifying volume. John Saul, the master of supernatural suspense, John Saul, brings to chilling life the small New England town of Blackstone--and the secrets and sins that lay buried there. . . . From atop Blackstone's highest hill, the old Asylum casts its shadow over the village. Built in the 1890s to house the insane, the Asylum has stood vacant for decades. But now, the wrecker's ball is about to strike--and unleash an ominous evil. Strange gifts begin to appear on the doorsteps of Blackstone's finest citizens. Each bears a mysterious history. Each brings a horrifying power to harm. Each reveals another thread in the suspensefully woven web of . . . THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES Part I--An Eye for an Eye: The Doll Part II--Twist of Fate: The Locket Part III--Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame Part IV--In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief Part V--Day of Reckoning: The Stereoscope Part VI--Asylum
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ID: 0679600078
(Type: books)