Oh, my Goth.

Haunted places, haunted people, exploring the darkness...human beings have always had a fascination with the mysterious and macabre. What happens when we die? How to we respond to danger? How do we cope with trauma? Where does evil come from? Gothic literature embraces the strange and scary aspects of human experience. However, it is unfair to reduce it to only morbidly sad, scary, and gloomy subject matter. This genre, also referred to as “Dark Romance” continues long-held traditions of sharing ghost stories, sardonic humor, cautionary tales, and mythology.  There is a tremendous amount of intelligent observation, poetic beauty, and philosophical contemplation found in the gothic sensibility. It demonstrates how you must go deep to truly explore the darkness, and encourages you to be brave enough to face it and wise enough to understand it. Here is a selection of books including old and new, mostly fictional, pieces that represent various forms of this expansive and expressive genre.  

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Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

This is the top dog of modern Gothic literature, the one that started it all. Penned by Mary Shelley when she was a teenager, this book is the result of a ghost story writing contest among friends at infamous Romantic poet Lord Byron’s villa in 1816.  The title Frankenstein refers to the doctor and not the iconic monster he created, which is a common mistake thanks to popular horror films. (But the doctor is a kind of monster in his own right, no?) The full title is Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, which reflects the influence of classical mythology. Shelley explored the parameters of humanity and the morality of using technology to play god in this groundbreaking work. Also, I would be remiss if I did not give honorable mention to Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is also written in a multiple first-person format, but in a more epistolary style with it’s use of newspaper articles and telegrams to carry the plot. These classics have spawned hundreds of adaptations and homages in film, music, and literature. Their influence cannot be overstated. 

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Bad Cree, by Jessica Johns

This haunting tale of family trauma and family lore draws the reader in immediately. Nightmares and troubling visions beset the protagonist Mackenzie, a young Cree woman living in Vancouver. This story demonstrates how distance and the bustle of everyday life in the city can’t shield you from unfinished business back home and how nothing can sever family bonds.  This book is a multisensory experience, literally chilling, and gives one a sense of deep foreboding and regret as well as empowerment and reconciliation. The Indigenous Canadian perspective exemplifies how Gothic literature is NOT exclusively an Anglo-Saxon storytelling domain and, like everything else, it benefits from diverse perspectives and creators. After all, there are supernatural legends and cryptids in every culture, and Johns shares hers with incredible detail and imagination.  

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Just Like Home, by Sarah Gailey

Similar to Bad Cree, this book presents a family mystery through frank and gruesomely detailed storytelling. A true page-turner, Just Like Home is a fascinating slow burn of a book that reflects some deep questions. Are people inherently good or bad? What does it mean to inhabit a place? What is “home” and what is its power? Gailey milks the mystery to maintain a balanced pace, and keeps readers ensnared with secrecy, uncertainty and true gloom. This book oozes creepiness, suspicion, and unease as we uncover the past of the Crowder family and what happened in their house. This culminates in a surprise ending with a rather sick and messy dénouement. This is another example of well-crafted contemporary gothic literature. 

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The Dead, by Christian Kracht

This book is the most political and cerebral (and the least supernatural) of the bunch. The Dead takes place in 1930s Europe and Japan, following multiple characters in this international, interwar backdrop. There is an abiding sense of seediness, bleakness, danger, and exploitation. Frequent changes from one setting to another, along with sharp observations and commentary from the narrator make it a challenge to keep track. Additionally, this translation includes many German and Japanese terms peppered throughout the text. This is a book best read carefully and continuously, as it is not conducive to frequent stops. Once in the flow, however, you find the frenetic transitions make sense in the chaotic milieu of this book. The growth of fascism and the cultural currency of film create a world in which people are haunted not just by what has happened, but also by what is yet to come. There is an inevitability of evil and a tragic, pathetic resignation to it. This is not a cozy read, but it is clearly not meant to be. 

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The Art of Darkness: the History of Goth, by John Robb

This is the only non-fiction selection here, and it is comprehensive. The Art of Darkness is a thoroughly researched, well-written, exhaustive tome on what “Goth” means. Robb anchors his analysis in a deep dive of the modern post-punk music scene and connects it to the past. The dark, moody, spooky, romantic sensibilities that characterize this genre are found throughout human history in literature, architecture, philosophy, and art. Robb maintains the relationship between past and present rather than surveying discrete and disjointed phenomena. He keeps hold of the thread as he weaves it all together from ancient Roman times to the Medieval era to the Renaissance to the Romantic movement to Hollywood Horror productions to 1970s Glam Rock to Thatcher's England to “Alternative” music in contemporary times. This exemplifies how history and culture do not happen in a vacuum, and although the Goth community is peopled with misfits and outcasts, they are not rare in the grand scheme of humanity. There has always been and will always be people who (poetically or sardonically) embrace the darkness, or that which is “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”