Tag: oscar wilde

Humorous Ghost Stories

Not every ghost story has to be terrifying! Indeed, horror and humor are surprisingly similar modes of writing—both depend on eliciting certain emotional reactions from the reader through carefully timed revelations and unexpected juxtapositions. Horror can all too easily give way into unintentional humor, as any connoisseur of schlocky B-movies can tell you. But that blurred line can also be courted intentionally. All throughout the Golden Age of the ghost story—from the mid-nineteenth century through the early twentieth—writers poked fun at the popular genre with silly and satirical takes on the ghost story. Here are just a few of my favorite examples of spectral tales more likely to make you split your sides with laughter than scream in fright:

Photo of a sheet ghost holding a yellow smiley face balloon in front of an elaborate clock-face window
Photo by Tandem X Visuals on Unsplash

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The Canterville Ghost—Oscar Wilde’s Gothic Parody

The Canterville Ghost coverYou probably know Oscar Wilde from his iconic Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (and its unfortunate role in his trial for homosexuality). He is also widely celebrated for his comedic plays, like The Importance of Being Earnest. But less well-known is a delightful little piece that combines Wilde’s Gothic sensibilities with his biting sense of humor: The Canterville Ghost (1887) is a short story that parodies common elements of the typical ghost story while also satirizing differences in attitude and behavior between Americans and the British. Continue reading The Canterville Ghost—Oscar Wilde’s Gothic Parody

It’s in the Blood: Family Legacies in Gothic Authorship

Lots of things can be passed down through the family. Maybe you’ve inherited your grandmother’s eyes, your aunt’s madness, or the fatal curse that has plagued your family’s male line for generations. But what about inheriting an affinity for writing Gothic literature? As I research deeper and deeper into the genre, I’ve noticed a few family names that recur throughout different eras. Many of the authors that we love best today built on the legacy of their ancestors, or else passed their love of the genre down to their progeny. Here are a few examples of Gothic authors who kept their literary legacy in the family: Continue reading It’s in the Blood: Family Legacies in Gothic Authorship

Influential Mothers of Gothic Authors

For Mother’s Day several years ago, I wrote about the common Gothic trope of absent mothers, which many authors use to turn their protagonists into vulnerable orphans and deny them the comfort and sense of safety that mothers provide. But just because mothers are often absent in their fiction, doesn’t mean that mothers have been absent from these authors’ real lives. In fact, several authors of Gothic fiction owe much of their literary career to the influence of their mothers. This Mother’s Day, I want to highlight two of my favorite literary moms: Mary Wollestonecraft and Lady Jane Wilde. Continue reading Influential Mothers of Gothic Authors

Back to School Reading List: Drama Edition

Around this time every year, I put together a mini syllabus of Gothic works commonly read in schools. If you missed them in the past, be sure to go back and check out my original Back to School Reading List and my Back to School Reading List: Short Story Edition. This time, I wanted to tackle some theater! Check out the five plays below that bring the Gothic to the stage:

1) Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth coverThough Shakespeare was writing a good few centuries before the Gothic literary movement of the late 1700s, several of his works can be considered proto-Gothics—particularly Macbeth. I’ve discussed this in more detail during my post on The Gothic in Shakespeare, but Macbeth displays many motifs that would later become core tropes of the Gothic novel. For example, one of its main settings is a medieval castle; it features ghosts that have returned to address past wrongs; there are witches with ominous prophecies; and Lady Macbeth prefigures later female villains, both of the femme fatale variety and the Madwoman in the Attic. Many later Gothic writers were strongly influenced by Macbeth, including the author of the very first Gothic novel, Horace Walpole. Continue reading Back to School Reading List: Drama Edition

New York City’s Brand New Oscar Wilde Bar

Oscar Wilde BarYes, it’s every bit as extravagant as Oscar would want it to be.

As you may know, Oscar Wilde was a nineteenth-century writer closely associated with the Aesthetic Movement, which focused on the inherent value of beauty and art for art’s sake. He shocked Victorian society with his decadent lifestyle and morally ambiguous writings, the best known of which are his satirical play, The Importance of Being Ernest, and his Gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. And now, a brand new bar has opened in New York City to honor his legacy. Originally slated to debut in June, the bar—simply called Oscar Wilde—finally opened its doors just last month. You may remember over a year ago, I wrote a post on the best gothic literature-themed bars in Manhattan, of which there are a surprising amount. But as soon as I started seeing pictures of this new bar’s interior, I knew it would put them all to shame. I finally got the chance to stop by for a few drinks last week so I could give you all a first-hand review. Continue reading New York City’s Brand New Oscar Wilde Bar

Dorian Gray: The Musical, a NYMF Production

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray took on new life this summer in a musical adaptation as part of the New York Musical Festival. NYMF is a three-week annual festival that seeks to shine the spotlight on new works, many of which go on to perform Off-Broadway, and some even make it to the Great White Way! Dorian Gray: The Musical began as a graduate thesis project for playwright Christopher Dayett, with music arranged by Kevin Mucchetti. Last week, the beta musical appeared in three showings at the Acorn Theater. Director Christen Mandracchia invited me to attend a performance and share my opinion on the show. Continue reading Dorian Gray: The Musical, a NYMF Production

The Gay and Bisexual Men of Gothic Fiction

As Pride Month draws to a close, I wanted to write a post highlighting a few of the queer writers in the Gothic canon. Gothic literature has been closely associated with taboo sexuality since its inception, and we can see this legacy clearly today in the queerness of modern horror (and in the unexpected adoption of the Babadook as the unofficial mascot of Pride this year). Not all of the LGBTQ representation in Gothic fiction has been particularly positive, as these works often play to society’s anxieties around sexual taboo. But the Gothic was also a place where many queer writers found a home. As is often the case with historical figures, it can be difficult to speak with certainty about the sexualities of authors long dead, especially since most of them lived during a time when “sodomy” was punishable by exile, arrest, and even death. Almost every writer of early Gothic fiction has been accused by enemies or claimed by critics to be part of the LGBTQ community, with varying amounts of evidence. In this post, I will highlight three of the most notorious gay or bisexual writers whose personal and romantic lives have contributed to their fame almost as much as their works have. Continue reading The Gay and Bisexual Men of Gothic Fiction

iClassics Kickstarter—Interactive Gothic Lit for Students!

A brand new Kickstarter just launched last week with the hopes of using technology to make classic literature fun and accessible for students. iClassics is a Barcelona-based company that works to create an “interactive, illustrated, digital library,” as they explain on their website. At present, they already have several interactive literature collections available as apps for iOS devices. With the Kickstarter, they hope to raise enough funds to make the apps available to Android users, make them available in more languages, create new content, and make them free for as many students as possible.

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Irish Writers of Gothic Literature

Happy St Patrick's Day copySt. Patrick’s Day is this week, and that means it’s time to celebrate all things Irish—like me! But your favorite gothic librarian aside, there are actually a whole bunch of Irish writers who have contributed significantly to the gothic genre. In fact, without Irish writers, we wouldn’t have Dracula, Carmilla, or Lestat. So you can thank the Irish for pretty much the entire vampire genre. Read on to find out more about how the Irish have impacted gothic literature!

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