The Origins of Gothic Literature - Frankenstein
“The Origins of Horror Literature” is a weekly series by West 10th’s Editor-in-Chief Travis Schuhardt during the month of October, explaining how the Gothic and Horror genres developed, offering recommendations on which classic Gothic tales and modern horror stories to check out, and discussing some horror-themed journals to submit your writing to during the Halloween season.
October 28th. Three days away from the big one. Our final foray into the history of the Gothic. There are an immense number of Gothic and Horror novels that we could have touched on with today’s installment, from Stoker to King, but I’d argue that no Gothic novel encapsulates the genre as well as the one written at The Villa Diodati during a dreary night in 1816. That’s right: today, we tackle the lasting effect and importance of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Let’s start with a little historical context because it’s actually really interesting, and if you’ve never heard the story, it’s a great conversation starter to share at parties or around the campfire. Some people you may have heard of — Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, John Polidori, and, of course, Mary Shelley — were spending some time at The Villa Diodati in Switzerland in the year 1816, getting up to whatever mischief they wanted. One night, while bored during a storm and reading Germanic Gothic stories, Lord Byron suggests that everyone write their own ghost stories and share them with the group.
As the story goes (though there are many and contradictory stories), Lord Byron wrote a few lines and then got bored, Percy Shelley was unable to complete his writings due to a drug induced hallucination that terrified him, John Polidori wrote “The Vampyre,” and Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Both “The Vampyre” and Frankenstein became sensational hits, though I would not be surprised if you’d only ever heard of the latter. Dracula came out some years later and seemingly obliterated any other vampire tales running around at the time.
So, now that we’ve talked about the when, let’s talk about the why. Why is Frankenstein so important? First of all, and simply, it’s a really good book. Having read it at least seven times now and having analyzed it in a variety of different classes, I can comfortably say that not only is it an enjoyable read, but its text is so rich with depth that you could read it a hundred times and still not have caught everything there is to catch. You get the sense in reading Frankenstein that there is always some mystery beneath the surface, something that you should explore, and something that you may never fully understand.
But why does that make it important? Well, to answer that we have to look at what Gothic literature, all Gothic literature, strives to do. A Gothic story is a journey into the unknown, the scary, the horrifying, the un-understandable; it is rich and tantalizing in its questions, but subtle and often confusing in its answers. It beckons you in and then springs the trap. The process of reading a Gothic story often mirrors its plot progression: you, the reader, start with a clear idea of the story’s purpose or intent, but as the character falls into mystery and mayhem, the idea becomes muddied. What is the true intent of The Monk as a novel? Are the solutions to The Mysteries of Udolpho really satisfying? Who is actually the protagonist of Frankenstein?
Frankenstein uses all of the tools at its disposal — multiple narrators, possibly unreliable narrators, concealment of information, passions superseding logic, the plausible unnatural — to craft a web of questions that are as unanswerable as they are interesting. It is not a novel that gives solutions or absolutions; rather, it declares itself a horrifying question and answers in an ambiguous, regretful negative.
Reading Recommendation: Please read Frankenstein, it’s so good. Here it is.
Go to town. If the discussion above hasn’t piqued your interest, I’m not sure what will. It might be my favorite book of all time, and am aghast that most people, when they think of Frankenstein, think of the movies. I may be one of the only people who believe that the book is better, but it is.
If you’d like some lighter, dark reading, I recommend:
"The Stories We Tell About Ghosts" by A. C. Wise
It’s a spooky little tale about children telling ghost stories, and playing the ghost equivalent of Pokemon GO, (I’m sorry in advance for this but:) Pokemon GhOst, if you will. It’s touching in a way that captures some of that childhood fascination with the occult, and I strongly recommend it as a Halloween night read.
Where to Submit: Rather than give you abbreviated deadlines, or spooky writing prompts so close to the end of the season, I wanted to take this last chance to say Submit to West 10th! The writing need not be spooky, just send us your best stories and poems!
And that wraps up our final historical, novel discussion for the Halloween season! I hope you enjoyed the series, and gained at least a little more historical context for the Gothic, how the genre has grown, and how Gothic and Horror stories function today. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and comment below if you have any thoughts to share on Frankenstein or any of the stories we’ve talked about! Stay spooky, and have a Happy Halloween!