Gothic Literature: The Case for Reading Obscure, Unhinged Gothic Novels in the Winter

[@visheshabeyratne9345]

I really believe that the Gothic tradition (and by extension modern horror) is an extension of Greek tragedy. All of these works share the same purpose, which you so insightfully elucidate: to confront the most frightening aspects of the human condition and then purge them through a kind of catharsis. Euripides' Bacchae marked the beginning of this dark journey with a lesson that resonates to this day: don't be like Pentheus. Show the same respect for our tendency towards wildness and chaos that you would show for a dangerous predatory animal. I'm so glad I discovered you and your channel. Happy holidays, Cinzia!

[@sophiethepegasus]

havent watched the video but dude this is literally revelational like you are so onto something

[@CinziaDuBois]

Thank you so much for commenting and the wonderful thought-provoking comment! It's not a bad theory at all! A lot of academics have looked into relationships between the two, though I'm not sure I'd call it an extension of the other, but definitely distant cousins. Highly recommend 'Reassessing the Gothic/Classical Relationship' by James Uden and "The Dark Thread: From Tragical Histories to Gothic Tales" edited by John D. Lyons as they explore it quite extensively

[@visheshabeyratne9345]

@@CinziaDuBois Thanks for taking time to respond and for the recommendations! As a playwright-turned-poet/novelist who is fascinated with horror, this is a connection I've been fascinated with for some time. I look forward to exploring it further!

[@assalandererdholian1990]

Confronting them, yes, but I would not advise for a cathartic purge. Rather to embrace and accept the bitter side of existence, in a process akin to mourning.

[@williamoarlock8634]

I certainly find it intriguing that in Luke's gospel Christ and the Baptist have the same familial relation and fates as Dionysus and Pentheus.

[@stacyglez6099]

The Gothic as a sensation is so accurate tbh

[@Ned_of_the_Hill]

Thank you for validating my decision to do more seasonally themed reading! For that touch of the gothic, I'm now reading Horace Walpole's "Castle of Otranto".

[@corvidsRcool]

I wached this video with Project Gutenberg open in another tab hoping for recs, so thanks for this one!

[@rudolphpyatt4833]

Ah, yes! I read that back in my undergraduate days. Wonderfully atmospheric stuff. I should add that I have long believed that the classic mystery/detective novels (think Agatha Christie, Marjorie Allingham, etc; but it’s also true of the hard boiled school exemplified by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler) are fundamentally Gothic. To that end, do check out “Look To The Lady” (a/k/a, “The Gyrth Chalice Mystery”) by Allingham, which explicitly uses tropes and imagery that seem straight out of “The Castle of Otranto”. I think you will enjoy it.

[@Ned_of_the_Hill]

@@rudolphpyatt4833 Thanks for the recommendation!

[@robertpetre9378]

I got into Gothic literature when I was quite young and then I got into Gothic rock in my teens and it’s fascinating how the two genres are related when it comes to painting a picture of dread full of atmosphere and horror.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

On the topic of Gothic rock, have you heard the new album by the Cure, and what's your take?

[@keenanarthur8381]

Modernity is segregated in its separation of death from the daily lives of people and the clinging to comfort and convenience exemplified through ‘spiritual bypassing,’ i.e. the misuse of feel-good spiritual teachings to avoid dealing with repressed psychological issues like trauma. Exploring the darkness through fiction can be cathartic and healing in its own way, but what distinguishes living mythology and spirituality and “the sacred” from fiction and fantasy and delusion is that it is grounded in the living experiences of people in the physical world in beneficial ways (as explained by William James at length in “Varieties of Religious Experience), e.g. every time I’ve gone through an extended metaphysical katabasis (descent into the underworld) it was reflected in my daily life through conflicts and challenges that arose outside of my direct control and forced me to mature and evolve.

[@CinziaDuBois]

Thank you for the fascinating comment!

[@robertpetre9378]

Gothic literature I feel was very popular in the 19th century because it addressed the subject matters that Victorians were very prudish about concerning sexuality and death. A lot of it is quite sensationalised but then I suppose that’s what it is almost like a form of grotesque smut for repressed Victorian women (who were it’s largest demographic ) as it tackled a lot of taboos that Victorian society was not prepared to address.

[@cunningba]

Ooh, I love it when you quote Wallace Stevens. Only, here and there, an old sailor, Drunk and asleep in his boots, Catches tigers In red weather.

[@paxtenebrae]

The Gothic is all about taking the miserable and the ruined and finding the deeply beautiful art within that state. One can be discomforted by their proximity to that misery or one can be comforted by the sacred power of humanity to transmute it into the sublime. If the value of stories of dragons is not to convince you that dragons exist, but that they can be beaten? Then the gothic does the same for the evil that humanity can do. But it is not to tell you that you can beat that evil. No, only that you can live beyond it and make from it something more than hated desolation. That the art exists in the first place is strange tautological proof that there is reason to go on. A tiny personal example: I once related a story to some friends about a forested hill that lay behind my family home, about how I used to play out there and read out there. Through the briars that bordered that hill, I knew all the secret children's roads that let us tiny folk travel at speed through the hedge. The places where you could be safe from your parents if you need to hide...I told my friends how the town tore all that nature down and paved it over to make a street nobody used. And I mused about how I am now probably, by dint of my horrifically steel trap-like memory, one of the last people on earth who remembers that hill's now obliterated natural charms at all. It wasn't important, but once it was beautiful and it was mine and it lives only in my fragile memory. One of my friends said to me, "Alex, if I didn't know you were Gothic at heart before, after that story I would've known it straight away." I wrote a short story about a ghost and used that hill as the setting. Books save lives, but they somtimes save memories too. As long as I can keep it in paper, someone could remember again that once it was a place that was loved. And that still means something...to me, if to no other.

[@7arboreal]

@@paxtenebrae That's both beautiful and sad x.

[@SepulvedaBoulevard]

My winter favorites are Dracula and Castle of Otranto

[@wandsandwanderlust]

@@SepulvedaBoulevard I just read Dracula in October and I absolutely loved it! I’ll put Castle of Otranto on my list, thank you.

[@CrisSelene]

I'm planning to read a collection of ghost stories which take place during winter this holiday season. The atmosphere is very appropriate

[@legiontheatregroup]

That sounds perfect - what is the collection? Or do you mean various books?

[@winterburden]

Thanks for this fascinating video Cinzia!

[@CinziaDuBois]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@andrewcraig11781]

What an amazing channel with some really great messages. Thank you.

[@The_Darn_Cat]

Coffee beats the cold! I've started four books this past month and I don't have the time for sitting and reading, thus I have the sanity saving word search books. ☕️🐝🇺🇸

[@nyxshadowhawk]

"Psychological fire" is a great way of referring to it!

[@gorequillnachovidal]

The Monk is so damn good

[@bookishly.introverted]

Subscribed! This is the first time I have seen your videos and I am hooked. You discuss gothic literature in such a way that I really needed to hear tonight. I was feeling in a rut, but I am awake now. Thank you.

[@AlmightyRawks]

I need a list of recommendations!!

[@CinziaDuBois]

I can make that video!

[@ChronicVillainy]

@@CinziaDuBois Would definitely be interested! 👀

[@annawolfe2706]

I'm still reading every VI Warshawski mystery ever written by Sarah Paretsky. She's my sister from another mother.

[@bjwnashe5589]

“Melmoth the Wanderer” by Charles Maturin is an excellent gothic novel published in 1820 that is still relevant and fun to read in our current wretched era.

[@picklerick.n.666]

God bless you and your work lady 😇😇😇 respect form Croatia-Europe 😇

[@CinziaDuBois]

Thank you, lovely! Sending love back to Croatia

[@martastanwick]

Literally just finished Volume I of the The Mysteries of Udolpho. Impeccable timing 👌👌👌

[@milicadiy]

I love reading and writing Gothic literature, but I never could have described it so beautifully. Love your work.

[@booksoffthebeatenpath]

@@milicadiy Me too! I’m a gothic fanatic, in my writing and my reading! Nice to meet you!

[@milicadiy]

@booksoffthebeatenpath Hi, nice to meet you! So, what's your favourite Gothic novel? Mine is Rebecca.

[@booksoffthebeatenpath]

@@milicadiyI loved Rebecca also! However, I think my favorite is The Haunting of Hill House. But it’s hard to pick a favorite. I read a lot of vintage and there are some great Victoria Holt, Phyllis A Whitney, Barbara Michael’s, Mary Stewart, and on and on. What do you like to write about?

[@milicadiy]

@@booksoffthebeatenpath Yes, I agree. It's hard to choose a favourite. And, yes, I loved Haunting of Hill House as well. I'm new to the genre, and I haven't heard about these authors because I'm Serbian, but it's nice that you've read so much. Because I like Gothic literature, I logically love writing about women who are mentally unstable in unsettling settings and who see something others can't - my current protagonist takes the cake for being unstable, but I'm careful not to let it seem over the top. You?

[@booksoffthebeatenpath]

I love a ghost story and a scary one at that. I have written about werewolves, vampires, also but ghosts are my thing. Your writing sounds very interesting! So cool 😎

[@mil_enrama]

The gothic sensation is a fire burns away dogma, prejudice, willful ignorance, and false positivity. It's catharsis. And after that cleansing comes balance.

[@zainaprice7424]

This video was very well done! Loving this format that you’re trying. 🖤

[@Heydodoakskdkdjf]

Reading Jane Eyre and The Phantom of the Opera at the age of 13 did things to my brain 😂 And I am immensely grateful for it. I may save a gothic read for after I do another reading of The Hobbit tho - it’s a tradition of mine that I read it around Christmas time every year.

[@nilsjohnson2636]

Just last year around this time, I read Samalio Pardulus, a 1908 German gothic novella by Otto Julius Bierbaum described as "a Gnostic steppingstone between German Romanticism and the nascent Expressionism that had not yet taken root." Loved it as both a baby bat and would-be occult mystic. Can't recommend it enough!

[@WanderRadioX]

Great video!

[@magiegainey5036]

I totally agree with you, Lady. Late Fall and Winter are my favorite times to read gothic, mystery and horror. ❤

[@ethansadberry6069]

I’m not sure if it’s considered gothic but ive heard it called it, anyway I just finished Wuthering Heights yesterday and it was great. Emily is an absolute genius and really quite hilarious especially in the first half of the book. Looking forward to more gothic stuff 😁

[@miavero]

Your voice sends chills up my spine, I am enamoured & the script matches perfectly. I am becoming friends with Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte perhaps the Gothic Blessed Mary.

[@CinziaDuBois]

Wow, thank you!

[@MargueriteRodríguez-d4w]

Perfect mood setting video! 😊

[@andrewberkin5505]

It hot, its windy, the smell of smoke from bushfires. Gothic lit is great for reading at the beach. [yes I'm writing from the big island in the antipodes]

[@williamerickson520]

Oddly enough, I recently resumed my deep dive into the classic gothic canon. I just finished Edgar Allen Poe's handful of gothic stories as well as ETA Hoffman's The Entail. Currently reading Polidori's The Vampire then moving on to Gogol's Viy and Hawthorne's Alice Doane's Appeal. Eventually I will be getting to Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables, Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and, of course, Dracula.

[@baileyfortney]

Currently at work but I cannot wait to watch this later!😁

[@rksnj6797]

Now I'm going to view the Gothic in a whole new light!

[@lifewithhollyt]

Crazy how I started the works of Edgar Allan Poe & H.P Lovecraft this week and this video comes up. I will now look at their stories in a different light 📖💀

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Funny, I've been on a Poe binge too, after finishing a reread of Dan Simmons' deeply flawed, but deeply Gothic "The Terror", a supernaturally overlaid novel about the doomed Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Now I'm rewatching the miniseries, which is honestly better in every way apart from the questionable CG creature, and even more atmospheric and Gothic in every way. And cold, as if it will make my apartment feel any warmer.

[@pluckyfox]

As an American I assumed the thumbnail referred to our current hellscape 😂

[@Saint.questions]

Haha.. love this channel. Dont know how i found it.. but glad to be here. 😁🖤🖤

[@julecaesara482]

I just wanted something nice to go to bed after I bawled my eyes out yet again after a rewatch of the Phantom. GLad to know I am not the only one who prefers gothic in winter,

[@angstymedusa]

I am in the mood to read something bleak and tragic 🖤

[@Eric.Taylor.1962]

I'm enjoying this series of bookish videos. I really must try and read something other than Frankentstein and Dracula when it comes to Gothis novels.

[@JohnDarwin7]

Beautiful 🌹

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

If winter is Gothic, does that mean summer is comic romance novel season?

[@CinziaDuBois]

Haha, I mean Shakespeare would think so!

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

😂​@@CinziaDuBois

[@naratorium]

@@lesliemoiseauthor I would say summer is then a season for even more things gothic! 😄

[@ramonarobot]

And then, it moves to tragic comedy in fall 🍂

[@TerryOCarroll]

If you have not read the novel UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN by Jeanette Ng, I recommend it. It's a sort of fantasy Gothic novel set in an alternate history in which Captain Cook discovers Faerie-land and missionaries go there to convert the fae to Christianity. But the fae have no souls... A missionary's sister goes to Faerie to find her brother who may be in trouble. It's a weird book and hard to describe, but I think it's right up your alley

[@Jetwolf]

well aren't you just the insta-sub of the week. thanks for the upload, Lady of the Library

[@SmallSpaceCorgi]

I do love both winter and the Gothic.

[@kanishkpandey6238]

I read lovecraft !

[@rozmarinideas5340]

Ahh, to consume the rot of society as the world rots outside... delightful!

[@mjkluck]

Good stuff.

[@ElJorro]

I am not really into horror novels but I do advocate reading the more obscure books on your shelf.

[@SociallyConfused]

I've not read any Gothic literature. Does anyone have a recommendation?

[@Productivpotato]

@@SociallyConfused there is a video by the youtuber by Dakota Johnson recommending some gothic literature. Check it out

[@Productivpotato]

Dakota Warren not Johnson sorry. She has a video on gothic literature recommendations.

[@SociallyConfused]

@@Productivpotato Thank you!

[@TeklaFrancis]

'Frankenstein', 'Jane Eyre', 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Dracula' are probably the most recognizable. 'The Castle of Otranto' is considered the first gothic novel. Its Edgar Allen Poe's general theme, so any of his books.

[@SociallyConfused]

@@TeklaFrancis I appreciate the recommendations!

[@mezmarionybarra]

So Dark and Fun 💚🩵✨️🩵💚 Appy Christmas, Appy Holidays, Appy Love and Light Around Us All Always 🐦🦄🐦

[@lindanelson6615]

I loved your comment about Twitter! I couldn't agree more!

[@Spectre2434]

Time to sit around brooding and reading about Byronic heroes. The Monk, pethaps ?

[@dondpwjuan11]

Lovecraft fiction is my most favourite writings please give me more.

[@vincaalkaloids6732]

Beautifully eloquent. Can you recommend some good Gothic novels? Both fiction and non-fiction.

[@evano5635]

Would "my year of rest and relaxation" be considered gothic literature. If so then I think I am fan of that genre haha I am also starting to realize the reason why I may have enjoyed the book was cause I read it during the winter.Another eureaka moment for me.

[@darkdust]

It's wild to me that you somehow have the exact tone, intonation, and speaking rhythm that's ideal for talking about goth stuff. XD

[@carterdunlap9957]

I'm getting my Poe out!

[@MrRealtf]

WOW Cinzia your channel has bloomed.Haven't came to check on you for a while now. Been with you for 10 years or more. I hope finally your monetary hardship is over now.

[@MrAdeptusExemptus]

Our post-modernist culture seems to have moved away from the mystery of sacredness: too pragmatic, excessively materialist. It appears to strip reality from any mystique, any romance, any sexiness and, any deep contemplation in regards to the subjective side of our perception, hence hindering the ability to engage in the x-factor of life. I've always had a proclivity towards gazing inward at the unknown, and my own uncharted waters, which, renders a deeper view of the objective. Gothic novels trigger these ruminations, allowing for a more curated personal experience of my life.

[@julians9763]

Read Gothic novels all year round when possible. Some may be on Audiobook.

[@joexmarotta3912]

O Lady of the Library, what are your favorite gothic novels to recommend?

[@koston_varjo3536]

Hello hello, question: am I the only one who finds it weird that there's no book recomendations in a comment or the description? While I'm likely stuck on the VtM novels for a bit longer, I'd love to dig into something else once that's done. Thank you and have a good day.

[@CyphersBasement]

This really is the season for such a thing, isn't it?

[@dondpwjuan11]

Where is this book club taking place because I need to be taking part in this.

[@annawolfe2706]

I saw someone call it Xitter.

[@grahamturner1290]

Weird and disturbing works for me...

[@ilynn9794]

Is there any chance you'd start a radio show

[@billyalarie929]

Have my like, the 500th of this video 😊

[@michaeladams6913]

You might like the video by Danzig-- "How the Gods Kill" in terms of brooding metal majesty and literally, a shadowed brow........ 📚😱🎸✍️🐦‍🔥🥀💯

[@RobertMaxwell-t3h]

That accent is on point

[@tammyt3434]

"Their taste in literature is very different from my own and they would say the same about mine." Is this book club 'Family Holidays'? =D My mother likes cozies and children's/teen literature (Her favorites have a bad habit of being out of print and I think she revels in the hunt.) My middle brother likes anything inspired by video games or Star Wars, with a dash of classic Science Fiction for a change of pace. My elder brother likes classic Science Fiction and Modern Literature. Except for classic Science Fiction, this is a list of the genres I DON'T like! XD

[@LuneFlaneuse]

🖤

[@Blue_bell7]

I was waiting for you to talk properly, thinking you were putting on a snooty voice at first, but nope, it didn't change 😳

[@teslagoth9401]

Gloomth

[@Heothbremel]

😻❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@BeautyNeedsAWitness]

❤❤

[@thomashorinek5430]

I love how jared leto tries to make u addopt homeless without having them Ford prrostitutes nun

[@thomashorinek5430]

Pretty woman magdalene

[@Mozarteen]

Nosferatu 2024, please? haha

[@mementomori_111]

I have a crush on you ma'am 🤭

[@Original50]

Is H G Wells' 'The Red Room' Gothic? What defines the answer? 🥸

[@Kiki-pu9pc]

🖤