19th century

In a black and white film still, a woman points a small pistol at a man, the two staring at each other in early 20th century fashion.

How Can I Use That?: The Influences of Edward Gorey

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

He famously read Dracula at the age of seven. From then on, Edward Gorey and his host of pale-skinned, dark-eyed characters feasted on culture wherever they could find it.

Join me in marking what would have been the 100th birthday of the Grandfather of Goth by digging into his biggest influences. Piece together the clues scattered throughout his life. Examine the strange and disturbing marks they left on his work. And hunt his favourite artists, writers and filmmakers around the world and through the centuries.

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A young woman is sitting in a chair reading a story which has made her nervous. Source: Wellcome Images

I Waked One Morning From a Dream: What Is Gothic Literature?

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

There have been many nights when I’ve laid awake wondering: What makes a book Gothic? Who decides what is and isn’t Gothic fiction? And why, why, why do I keep reading them?

It’s time to reveal the truth about Gothic literature. Together, we’ll unravel the fragments, falsehoods and frame narratives to separate fact from fiction. Interrogate Gothic literature’s most renowned writers – including Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. And find out why this obscure, 200-year-old genre is still haunting us today.

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The Keble College chapel, an enormous red and white brick Gothic Revival building on the edge of a green quad.

Gothic Revival Masterpiece Keble College and the Quest To Destroy It

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I have no shortage of critics, be they of my writing, my comportment or my appearance. But even their numbers cannot rival those of the Destroy Keble Society.

Greetings from Keble College, one of the many colleges that make up Oxford University and, most certainly, the least popular. Discover the unsavoury source of the fortune that funded its building. Hear the horrible things that England’s brightest minds have said about its Gothic Revival style. And if you’re a member of rival St John’s College, please leave your chisel at the gate.

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The statue of the devil in Madrid, now exhibited as the Fountain of the Fallen Angel. The bronze sculpture of an angel writhes in agony, wrapped in snakes.

The Fountain of the Fallen Angel is the world’s oldest statue of the devil

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

Spain would have you believe that it’s home to the world’s first and only monument to the devil. But it doesn’t know some of the people I do. This is merely the first and only one in public.

Greetings from the Fountain of the Fallen Angel in Madrid’s El Retiro park, where pride comes before, during and after the fall. Get as close as you dare to a statue commemorating the origins of evil. Ponder the strange coincidence that placed it exactly 666 metres above sea level. And remember that, no matter your sins, somebody else has almost certainly done worse.

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The exterior of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, with its large statue of Francisco de Goya outside.

The gothic moods of Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings

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There aren’t many people who could withdraw to a remote farmhouse, paint horrifying scenes on the walls and be hailed for their genius. Francisco de Goya was one of them. I am not.

Greetings from the Museo del Prado, one of the world’s most prestigious art museums and home of the 14 Black Paintings of Francisco de Goya. Discover some of the darkest work of Goya’s life and the tragedies that inspired it. Lose yourself in scenes of witchcraft and violence, gothic moods of which he was a master. And do your best to keep the work out of sight – just as the artist intended.

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The reading room of Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris. Wooden bookshelves and marble and iron busts line the walls while students and visitors study on grand tables lit by lamps.

Tracking Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” through Paris

Posted on by The Gothic Dispatch

Edgar Allan Poe never set foot in Paris. He wrote about it anyway. But can “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” serve as a guide to the darker side of the city of light?

In this dispatch, join me between the pages and passageways of Poe’s gothic detective story. Hone your ratiocination in the footsteps of C. Auguste Dupin. Walk among volumes rare and remarkable in the city’s grand libraries. Search for the grotesque mansion in which the mystery unravels. And perhaps find an answer to one of the story’s biggest questions: Is the Rue Morgue a real place?

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