American Gothic: Meaning and Background

Unlike Romanticism, which favored imagination, sensibility, and idealization

of nature, Gothic turned its focus toward the horror and evils of the dark side
of humanity and perversions of nature.

By the nineteenth century, American writers had created their own brand of
Gothic. American issues and concepts mingled with classic European Gothic
elements and a new literary genre was born.

Characteristics
American Gothic literature is more than just blood, death, and fear – although
these are common elements of American Gothic literature!

Other American Gothic literature characteristics include the macabre,

the supernatural, psychological trauma and terror, and a fear of the
unknown.

Authors
Who are the major American Gothic authors, and what did they write?
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
First published in 1820, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington
Irving is considered one of the earliest forms of American Gothic literature.
Edgar Allan Poe
The quintessential American Gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote haunting
tales of madness, misery, and the macabre. His poetry and short stories feature
characters who descend into the depths of insanity or wrestle with the
grotesque.

Poe frequently wrote about death, with premature burial, reanimation after
death, and corpse decomposition as recurring themes. Some of his most
famous short stories include "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839), "The Pit
and the Pendulum" (1842), "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843), and "The Cask of
Amontillado" (1846).
"The Haunted Mind" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) wrote short stories and novels about religion,
morality, and history. His works often included the dark side of Puritan
society, including the impact that repression had on individuals. His short
story, "The Haunted Mind" (1835), is a classic example of American Gothic.
The narrator, who awakes from a midnight sleep, describes the brief period
between sleep and wakefulness. The narrator depicts powerful emotions that
are personified: Fear, Guilt, Shame, and Sorrow arise to the surface and taunt
the narrator.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore
"The Yellow Wallpaper," written by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore in 1892, is
considered both a central piece of American Gothic and feminist literature.
The story is about a young woman who is confined to a room to rest from a
nervous breakdown. The more isolated she becomes, the more she descends
into madness and powerlessness. Both a critique on the treatment of women in
the nineteenth century and a commentary on the mind's ability to lose touch
with reality, the story suggests that insanity isn't too far away.