Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil, and Ruin

by Richard Davenport-Hines

Book Overview

The birth of Gothic can be said to date to the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631, an event so powerful it created a new landscape. Indeed, it was the desolate and savage landscape paintings of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 086547544X
• ISBN13: 9780865475441
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: North Point Press
• Length: 438 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.8" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Thanks for the big picture!

This book does a great job of going back to the roots of a look, sensibility, and style we tend to think of only in terms of kids with too much eye makeup and hairspray (not to mention cheesy music). Architecture, art, and literature--not just Robert Smith!

THe athority on the history of Gothic

This book is wonderfully extensive covering everything from Elizabeth Bathory to The Cure. It would prove useful to both modern Goths and literary scholars. This is a one of a kind resource that you will keep referring back to. It is the single most useful book on my book shelves.

Endless Terror...and LOVING it!

Instantly engrossing from the time it's picked up, GOTHIC is the best comprehensive study of the real gothic culture from the invasion of Eurpoe to present day. This book should be extremely interesting to anyone who studies literature or European history.

Hines investigates why we love to be afraid of the dark!

Using all his powers of perception Richard Davenport-Hines draws the black curtains back and reveals why humans have this odd fascination with anything gothic. Though insightful and often thorough to a painful degree, Hines seems to hit all the highlights in what is a most difficult topic to cover completely. Far from objective Hines gives his opinon on the greater and lesser talents of the Macabre, from Lord Byron to Poppy Z. Brite, Hines speaks about his subjects with passion or with ambivalence, depending on his preferance. Though the start is slow, tracing the history of English Gardens the book gradually builds up steam until the end, in which with great love he speaks of English modern artists. Throughout Hines is insightful and his style of writing mixed with the sordidness of the subject matter leads to a good informative book with plenty of appeal for those interested in the Gothic tradition.

A must for everyone interested in gothic

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is both exitingly written and scholarly convincing which is rare indeed. This is a must for everyone interested in gothic,it covers everything from 18th century gothic garden architecture to horror films and modern gothic fiction. An ample dose of "excess, horror, evil and ruin"...