What comes to mind when you hear the word gothic?

In this day and age the term gothic brings to mind several different things. It could refer to a certain genre of music, a certain cluster of individuals, or a certain style of art either in the form of paintings, architecture, or even the written word. The term Goth originally referred to an ancient Germanic tribe that derived from what is now known as southern Sweden, before migrating to the shores of the Baltic Sea. This tribe eventually split into two factions that would be known as the Visigoths or West Goths and the Ostrogoths or East Goths. Yet centuries would pass before the term gothic would once again emerge this time with a different meaning. Sometime during the renaissance Greco-Roman culture was rediscovered by Europeans. In this rediscovery the term gothic now referred to certain types of architecture that was built in the middle ages. Strange however that the term would not be applied to these structures for any visible connection to the Goth tribes but because the style of these structures were a far cry from the classical style so admired during the time. So the term gothic would again fade from society before once again emerging with yet another meaning applied to it. This time the term would be applied to a new literary genre. Gothic literature or Gothicism is a form of romantic literature or Romanticism that was quite popular during the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Just as its original form Gothicism came about in part as a reaction to Neoclassicism. Yet by merging the rudiments of horror with that of romance this new literary genre deliberately sets out to plunge readers into a swirling vortex of spine chilling mysteries coupled with blood-curdling acts of villainy so vile and depraved, while littered with murder and supernatural elements so as to plunge readers into a physical and psychological ecstasy of terror. With its impulsively imaginative use of such terror novels of the gothic form are normally set within the eerily spacious gothic structures of castles, monasteries and mansions that seem to be outfitted with never ending passages, panels, and unsettling trapdoors, or the jarringly haunting, mysterious landscape of ruins. The first literary work that brought about the gothic genre was Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (1765). In its originality readers found the novel to be electrifyingly and thrillingly suspenseful. So with its flourishes of isolated settings and supernatural elements, Walpole's novel gained massive recognition, other novelists of the time promptly emulated Walpoles design thus starting a new genre. However though Horace Walpole may have begun this exciting new genre it is his respected follower renowned novelist Anne Radcliffe whose works are considered superlative models of the genre. Radcliffe wrote some of the most electrifying novels of her time. Her descriptions of landscapes and long travel scenes are exceptional portrayals of her romantic style. She is able to excite and beguile readers through her masterful use of suspense, painting a strongly evocative atmosphere, within landscapes filled to the brim with intriguingly multifaceted, horrendous villains and courageous heroines. Born July 9th 1764 as Ann Ward to working class parents, she would marry journalist William Radcliffe and live what is speculated to be an ideal marriage. Though considered a popular writer during her time very little is really known about Anne Radcliffe and her life. In May 1823, the Edinburgh Review published these words about Radcliffe: The fair authoress kept herself almost as much incognito as the Author of Waverly; nothing was known of her but her name on the title page. She never appeared in public, nor mingled in private society, but kept herself apart, like the sweet bird that sings its solitary notes. (Miles) As she kept to herself many apocryphal accounts of Radcliffes life ran rampant through the rumor mill. Reports of her being mad and having to be committed to an asylum as a cause of her

frightful imagination, she was being held captive in Paris on charges of being a spy, before retiring in the evenings she would consume raw meat in order to stimulate nightmares. Before her death on February 7th, 1823, she was falsely reported dead a number of times. Ann Radcliffe is an established force behind the gothic novel. Radcliffe displays an innovation to her writing through her use of suspense as the structure of a novel. Her use of reasoning and elucidation of outwardly bizarre supernatural occurrences within her works launched a new form of gothic novel and facilitated the cultural acceptance of the gothic novel. Radcliffe was also a pioneer of the proto-cinematic description technique known as wordpainting. For instance in her novel The Mysteries of Udolpho, Radcliffe fashions a core perception that she shifts it precisely so as to pan across the scene created by her narrative. The following passage demonstrates such an occurrence but done so in a way so as to ascertain the location and course of the narrative: On the pleasant banks of the Garonne, in the province of Gascony, stood, in the year 1584, the chateau of Monsieur St. Aubert. From its windows were seen the pastoral landscapes of Guienne and Gascony, stretching along the river, gay with luxuriant woods and vines, and plantations of olives. To the south, the view was bounded by the majestic Pyrenes, whose summits, veiled in clouds, or exhibiting awful forms, seen, and lost again, as the partial vapours rolled along, were sometimes barren, and gleamed through the blue tinge of air, and sometimes frowned with forests of gloomy pine, that swept downwards to their base. These tremendous precipices were contrasted by the soft green of the pastures and woods that hung upon their skirts; among whose flocks, and herds, and simple cottage, the eye, after having scaled the cliffs above, delighted to repose. To the north, and to the east, the plains of Guienne and Languedoc were lost in the mist of distance; on the west, Gascony was bounded by the waters of Biscay. (Radcliffe)