American Gothic Fiction

[Nicci]

I am taking a couple of classes on literature trying to narrow down my Bachelor thesis. I am focusing on American Literature since that is what I like. I am looking for lesser known American Gothic Fiction authors(I never like to do anything the easy way). Can be Southern American Gothic as well. Everyone in class is focusing on Poe, Faulkner, Hawthorne, authors who are very well known

I would be particularly interested in women authors. Even short story writers. I have been looking but I keep coming up with cheesy, romantic Gothic writers, or what seems like cheesy Gothic just by looking at the titles(never judge a book by its cover). If anyone has any ideas, I would greatly appreciate it.

[billl]

Here's one that is very famous and 'important', and influenced Faulkner. Maybe this is a boring one the rest of your class knows about though. I remember really liking it a lot years ago:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winesburg,_Ohio_(novel)

A bunch of short stories that are together called a novel.

[sixsmith]

William Gay and Harry Crews both write within the Southern Gothic tradition.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/n....jsp?id=h-1231

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gay_(author)

[laymonite]

Not exactly lesser known, but I would say, perhaps, "overshadowed": Flannery O'Connor.

[Syd A]

How about Ralph Adams Cram? He was a Gothic architect and wrote a collection of horror and fantasy tales (Black Spirits and White). He was also a very prolific writer on Gothic architecture. Perhaps you can tie his architectural writings to his horror tales? I think that would make for an interesting thesis.

[OrphanPip]

Not exactly lesser known, but I would say, perhaps, "overshadowed": Flannery O'Connor.

She's probably the best American short fiction writer to follow in Faulkner's footsteps, I've heard mixed things about her novels though. I've only read her short fiction.

Depending on how far you want to stretch "American" there is also the genre of Southern Ontario Gothic, the South in that genre title is a bit of a joke but is meant to convey the influence of Faulkner and O'Connor on the style. Alice Munro is the best example of the genre and probably the greatest living short fiction writer who writes in English. I would recommend her novel/short story compilation Lives of Girls and Women, or her selected stories. Like Faulkner and O'Connor her fiction tends to focus on the darker aspects of small town life.

Edit: Which reminds me that I lent my collected stories of Alice Munro to my ex a few years ago and never got it back.

[laymonite]

O'Connor is great. Wise Blood is the first thing I read, followed with "A Good (Great?) Man is Hard to Find," "The Jockey," and a handful of other short stories.

Another suggestion is Carson McCullers's novel The Member of the Wedding.

[Nicci]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I am definitely going to look up O'Connor. Just the few gothic stories I have read really have sparked my interest in this genre.

[laymonite]

No problem! By the way, I know you're focusing on American Gothic literature, but have you read Matthew Lewis's The Monk?

Also, if you don't mind my asking: what part of Sweden do you live in/near? I travel to Göteborg a lot for work.

[Nicci]

I have The Monk on my ereader. Haven't read it yet. I am reading The Castle of Otranto.

I live in Malmö.

[TheFifthElement]

What about Harry Crews?