Module 14 - Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales

Summary: This book is a compilation of ten gothic(ish) stories, selected by editor Deborah Noyes. They range from the classically gothic ("Lungewater," by Joan Aiken) to the tongue-in-cheek ("Forgotten Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire," by Neil Gaiman). The topics range from lost love to ghostly hauntings to tyrannical fathers to vampires to animal transformations.




D. Noyes (Ed.), (2004). Gothic!: Ten original dark tales Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.


My Impressions: As with any compilation, some stories are better than others. The opening story, "Lungewater," is the most quintessentially gothic piece, with a brooding hero, miscommunication, the metonymy of mood (dark, foggy weather, anyone?), and a hard to reach estate. However, it is a bit confusing, and while I understand why Noyes opened with the story, I think there were probably stronger options. "The Prank," by Gregory Maguire, is a modern take on the genre, told from the perspective of a young girl sent to stay with her great-aunt after committing a hate crime. She finds that her aunt has a good reason for wanting the girl to stay out of the attic. The horror and disgust the reader feels at the revelation of the secret is powerful. "Stone Tower," by Janni Lee Simner, is the story that will appeal most to teenaged girls. The story involves a tyrannical father who disapproves of the protagonist's boyfriend and turns him into a bird. The girl becomes a "good girl," hearing her father's voice direct her in everything she does. True love wins out in the end, and the lovers are reunited. Overall, this book will appeal to those in high school who lean a bit to the dark side.




Reviews:


"The slightly generic cover design and forthrightly generic title of this collection may lead many readers to expect shrieking heroines, dreary castles, lurking vampires, and other tropes of the gothic tradition. They wouldn’t be wrong, but they wouldn’t be exactly right, either. Sure, many of these original tales, by the likes of Joan Aiken, Neil Gaiman, Gregory Maguire, and Vivian Vande Velde,
ape the vocabulary of the genre ('necromancer,' 'escritoire') and play with its abundant clichés (a house has as many 'curses as it has spiders and silverfish'). But the maidens in peril still have to do
their homework; twisted events are as likely to transpire in American suburbs as in dreary castles (in M. T. Anderson’s exceptional 'The Dead Watch,' shapeshifting witches eat Triscuits and use ATMs); vampires whine about the garlic in the spaghetti sauce and then attack their babysitters. Ideal for high-school literature classes studying Shelley or Stoker (Gaiman’s smirking contribution, which toys with genre definitions, would work particularly well in the classroom), this collection also provides an excellent opportunity to introduce fans of Koontz, Rice, and King to some of the most imaginative exponents of YA dark fantasy." -- Booklist

Mattson, J. (2004). Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales (Book). Booklist, 101(4), 404. 


"These ten terrific tales are guaranteed to raise the hairs on your neck — and just possibly a scream in your throat. The well-balanced collection ranges in tone from dark humor to eerie mystery to true terror....Gothic, by definition, 'insists on the burden of the past,' writes Noyes in her introduction, and many protagonists here must pay for their own crimes—or even the crimes of others—with often-tragic results. Intrepid readers will relish the delicious shivers—but may want to keep the lights on." -- Horn Book

Adams, L. (2004). Gothic!: Ten Original Dark Tales. Horn Book Magazine, 80(6), 714-715. 

Uses in the Library: A companion lesson to Gothic literature, such as Frankenstein, or in a Halloween book talk.