Looking for suggestions - dark gloomy lit

[Badman]

Hey I'm new here and would first like to say this is a great community! I'm 19 and have been suffering from chronic pain for 5 months, maybe for the rest of my life, and one of the only hobbies I can really enjoy doing anymore is reading! And I do a whole lot of it!

I have plenty of "to buys", am working on a sort of personal library. Lately I've been reading Edgar Allan Poe's short stories and poems. I've always been a fan of his, so I bought a book of all of his works, and it has given me a lot of inspiration, I even want to start writing my own short stories and poems. I love the way he writes, his dark fantasy type poems, and gloomy short stories. I think The Fall of the House of Usher is a masterpiece, among others. Also his poems such as "The Raven", "The Conqueror Worm", "Annabel Lee", "City Under the Sea" I think are about as good as it can get for 'me' at least.

Anyways my question is this -

Does anybody have any recommendations of any poets or short story novelists that resemble Edgar Allan Poe's style? I'm going to try H. P. Lovecraft next because I've heard his short stories are awesome as well and match up to Poe's.

I'm also looking for any gloomy or dark literature in particular, I'm not picky I'm open to all suggestions. I love all types of literature, but I favor the darker, sad stuff. Which I definitely don't have enough of.

[The Comedian]

You could always go for some gloomy drama:

Eugene O'Neil's Long Days Journey into Night will make you want to jump off a bridge.

Euripides' Medea is a huge downer

Those are just a could off the top of my head.

[dfloyd]

The Fall of the House of Usher is my favorite. I have a magnificent copy of it bound in half Morrocan leather and hand marbelled paper. Not all of his tales are dark and gloomy. That's why they call them Tales of Mystery and Imagination. He is the father of the detective story (The Purloined Letter) and stories of ratiocination (The Gold Bug).

Have you read Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym?

Another favorite of mine is The Cask of Amontillado.

Some convoluted modern mystery stories you might try are the novels of Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep, Farewll.My Lovely, and The Long Goodbye are dark and gloomy murder mysteries set in 1930s Los Angelos. But nothing beats the untimely interrment of Roderick Useher's sister.

[Vautrin]

Hi Badman,

Growing up I've probably seen most of the Frankenstein adaptations on TV. When I got around to reading the actual book by Mary Shelley, I was surprised by how much darker in tone the book is than any of the movies. It's actually quite Poe-esque.

Franz Kafka's short stories also fit the criteria of being dark and gloomy.

Also, if you're into dark, yet interesting films; try to check out all the films made by David Lynch (if you haven't already.)

[JBI]

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (I think I got the right sister).

[Desolation]

Pretty much anything by a French author would fit the bill.

As far as specific books go, I'd recomend:
Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe
Complete Works by Arthur Rimbaud
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Fall by Albert Camus

[mal4mac]

Schopenhauer is famous for being the gloomiest philosopher of all time, but he's a fairly difficult read. Initially, try reading Bryan Magee's book on his philosophy, simply called "Schopenhauer". He has long chapters on people he influenced, all of who produced very gloomy books (Hardy, Conrad, ...). It' s the best introduction to gloomy literature I've read, as well as the best book of philosophy (gloomy or otherwise...)

[kiki1982]

Pretty much anything by a French author would fit the bill.

Please do exclude Dumas, then, apart from The Count of Monte Cristo which is pretty dark.

The sequel to The Three Musketeers is also pretty dark, but then you have to read the first book which is not at all.

Also please exclude Molière.

Dark... Wuthering Heights was a good suggestion. You did get the right sister, JBI ;).

I'll come back when I have more ideas.

[Badman]

Thanks guys, a lot of suggestions for me to check out! Yeah I've read quite a lot of Poe's works by now, but still have a long way to go before finishing my compilation.

dfloyd - I haven't gotten to The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym yet, but It's definitely one I'm going to be getting to this week or next.

JBI and Comedian - I'll definitely check out your suggestions, thanks.

Vautrin - Actually I have read Shelley's Frankenstein, and it is an awesome example of the type of literature I'm looking for, It's one of my favorites and I've been meaning to buy it and read it again. Also I bought Kafka's metamorphosis, which I'll get around too soon as well, and I'll be checking out more of his works. And David Lynch is great, I've seen Eraserhead, so weird and dark!!!! I didn't know he directed Dune, I've seen that. Of course the book is one of my favorite science fiction novels so.

Desolation - Thanks for the suggestions, should keep me busy! The only one I've heard of on that list is Fyodor Dostoevsky, and sadly I haven't checked out any of his works yet. But a few of his novels are already on my list. I will definitely check out the others.

mal4mac - Awesome, a gloomy philosopher. That sounds very interesting. I think I'm going to order that book you suggested today!

kiki - Yes do come back haha, count of monte christo is a favorite movie of mine. I've got the book on my list as I've heard the book is even better. (of course though, all novels are better than the movies haha)

I've got a quick suggestion myself, while this book isn't the darkest of the dark, it is one of the best books I've ever read. It's definitely dark though, some bad things happen but I don't want to spoil it.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

It's the first of 7 in a series of fantasy fiction. (the gentlemen bastard sequence) I say fantasy but it only really has a few things in it that would even constitute it as that. The second book, Red Seas Under Red Skies is excellent is well.

But man, that first novel, what a debut! Seriously everyone who enjoys fiction owes it to themselves to read this book. It's basically like a back in the day story about a con man and a gang of thieves. It's set in the past, when con men and thieves were still new in town, with endless possibilities. The cities in the story are awesome Romanesque type landscapes.

If I made a top 3 of my favorite books of all time, this series would be on the list.

[janesmith]

Try anything by Emile Zola but particularly "La Terre", "La Bete Humaine" and "Germinal". Any of these are guaranteed to depress. Enjoy!

[kiki1982]

kiki - Yes do come back haha, count of monte christo is a favorite movie of mine. I've got the book on my list as I've heard the book is even better. (of course though, all novels are better than the movies haha)

haha, unless you have seen the French film, please prepare for a shock. Three times as bad. :yikes:

[kelby_lake]

Hunchback of Notre Dame is very dark.
Ghosts by Ibsen (incest and syphilis)
Long Day's Journey Into Night has about everything depressing you could think of.

[stlukesguild]

Something like Poe? Something darK?

Charles Baudelaire- Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil)
Theophile Gautier- Tales
Nathaniel Hawthorne- Tales
Ambrose Bierce- Tales/Short Stories
E.T.A. Hoffmann- Tales
William Wilkie Collins- The Woman in White, The Moonstone, short stories
J.S. LeFanu- Tales
Lord Dunsany- Tales
Robert Louis Stevenson- Short Stories

[Badman]

Awesome suggestions guys!!

janesmith - Will do, all 3 of those are now on the list.

kelbylake - Cool, yes Hunchback I already had on the list, I think I'll go ahead and order it now. I've been wanting to read it for a while.

stlukesguild - Thanks for the recommendations, I'm a big fan of good short stories, I'd like to try writing a few myself. Although I'm a novice and have a long way to go before producing anything good haha.

Thanks everybody, keep em' comin'. At this rate I'll have enough depressing books to last me for quite some time!

[pooteeweet]

Though not too dark and gloomy, Truman Capote's work is fantastic gothic literature. I would recommend his short story collection (isbn 140009691x) along with his novels Other Voices, Other Rooms (isbn 0679745645) and In Cold Blood (isbn 0679745580)

Also, the suggestions other members are very nice. I'm new here too and agree this looks like a great community!

Patrick

[eyemaker]

I think apart from psychologically penetrating and sentimental social themes themes, Dostoevsky would also fit in to the list of "dark", Gothic type of fictions.. Try looking for some of his works and see how would you consider it.. His taste in particular were influenced by themes, plots and characters of Gothic fictions in which he was acquainted very early. This made some of his works potentially having Gothic themes. His works such as "The Landlady","The Double", "Netochka Nezvanova", "The Insulted and the Injured" has roots in gothic and neogothic works of the early nineteenth century. You will might as well consider his other works such as "The Idiot" and "Crime and Punishment" to evoke a sense of dread with the help of his vivid descriptions. Characters such as Valkovsky and Svidrigailov in Crime and Punishment and Stavrogin in The Idiot for example could be drawn having gothic-related characteristics. You will might as well like to browse for his other masterpieces like "Brothers Karamazov", "The Demons", "Notes from the Underground" , etc..

Aside from Dostoevsky, my other suggestions would be E.T.A Hoffman, Anne Radcliffe, Scott,Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Doom of the Griffiths", "Lois the Witch", and "The Grey Woman" would be another good read, Lovecraft and even Dickens if you haven't been exposed much with his works..

I wish you a nice time with all the lists here. I could not much agree with them suggesting Bronte's "Wuthering Heights".


--eye

[pooteeweet]

I wish you a nice time with all the lists here. I could not much agree with them suggesting Bronte's "Wuthering Heights".


--eye

:nod:

[billl]

I am going to call down flames of indignation and recommend Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice. It was a pretty original thing back when it was written (though I got around to it a little bit later than that), and has, I believe, been besmirched by all of the vampire-chic that built up into an unbearable eruption following the release of its sequel, the also-quite-fun-(and-moving) The Vampire Lestat.

Lots of times, "literary" contexts come down hard on all of this vampiric fad (and understandably so) but I recently read over the first page of Stoker's Dracula and the first page of Rice's Interview, and felt quite reassured in my inclination to recommend Rice to people who want to have fun with a bit of dark, gloomy reading. "Interview With A Vampire" is pretty good, and not as shallow as it might seem when held alongside Twilight and the unrelenting spewal of vampire crapola.

And I in no way mean to dissuade anybody from Stoker's Dracula...

[wat??]

I do. I hated Dracula.

[milktea]

Someone already recommended Notes from the Underground. I'd second that recommendation and then third it for good measure.

An Italian contemporary of Poe, Ugo Foscolo wrote a pretty good downer called The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis (ISBN-1843910020). Stylistically the work might appeal to you since Foscolo was also a Romantic writer, but you won't be able to find the weirdness of Poe in this novel.

Just because it's one of my favorite books, I would also suggest that you try Osamu Dazai's 人間失格: No Longer Human (ISBN-9780811204811) Be warned, the novel is stylistically different; it's similar to Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground. It does, however, fit your dark and gloomy request albeit more 'dark and cynical' than 'dark and gloomy'.

Oh... have you read Henry James' Turn of the Screw yet? If not, I'd recommend that novella as well. I'm not sure, but I believe that it is also a Romantic work (don't quote me), hence it's stylistically comparable to Poe--including the creepiness. Eghck!

[mal4mac]

mal4mac - Awesome, a gloomy philosopher. That sounds very interesting. I think I'm going to order that book you suggested today!


"Among 19th century philosophers, Arthur Schopenhauer was among the first to contend that at its core, the universe is not a rational place. Inspired by Plato and Kant, both of whom regarded the world as being more amenable to reason, Schopenhauer developed their philosophies into an instinct-recognizing and ultimately ascetic outlook, emphasizing that in the face of a world filled with endless strife, we ought to minimize our natural desires to achieve a more tranquil frame of mind and a disposition towards universal beneficence. Often considered to be a thoroughgoing pessimist, Schopenhauer in fact advocated ways — via artistic, moral and ascetic forms of awareness — to overcome a frustration-filled and fundamentally painful human condition. Since his death in 1860, his philosophy has had a special attraction for those who wonder about life's meaning, along with those engaged in music, literature, and the visual arts."

"Schopenhauer's influence has been strong among literary figures, which include poets, playwrights, essayists, novelists and historians such as Charles Baudelaire, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Bernhard, Jorge Luis Borges, Jacob Burckhardt, Joseph Conrad, André Gide, George Gissing, Franz Grillparzer, Thomas Hardy, Gerhardt Hauptmann, Friedrich Hebbel, Hugo von Hoffmansthal, Joris Karl Huysmans, Ernst Jünger, Karl Kraus, Stephane Mallarmé, Thomas Mann, Guy de Maupassant, Robert Musil, Edgar Allan Poe, Marcel Proust, Arno Schmidt, August Strindberg, Italo Svevo, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Frank Wedekind, W. B. Yeats, and Emile Zola. In general, these authors were inspired by Schopenhauer's sense of the world's absurdity, either regarded in a more nihilistic and gloomy manner, or regarded in a more lighthearted, absurdist and comic manner."

"Schopenhauer's violence-filled vision of the daily world sends him on a quest for tranquillity... He discovers more peaceful states of mind by directing his everyday, practically-oriented consciousness towards more extraordinary, universal and less-individuated states of mind, since he believes that the violence that a person experiences, is proportional to the degree to which that person's consciousness is individuated and objectifying. His view is that with less individuation and objectification, there is less conflict, less pain and more peace."

"One way to achieve a more tranquil state of consciousness, according to Schopenhauer, is through aesthetic perception.... Aesthetic perception thus raises a person into a pure will-less, painless, and timeless subject of knowledge."

"Few people supposedly have the capacity to remain in such an aesthetic state of mind for very long, and most are denied the transcendent tranquillity of aesthetic perception. For Schopenhauer, only the artistically-minded genius has the capacity to remain in the state of pure perception, and it is to these individuals that we must turn — as we appreciate their works of art — to obtain a more concentrated and knowledgeable glimpse of [ultimate reality]"

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schopenhauer/ [not a bad taster but Magee is much better!]

[mal4mac]

Chekhov is the greatest short story writer I've encountered, and the serious critics tend to rate him very highly. There's a lot of them, about thirteen lengthy volumes. I've read about three volumes, and they're all pretty gloomy (in the 'reality sucks' rather than 'gothic horror' mode.) They're all great stories, but maybe start with a selection like "Ward 9 and other stories"? The title story is extremely gloomy!

There are so many interesting and involving gloomy works that it's difficult to contain one's excitement and stay gloomy :)

Alain de Botton is another good commentator on Schopenhauer -- if Magee gets a bit heavy you might like to divert yourself his "the Consolations of Philosophy". He gives an account of "old Schopenhauer" being rejected by a young lovely and finding consolation in his pessimistic philosophy -- as he thought life was s**t, his failure in love was a confirmation of his philosophy, which made him feel a bit better, but (no doubt) didn't completely lift the gloom...

[mal4mac]

Someone already recommended Notes from the Underground. I'd second that recommendation and then third it for good measure.

Hey you can't third it as well! Unless you are a fascist dictator. If you are, "milktea" is a very ironic nom de plume. Anyway, *I'll* third it... Can you get any gloomier than that sad man? Perhaps...

I think Shakespeare's tragic figures are gloomiest of all - Hamlet, Macbeth, Caliban, Romeo (when things start to go bad! Such a winger!), Lear, Othello... and on...

The RSC Complete Shakespeare is far and away the best buy for 'gloom'. The bard does gloom as well as anyone, and makes it just that bit more real. And the language! Skip the comedies and you are flying...

Dante's Inferno is rather gloomy, as you might expect...

[Badman]

Pooteesweet - Truman Capote, gotcha thanks!

eyemaker - Thanks for the input, I've been meaning to check Dostoevsky out for a long time. Really is long overdue. I'm a fan of gothic literature so I should love some of his novels.

billl - Yea actually I love me a good vampire tale. Really have to sift through the bad ones to get to the gold though. Anne Rice's trilogy has been on the list for a while now. Thanks though, by the way I'm a big fan of True Blood on HBO. Although the second season was really not very good compared to the first.

milktea - Cool, I haven't had a chance to check any of those out so on the list they go!

mal4mac - Thanks for the notes on Schopenhauer, I think I'm going to like him very much. The way my life has gone, god knows I share the pessimistic outlook haha. I'll see what Alain has to say as well. Thanks for the suggestions for Chekhov, a gloomy short story Author is exactly what I'm looking for.

[Kevets]

Cormac McCarthy is dark, and good literature to boot. Stephen King has some enjoyable things mixed in with the crap. The Stand was fun (if quite long).

[pooteeweet]

I am going to call down flames of indignation and recommend Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice. It was a pretty original thing back when it was written (though I got around to it a little bit later than that), and has, I believe, been besmirched by all of the vampire-chic that built up into an unbearable eruption following the release of its sequel, the also-quite-fun-(and-moving) The Vampire Lestat.

Lots of times, "literary" contexts come down hard on all of this vampiric fad (and understandably so) but I recently read over the first page of Stoker's Dracula and the first page of Rice's Interview, and felt quite reassured in my inclination to recommend Rice to people who want to have fun with a bit of dark, gloomy reading. "Interview With A Vampire" is pretty good, and not as shallow as it might seem when held alongside Twilight and the unrelenting spewal of vampire crapola.

And I in no way mean to dissuade anybody from Stoker's Dracula...


I'm not into the modern vampire novels, but all American Literature students should read Rice's Interview With a Vampire at some point.

[johnw1]

Just to add my two-penneth: you might enjoy Joseph Conrad, particularly Heart of Darkness which is about as dark and gloomy as you can get and his short stories are fantastic too, many of which are pretty dark - for example 'Falk' or 'An Outpost of Progress' which deal with stuff like madness, isolation, cannibalism...

[Badman]

Kevets - I'll be sure to check McCarthy out, I actually have The Stand on my book shelf right now. I haven't gotten a chance to read it with so many other books I need to get to. I've heard it's Stephen King's best work so thought I'd give it a shot.

johnw - Thanks for the suggestion, Heart of Darkness was already on my life, I've heard a lot about it, definitely will be giving it a read.

Thanks for the recommendations everyone, keep em' comin'! I can always use more suggestions as I go through books fast.

Just read Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

An excellent short story, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Pretty sad and a little dark as well. Wish I could think of an idea like that to write a short story about.

[stlukesguild]

I'm not into the modern vampire novels, but all American Literature students should read Rice's Interview With a Vampire at some point.

Seriously? And all British literary students should read Harry Potter?

[pooteeweet]

I'm not into the modern vampire novels, but all American Literature students should read Rice's Interview With a Vampire at some point.

Seriously? And all British literary students should read Harry Potter?

Seriously.

I know at first glance its like, really? that book should be studied? But literature doesn't stop my friend, believe it or not Interview With a Vampire touches on many social issues and you have to study the book just as you have to study the K-Mart Fiction Genre...otherwise you will be an ignorant student/professor unable to look outside of the canon.

[MrRegular]

Some modern authors are good at the doom and gloom as well. For example McCarthy's 'The Road' made me want to stay in the shower for a day or so. Palahniuk's 'Diary' and 'Survivor' will make you contemplate suicide, as well.

[MrRegular]

Seriously.

I know at first glance its like, really? that book should be studied? But literature doesn't stop my friend, believe it or not Interview With a Vampire touches on many social issues and you have to study the book just as you have to study the K-Mart Fiction Genre...otherwise you will be an ignorant student/professor unable to look outside of the canon.

I agree and enjoyed both Harry Potter and Interview with a Vampire.

[stlukesguild]

I'm sorry, but that's nonsense. One can certainly study just about any work of art and glean something about the larger culture... but I'm not so inclined to invest such time in aesthetic garbage. I don't plan on investing much time in the study of Thomas Kinkade, cartoons in Playboy Magazine, or video game animation... and while this may make me ignorant of these profound areas of artistic endeavor, I somehow doubt that these decisions will seriously undermine my knowledge of art history or my abilities as an artist. Neither do I imagine that I will one day regret not having spent more time on such inane ephemera.

By the way... I read several of the Anne Rice Vampire novels many years ago, but somehow never thought they were worthy of serious consideration for literary study.

[pooteeweet]

I'm sorry, but that's nonsense. One can certainly study just about any work of art and glean something about the larger culture... but I'm not so inclined to invest such time in aesthetic garbage. I don't plan on investing much time in the study of Thomas Kinkade, cartoons in Playboy Magazine, or video game animation... and while this may make me ignorant of these profound areas of artistic endeavor, I somehow doubt that these decisions will seriously undermine my knowledge of art history or my abilities as an artist. Neither do I imagine that I will one day regret not having spent more time on such inane ephemera.

By the way... I read several of the Anne Rice Vampire novels many years ago, but somehow never thought they were worthy of serious consideration for literary study.

Nobody said anything about Kinkade, many author's give interviews in Playboy Magazine which are used in research, cartoons/video game animation, eh, don't think anybody mentioned those either. Choose what you want to study.

I'm here to discuss literature and branch out to others who are interested and would like to offer suggestions/opinions on what they like/dislike...not here to debate/argue, not going to bite, sorry :)

[applepie]

I wouldn't consider his works really dark, but anything by Vonnegut is normally pretty enjoyable and it isn't really sunshine and roses. Another really twisted book is "Geek Love". I could not put it down when I read it, but it has some disturbing things.

[ktr]

Can any serious piece of literature that deals with the totality of human nature, not be dark? I think that is the real question - of course i could be wrong, but let me explain further. There are plenty of bad books what have dark tones, sure, but are they really as dark as books that explore true human depths, regardless of how triumphant they are at the last - i don't think so, in fact, i think the only reason for truly exploring darkness in literature is for that light at the end of the tunnel.

Someone mentioned The Road, by mccarthy - take this book for instance, in tone, it is way darker than All The Pretty Horses, but which book is darker? All the pretty horses, in my opinion, because it doesn't deal with the negative aspects of humanity that are forced upon people by nuclear fallout, starvation, disease - etc. It deals with the innate darkness of human nature, wanton violence, heartbreak - under normal circumstances, and in my opinon it is simply a much more genuine book, from an author who is searching to discover who he really is - the road in comparison... kind of sucks.

is Baudelaire dark, or kind of a whiny *****? i think he's kind of a little ***** (im sure people will disagree and think i'm just being polemical, but i mean that earnestly)

one can deal with the dark side of human nature without being vulgar, and that is true darkness, and the effect, is triumphant.

[pooteeweet]

I wouldn't consider his works really dark, but anything by Vonnegut is normally pretty enjoyable and it isn't really sunshine and roses. Another really twisted book is "Geek Love". I could not put it down when I read it, but it has some disturbing things.

I think Vonnegut's work is great, and can see where it could be dark and gloomy.

Look into Maus I and II, Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novels.

[pooteeweet]

one can deal with the dark side of human nature without being vulgar, and that is true darkness, and the effect, is triumphant.

:nod:

[Badman]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, keep em' comin'.

Just read narrative of arthur gordon pym of nantucket - E. A. Poe today, was a great little story. I would definitely recommend it to Poe fans if you haven't already read it.

[Madame X]

Try anything by Emile Zola but particularly "La Terre", "La Bete Humaine" and "Germinal". Any of these are guaranteed to depress. Enjoy!

I’d add Thérèse Raquin to that list as well; certainly as disturbing as the other works mentioned but, what’s more, it’s actually pretty creepy, too, written in Zola’s unadorned yet gratifying style…plus it happens to be the shortest. :D

For a more poetic, yet no less gruesome, turn, you might try Lautréamont’s Les Chants de Maldoror.