<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Gothic fiction was a Victorian Era literary movement that began in Britain and originally catered to the escapist tastes of and the new leisure afforded the newly affluent merchant class of the time. Gothic fiction is considered to be the origin of the modern horror genre.

In fact many horror staples, such as ghosts, haunted houses, spooky castles, the supernatural, possession, and the undead all started in this movement. At the time, they were termed. "Gothic romances," which was a disparaging term alluding to their melodramatic nature and bold themes, similar to Gothic architecture.

Masters of this form of fiction included Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Emily Bronte.

Notable Gothic fiction

• Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley
• The Vampyre; a Tale (1819) by John William Polidori
• The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) by Edgar Allan Poe
• Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker
• The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James
• The Phantom of the Opera (1910) by Gaston Leroux
• The Lair of the White Worm (1911) by Bram Stoker
• The Monkey's Paw (1902) by W. W. Jacobs
• The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) by Edgar Allan Poe