Southern Gothic is most closely associated with prose fiction, as in novels and short stories. For one thing, Southern Gothic is partly inspired by Gothic literature, and most Gothic literature was...

Irony is a word that gets thrown around a lot (we're looking at you, Alanis), but what does it actually mean? Well, in literature, it can mean a couple of things. First, there's what you could call...

southern-gothic--kafka-and-moby-dick--moby-dick--music Southern Gothic writers have a pretty kinky taste for the macabre and the grotesque. No, seriously: these folks are into things like ince...

Southern Gothic writers love, just love, commenting on social issues—social issues that pertain to Southern society, that is. Themes of honor, betrayal, integrity, and hypocrisy, among others, ar...

Slavery is a pretty violent thing. Owning other people, forcing them to work, and having the power of life and death over them? It's pretty extreme. And that means that violence has been a big part...

We can't talk about Southern Gothic without talking about the landscape of the South. Plantations, wilderness, small dusty towns, grand old houses—these aren't just nice little decorative touches...

Lots of stuff is falling apart in Southern Gothic literature: people are falling apart; houses are falling apart; towns are falling apart; morals are falling apart. This is decay and decomposition...

If you're reading Southern Gothic literature, chances are pretty good you're reading about outsiders. Many, if not most, of the heroes and heroines of these works are people who are outside the nor...

So, we've mentioned the Civil War a few—okay, a gazillion times already. Don't blame us: it's because that war is really freaking important in Southern history, and in Southern Gothic literature....

southern-gothic--kafka-and-moby-dick--moby-dick--writer-s-inspiration The South was a society built on slavery and racial oppression. Before the Civil War, the South's economy, its social value...