Gothic Quest: Some Short Stories Online

Here are some well-known short stories in the Gothic mode by famous authors that are available online to read or download.

Ash-Tree, The by M. R. James
Birthmark, The by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Double, The by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker
Fall of the House of Usher, The by Edgar Allan Poe
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Jolly Corner, The by Henry James
Lost Hearts by M. R. James
Monkey's Paw, The by W. W. Jacobs
Secret Sharer, The by Joseph Conrad
Turn of the Screw, The by Henry James
Yellow Wallpaper, The by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Gothic Quest...

...is my personal exploration of the Gothic genre in literature and film. Join me on an adventurous journey into shadowy realms in search of the uncanny, the speculative, the horrific, the dark, the haunting, the suspenseful, the sexually erotic, the horrifying, the grotesque, the macabre, the thrilling, the psychologically chilling... This blog is a continuing, if sporadic, record of my past or present reflections upon reading or viewing themes in the Gothic mode.

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I majored in British and American Literature with a minor concentration on the Gothic genre and its historical devlopment as an outgrowth of the Romantic Movement. I've been an enthusiast of quality horror literature since that time, over thirty years. Motifs of particular interest to me are: stories of The Other, or Doubles (the doppelgänger); tales of haunted houses; and really good ghost stories. I'm quite taken with the grotesque flavor of Southern Gothic--and such authors as Flannery O'Connor, Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty. Although I enjoy dark, scarey novels (and even poetry and plays) my favored formats are the novella and short story. I enjoy quality horror films as well--not blood and gore slasher B-movies (although they're important, too, from a horror film historical perspective)--but films of such notable caliber as Hitchcock's Psycho (1960, based upon the equally superb 1959 novel by Robert Bloch) and Rebecca (1940, based on Daphne du Maurier's 1938 excellent novel). Incidentally, Du Maurier's 1951 novel, My Cousin Rachel, is a fine psychological dark tale of mystery and her 1952 short story, "The Birds" was the basis for Hitchcock's 1963 film of the same title.

I continue to read non-fiction critical studies on Gothic literature (Jack Sullivan, David Punter, Richard Davenport-Hines, etc.) and have found myself going back and re-reading some of the classic horror tales with new perspectives. I am fond of too many authors in the field to name "favorites" but certainly among them are: Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, Wilkie Collins, Sheridan Le Fanu, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Joseph Conrad. When asked the scariest novel I've ever read my answer without hesitation is Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker and I usually add, the best psychological ghost story ever written is "The Turn of the Screw" (1898) by Henry James. Some current contemporary writers in the horror field whom I enjoy: Dan Simmons, Ramsey Campbell, Joyce Carol Oates, and Patrick McGrath--to name but a few. Fight Club, both the Palahniuk novel (1996) and the film version (1999), is a particularly curious doppelgänger tale that appeals to me despite its violence, which is fundamental to its theme and social commentary.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Some Short Stories Online

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