Charles L. Crow

Part of a series on the Gothic published by the University of Wales Press, this short volume by noted academic Crow is an excellent and comprehensive introduction to the American Gothic..

“To understand American literature, and indeed America, one must understand the Gothic, which is, the imaginative expression of the fears and forbidden desires of Americans. The Gothic, has given voice to suppressed groups, and has provided an approach to taboo subjects such as miscegenation, incest and disease. The study of the Gothic offers a forum for discussing some of the key issues of American society, including gender and the nation’s continuing drama of race.”
(from the Introduction, page 1)

The introduction provides a quick overview and includes discussion of the definition and history of the Gothic, before teasingly leading us into the discussion of American Literature with a discussion of Hawthorne. Crow then begins with the earliest pre-Civil War literature, and moves chronologically through to the contemporary literature. All of our favorites are in there—Hawthorne, Alcott, Melville, Poe, London, Dickinson, Jewett, Freeman, Twain, Wharton, Gilman, Faulkner, Lovecraft, Welty, McCullers, Wright, Jackson, O’Neill, Morrison, Erdrich, Silko, Oates, McCarthy, King—as are many other lesser-known names. As he moves into the latter part of the 20th century the line between literary and popular literature blurs, intentionally. There are interesting discussions of specific works, novels or short stories, and in some cases, nonfiction (i.e. Cotton Matter, William Bradford), and other topics, such as, whether James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving are writing Gothic literature...or not.

Crow's volume is accessible to the non-academic, compulsively readable and enjoyable. He has read widely across American literature and packs a lot into this less-than-200-page volume, but it doesn’t come across as dense; instead, it’s a kind of narrative wave that carries the literary surfer deftly along through literary history, until they find themselves washed up on the beach that is the notes, list of works consulted, and the index. Readers familiar with American literature would enjoy this look at the dark side in our literary heritage, and those who would like to understand the literary tradition that contemporary authors like Cormac McCarthy, Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King write from might also find something interesting in this book.… (more)