Gothic Readings: The First Wave, 1764-1840

The Gothic tradition has fascinated both readers and scholars for centuries. Now, Continuum presents a sourcebook for all Gothic enthusiasts. Rictor Norton has assembled selections from such seminal figures in Gothic literature as Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley, and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as lesser-known writers such as Joanna Baillie and Hannah Cowley. The readings address common early Gothic themes such as the aesthetics of the sublime, religion and the supernatural, prison reform, incest, and madness.

Gothic Readings covers all of Gothic literature's major genres: historical Gothic, the Radcliffe school of terror, the Lewis school of horror, tragic melodrama, comic parody, and supernatural poetry and ballads. To place these pieces in a literary and historical context, Norton also provides selections from private letters, diaries, and chapbooks, and he outlines the major approaches to Gothic literature. Contemporary reviews and anecdotes further supplement this valuable resource on the beginnings of an illustrious literary tradition.