Description
Book SynopsisAmerican Gothic remains an enduringly fascinating genre, retaining its chilling hold on the imagination.
Trade Review“This excellent anthology provides an entertaining collection of gothic works of various genres written by both canonical authors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe, and less familiar American writers, such as Harriet Prescot Spofford and Ella Wilkinson Peattie ... Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.” (Choice, 1 January 2014)
"One of the main strengths of this collection lies in the fact that it places alongside the intelligent selection of extracts from authors already rightly well associated with the genre contributions from lesser known figures such as George Lippard. John Neal, Charles W. Chestnutt, and Cotton Mather, to name but a few. The edition also benefits greatly from a much greater acknowledgement of the traditionally underlooked contributions to the genre made by female authors… The anthology's thoughtful selection of texts and authors, and useful, practical, scholarly apparatus mean that it should be an immensely useful resource for anyone teaching on courses related to this ever-expanding and influential subsection of American literary studies." - Bernice Murphy, Trinity College Dublin
Table of ContentsList of Authors x
Chronology xi
Thematic Table of Contents xv
Preface to the Second Edition xxviii
Editorial Principles xxix
Acknowledgments xxx
Introduction 1
Cotton Mather (1663–1728) 3
“The Tryal of G. B.” 4
“The Trial of Martha Carrier” 8
A Notable Exploit; wherein, Dux Faemina Facti [The Narrative of Hannah Dustan] 10
“Abraham Panther” 12
A surprising account of the Discovery of a Lady … 12
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735–1813) 16
from Letters from an American Farmer: “Letter IX” 16
Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810) 24
“Somnambulism: A Fragment” 24
Washington Irving (1783–1859) 36
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 36
John Neal (1793–1876) 55
“Idiosyncrasies” 55
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) 73
“Alice Doane’s Appeal” 74
“Young Goodman Brown” 80
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) 89
“The Skeleton in Armor” 89
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) 94
“Hop-Frog” 94
“The Cask of Amontillado” 100
“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” 104
“The Fall of the House of Usher” 110
Five Poems 121
“The Raven” 121
“The City in the Sea” 124
“Ulalume” 125
“Annabel Lee” 127
“Dream-Land” 128
Herman Melville (1819–1891) 131
“The Bell-Tower” 131
George Lippard (1822–1854) 141
from The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall 141
Henry Clay Lewis (1825–1850) 146
“A Struggle for Life” 146
Rose Terry Cooke (1827–1892) 152
“My Visitation” 152
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) 164
Eight Poems 164
F 43 “Through lane it lay – thro’ bramble –” 164
F 340 “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” 165
F 341 “’Tis so appalling – it exhilarates –” 165
F 360 “The Soul has Bandaged moments –” 166
F 407 “One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –” 166
F 425 “’Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch” 167
F 431 “If I may have it, when it’s dead,” 167
F 1433 “What mystery pervades a well!” 168
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) 170
“A Whisper in the Dark” 170
Harriet Prescott Spofford (1835–1921) 194
“Her Story” 194
“Circumstance” 206
Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) 215
“An Inhabitant of Carcosa” 215
“The Death of Halpin Frayser” 217
Henry James (1843–1916) 227
The Turn of the Screw 227
George Washington Cable (1844–1925) 290
“Jean-Ah Poquelin” 290
Madeline Yale Wynne (1847–1918) 304
“The Little Room” 304
Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) 312
“The Foreigner” 312
Kate Chopin (1851–1904) 328
“Désirée’s Baby” 328
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930) 333
“Old Woman Magoun” 333
“Luella Miller” 344
Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) 353
“The Bell in the Fog” 353
Anonymous (Folk Tale) 367
“Talking Bones” 367
Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) 368
“The Dumb Witness” 369
“The Sheriff’s Children” 376
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) 387
“The Giant Wisteria” 387
“The Yellow Wall-Paper” 392
Elia Wilkinson Peattie (1862–1935) 403
“The House That Was Not” 403
Edith Wharton (1862–1937) 406
“The Eyes” 406
Robert W. Chambers (1865–1933) 419
“In the Court of the Dragon” 419
Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) 425
Two Poems 425
“Nancy Knapp” 425
“Barry Holden” 425
Edwin Arlington Robinson (1868–1935) 427
Six Poems 427
“Luke Havergal” 427
“Lisette and Eileen” 428
“The Dark House” 429
“The Mill” 430
“Souvenir” 431
“Why He Was There” 431
Frank Norris (1870–1902) 432
“Lauth” 432
Stephen Crane (1871–1900) 449
“The Monster” 449
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) 483
“The Lynching of Jube Benson” 483
Alexander Posey (1873–1908) 488
“Chinnubbie and the Owl” 488
Jack London (1876–1916) 492
“Samuel” 492
H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft (1890–1937) 505
“The Outsider” 505
Select Bibliography 510
Index of Titles and First Lines 513
Index to the Introductions and Footnotes 515
