The unbearable horror of the gothic and its female authors
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Are you ready for the supernumerary horrors that hautend female writers for decades?
When I say gothic, what first comes to mind? Decrepit mediaeval castles, melancholic women dressed in white, mysterious aristocrats who seem to have never seen the day light. Perhaps you think of its themes, full of drama and boundary pushing.
Regardless of what you think, it is undeniable how much of gothic literature permeates our collective imaginary.
Like any other genre, it is practically impossible to pin point exactly when it starts, but most scholars of the genre will agree that it came around during the mid-18th century and lead to the creation of, not only iconic books, but authors.
Who could forget Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), one of the first British novels to be classified as gothic, or poets like Robert Blair, with his verses full of “supernumerary horror” (Xavier Aldana Reyes). Maybe even more iconic then their predecessors, authors who revived the genre in the 19th century were the ones who solidified what we think of the gothic novel.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), The Turn of The Screw (1898), etc.. An endless collection of canonic authors can be quoted as to have contributed to this literary school.
An endless collection except, where are the women?
Well, you could say they are there. People like Ann Redcliff are considerated to have solidified the genre, allowing for names like Mary Shelly to come and stir up the horrific novel into a new era. With that, we can assume that women were a strong presence in the gothic literary world, right? Well, the answer is yes and no.
You see, the history of women in the gothic genre is a little more complicated than a few names thrown here and there. Shall we investigate this eerie and mysterious history?
Part I: A horrific past
In the beginning, what we now call gothic novel, was known as the ‘horrible romance’. With blood curling tales of horrifying adventures, these novels were considered nothing but ‘trash of the circulating library’. Ouch!
These books were perceived to be ‘fictions of the immature and uninformed mind’. And who else would be the carriers of “immature and uninformed” mind other than women?
You might be thinking, how did these equivalence happened? Well, dear reader, it so happens that, unlike most genres — mostly written and consumed by men — the gothic novel was dominated by female authors and female consumers.
Now, try to put yourself in the place of the men of the time. A group of women dominating a whole section of the literary industry… No good (for them) will come out of it.
Think this is a hyperbole? Perhaps I might remind you of what they called the first novels of the genre to gain traction (‘trash of the circulating library’, that’s what they said!). Or maybe, if you allow me, I could show you an extract talking about the consequences that a ‘horrible novel’ might have in the minds of young women:
“Mrs Charlotte Smith, Mrs Inchbald, Mrs Mary Robinson, Mrs &c., &c. though all of them are ingenious ladies, yet they are too frequently whining or frisking in novels, till our girls’ heads turn wild with impossible adventures, and now and then are tainted with democracy. — Not so the mighty magician of THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO, bred and nourished by the Florentine Muses … a poetess who Ariosto would with rapture have acknowledged (Mathias, 1800, n.p.).
Democracy and equality, a truly outrageous ideas! This kind of portrayal of the genre as mostly a waste of time — and sometimes even a political danger — was common with the critics of the period.
However, you must have noticed one author was exempted from this criticism. The so called “magician of THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO” was none other than Ann Redcliff. If you are not a consumer of gothic literature, let me introduce you to Mrs. Redcliff.
English author, Ann Redcliff is considered to have “mastered” the gothic novel. She became famous for her technique of “explained supernatural”, where all of the ghosts and monsters in her stories ended up being logically explained by the end of the book. This way of writing lead Redcliff to become one the highest paid writers of her time (she received a total of £500 for the copyrights of The Mysteries of Udolpho!).
You might be thinking: but that is a good thing, a woman who was able to thrive in a time and career that was mostly reserved for men!
Well, yes. It was certainly a good thing for Mrs. Redcliff, however what about other women? Allow me to return to that review about gothic novel’s influence on girls:
“Mrs Charlotte Smith, Mrs Inchbald, Mrs Mary Robinson, Mrs &c., &c. though all of them are ingenious ladies, yet they are too frequently whining or frisking in novels, […] Not so the mighty magician of THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO […] (Mathias, 1800, n.p.).
Did you notice anything? Did you notice how Ann Redcliff is singled out and every other author is conglomerated into a mass of “Mrs &c.”. Now, I cannot confirm that this was the intention of the author, but this type of generalization appears over and over again when looking at reviews about female authors of that time.
What this exceptionalism does, is that it causes the erasure of the contribution a whole group of people gave to the genre.
Unlike what we imagine people from the past being, they were very much aware of gender inequality. For centuries women have advocated for themselves and men critics in the 18th century knew that. Therefore, they knew that if they discarded all of the literature authored by women as being simple or bad, the backlash would happen. So, instead, they single out a person, they make clear they don’t disapprove of all women, but just praise the “better ones”.
This way they are able to control the influence women have in the literary world. What was most likely a space of collaboration amongst female authors — even between those who disagreed with each other — is narrowed to a single person, an outlier, not an author that is part of a complex system.
Unfortunately, this type of exceptionalism has lingered into the present time. Even though there has been great progress, to this day female authors, especially those in the gothic/horror school — an already marginalized subgenre — are constantly being dismissed or even completely ignored by readers and critics alike.
Part II: A complicated present
Alright, let’s get this over with, let’s talk about Twilight.
If are unfamiliar with the Twilight Saga, I don’t know where you have lived in past 14 years. But just to make sure everyone is on the same page, here’s a quick run through of the series.
The Twilight Saga tells the story of Bella Swan, a teen girl who moves to the rainy Forks to live with her father. Once there, she falls in love with Edward Cullen, who — big surprise! — is a vampire. The saga then follows the ups and downs of the tragic couple, leading to an epic and romantic ending.
How could you not see the resemblance?
On its release, Twilight was a massive hit, sprawling four more books and five films. The army of fans was massive, with conventions, Q&As, FanFics and a whole plethora of hype and, as expected, hate surrounding it.
As a fan of the saga myself I remember clearly all the internet trolling and mockery that followed the fandom of the books.
I have a clear memory of when, spending the summer at an aunt’s house, the older brother of our neighbor’s asked if I liked to read and enthusiastically I responded, “Yes!”. I’ll never forget how he laughed and said “But the Twilight books don’t count, they are not even real books”. I stopped reading completely for almost a year.
This type of behavior towards the saga was exhaustive. The books were considered to be the lowest of the low, not even true literature. And by extent, its fans were seen as empty headed, silly girls.
The exact same tactics used by male critics of the 18th century were being applied to what we can consider one of the most successful gothic novel of the last century, a novel that followed the traditions of many that came before.
Look, I am not claiming that Twilight is the perfect book and is not deserving of critique. What I propose is that the reasons used to critique the book were, at best, misguided and, at worst, straight up misogynistic. And all of this is only considering gender dynamics. After all, it is undeniable that the gothic genre has a serious problem on representing black, native and queer people.
Some strides have being taken, by people like Silvia Moreno-Garcia and her book Mexican Gothic, which reframes the genre to explore not only gender, but social and class inequalities in Mexico in the 1950's. Without ever skipping on the drama!
The gothic novel is truly a space of exploration, the originator of what we now call horror. This is the genre that has the capability of deeply exploring what scares us as a society and to uncover its true and unbearable banality — and therefore, passive of change — of what seems to be a supernaturally scary thing.
We just need to allow it.
