Gothic Horror in Susan Hills The Woman in Black and H.G. Wells The Re

Gothic Horror in Susan Hills The Woman in Black and H.G. Wells The Red Room As with all things, the mediaeval standoff musical style of literature did notbegin at single determinable point, but evolved gradually. Gothic shameevolved out of Gothic fiction (as impertinent to classical fiction, forexample the novels of Jane Austen), before establishing itself as agenre in its own right. However, many literary scholars and criticswould point to The Castle of Otranto, written by Horace Walpole andfirst published in 1764, as the first true gothic detestation novel,containing as it does many of the clichs prevalent throughout thegenre.Gothic horror novels are typified by their dark, lachrymose atmosphereof dread and fear. In fact, the bring out to gothic horror can be summed upin one word tension. This is created by many devices, as well ashaving an crime force present working against the hero/heroine. Thecharacters, locations and atmospheres created are designed to bethreatening , even when nothing sinister is actually happening.Although the gothic horror genre didnt die out altogether, itcertainly lost popularity. However, it has had a minor res disposence overthe last decade. Susan Hill is one of the authors who has turned herhand to the gothic horror format, her short novel The Woman In Black macrocosm released in the late eighties. Susan Hill says she wrote TheWoman In Black because she had the urge to write a story in the oldfashioned sense, possibly because of a dissatisfaction with modernhorror writing and its reliance upon gore and bodily danger. HGWells, although primarily a science-fiction author, also wrote agothic horror story, The Red Room. I will be comparing these twostories, to see how these ... ...t be too lightly dismissed. These twostories are curiously interesting because they were both written byauthors who arent normally associated with the genre, so they nominateexplored the clichs more than a seasoned horror writer might. and despite being so blatantly influenced by genre standards much(prenominal) asHenry James The Turn Of The Screw and work of M.R. James, they remaingripping. This is because they appeal to our wish for escapism and adecent scare, a need that is pandered to by almost every work offiction. This is the basis of horror writing - that the ratifier wantsto be scared if the reader approaches the story with the attitude ofnot lacking(p) or expecting to be scared, he or she will not be affectedby the story so much. However, gothic horror is slake one of the mosteffective mediums for provoking fear, ensuring its enduringpopularity.