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Topic: Can someone recommend me a gothic classic?

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sevenspiders avatar
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Subject: Can someone recommend me a gothic classic?
Date Posted: 8/21/2012 8:40 PM ET
Member Since: 6/19/2007
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I'm in the mood for a gothic-horror type classic.  I've already read:

  • Dracula
  • Frankenstein
  • Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
  • The Woman in White
  • The Moonstone
  • House of the Seven Gables
  • Turn of the Screw
  • The Haunting of Hill House
  • The Castle of Otranto
  • The Phantom of the Opera
  • The Picture of Dorian Grey

Any suggestions?



Last Edited on: 9/26/12 10:26 PM ET - Total times edited: 2
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Date Posted: 8/21/2012 8:43 PM ET
Member Since: 11/18/2009
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I know you've already read two by Wilkie Collins, but I recommend trying other books by him. LOVE WILKIE!

                                                                                                                  Rose

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Date Posted: 8/23/2012 1:24 AM ET
Member Since: 1/8/2009
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What about the Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe?

I believe it's considered a gothic classic, and it plays a major part in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

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Date Posted: 8/23/2012 8:12 PM ET
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Ooooh, Try Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan LeFanu!  I read it last October and found it to be great fun.

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Date Posted: 8/24/2012 12:50 PM ET
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Armadale or The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins are really, really great. So is No Name, but I think it's a little less gothic-y. The Mystery of Udolpho is a lot of fun, too. Some Dickens skews Gothic, Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend come to mind.

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Date Posted: 8/29/2012 5:17 PM ET
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I enjoy short stories by ...what'shisname......gah.....can't think.....LOVECRAFT! That's it. I really love me some H.P. Lovecraft.

 

If you have an e-reader most of the suggestions are free.

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Date Posted: 8/29/2012 7:27 PM ET
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Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to add Uncle Silas and Armadale to my library hold list.  I loved Bleak House & Our Mutual Friend and Lovecraft is one of my favorites, I haven't read all his stuff but I own most of it.  No e-reader, I'm not an e-reader girl.  Hmmm, maybe I'll get the Lovecraft anthology down while I wait for my stuff to come in at the library.

Tome, what's your favorite Lovecraft?  I know Cthulu is his most famous, but personally I think that The Thing on the Doorstep and Shadow Over Innsmouth are scarier.



Last Edited on: 8/29/12 7:28 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
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Date Posted: 8/30/2012 12:15 AM ET
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I haven't scratched the surface of Lovecraft stories, but so far my favorite is "The Shunned House," "The Cats of Ulthar," " The Beast in the Cave."  

There's another that talks about haunted land on the east coast. It's so beautifully written but not particularly frightening, just rather haunting. I can't remember its name.  "The Street"


"There be those who say that thinkgs and places have souls, and there be those who say they have not; I dare not say, myself, but I will tell of the Street." 

 

Another story of which I can't remember the name  "The Horror at Martin Beach" is about something in the sea that calls out to people and they turn trance-like and march to their deaths out to sea. 

 

I'll have to pull my book out of the e-reader archives. The haunting season is approaching so I'll be reading more Lovecraft.



Last Edited on: 8/30/12 12:35 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
sevenspiders avatar
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Date Posted: 8/30/2012 4:51 PM ET
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If you want another Lovecraft one that's beautiful, but not frightening, read The Outsider.  Such a good story.

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Date Posted: 9/26/2012 3:47 PM ET
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You might want to try The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. 

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Date Posted: 1/14/2014 9:39 AM ET
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Portrait of a Man With Red Hair by Hugh Walpole