The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales

by Anna Laetitia Barbauld and Bret Harte

Book Overview

Brimming with tales of terror, suspense, and the uncanny, this work offers a collection devoted to the best of the Gothic genre. Each story contains the common elements of the gothic talea warped sense of time, a claustrophobic setting, a link to archaic modes of thought, and the impression of a descent into disintegration. Yet taken together, they reveal the progression of the genre from stories of feudal villains amid crumbling ruins to a greater...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199561532
• ISBN13: 9780199561537
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.1" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Some Great Unfamiliar Gothic Tales

There are some great tales in this book.by such authors as- poe,le fanu.hawthorne,g.w.cable,charlotte perkins stetson(weird psychological tale), nesbit,lovecraft,faulkner(this is not a gothic tale but pure faulknew; enjoyable),thomas hardy( Barbara of the house of grebe; loved this one), ellen glasgow (jordan's end; I do wish she had written more ghost tales) and many more fine tales.

The Best Collection of Gothic Tales

If there is one book that I would recommend regarding good Gothic fiction, it would be The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (Oxford Books of Prose). This book has been my staple since a long time ago. To give you some idea of what you can find in this book, Part I., "Beginnings," contains such classics as "The Vindictive Monk of the Fatal Ring"; the next section, or Part II., "The Nineteenth Century," includes some outstanding stories by the customary Poe and Hawthorne, as well as "Jean-Ah Poquelin" by George Washington Cable and "Bloody Blanche" by Thomas Hardy. The selections from Part III, "The Twentieth Century," contain some outstanding examples like "The Outsider" by H.P. Lovecraft and the eerie "The Bloody Countess" by Alejandra Pizarnik. There are thirty-seven selections total, with a great introduction by the editor.

Worthwhile Reading

This is a very interesting collection of literature. It includes writing from the late 1700s extending to the present. What makes this collection so amazing is that it not only includes stories from Poe, Lovecraft, and Hawthorne, but it also has stories taken from periodicals and anthologies long out of print. You'd never find some of this writing anywhere else, and it is truly amazing.All of the stories do have somewhat of a dark and twisted theme, but they are all very rich.If seriously considering this book, I highly recommend purchasing it in a hardback edition. It will last you much longer, and you'll be glad for this after reading it.

Views of the Dark Side

This is a wonderful anthology, giving a full historical spectrum of Gothic tales from silly early ones to chilling modern ones. I've used this as a textbook in two courses I teach in college, and students have been both amused (at blatantly Freudian overtones in 18th century stories) and horrified (especially at Pizarnek's account of Erzebet Bathory's perversions). My favorites are Carter's "Lady of the House of Love" and Cowles' "The Vampire of Kaldenstein," both of which combine eerieness with ironic humor.

Nothing short of amazing

I bought this book on a whim. It changed my life. Well not really but it is an incredible book. This book is loaded. From the first tale by someone named Anna Laetitia Aikin (1773) to the last by Isabel Allende (1991)this book is pure quality. Names such as Hawthorne, Hardy, Poe, Lovecraft, Bierce, Faulkner, Ray Russell, Le Fanu, Arthur Conan Doyle, and some chap named Anonymous who shows up frequently in the early stories. Come on you read the names BUY THE BOOK. It will change your life forever.