It’s a common moral in tales of folklore and fantasy: Do not disturb the dead. No matter how powerful of magic you possess, it is always inadvisable to go against the laws of both nature and the divine by attempting to reverse the irreversible. Even if you do manage to bring someone back from those Plutonian shores, they are never quite the same. Yet, as humans with a complicated relationship to mortality, it is natural for us to grieve the absence of those we love and to long to bring them back to life. Countless tales of Gothic and horror literature are here to remind us exactly why those thoughts should remain just a fantasy and not be acted upon. Here are just a few of my favorite examples of stories that warn against raising the dead:
Lately, I’ve been noticing a rising trend in fungal-themed horror novels, or what some corners of the internet are starting to dub “sporror.” (Get it? Like spores?) Mushrooms and their kin have many characteristics that lend themselves quite well to horror. For one thing, there’s still so much that we don’t know about these organisms—only in the last decade or so have we started to understand the vast mycelium networks that exist unseen beneath the soil, linking miles of forest and providing all sorts of important contributions to the ecosystem. On top of that, mushrooms, molds, and yeasts are strange, almost alien in the way that they defy categorization. They have elements of both plant and animal, and yet are neither. They are also associated with dark, damp, underground spaces and are noted for their role in decomposition. Through the recreational use of psychedelic mushrooms, these organisms have also been linked with the fantastical and surreal, with hallucinatory visions and altered states of mind. There are many poisonous mushrooms that can be fatal to humans, and some of them look deceptively similar to their less toxic brethren. Then there are the parasitic fungi, which can infect and feed off of plants, animals, insects, and humans in often gruesome ways. With so many potentially horrific directions to go in, I think we will only continue to see even more mushroom horror in the future. Below is just a sampling of works that feature frightening fungi:
Looking for more content like what I post here on The Gothic Library? There are plenty of knowledgeable folks sharing their love for the darker side of literature—especially in the podcasting space! Podcasts are one of my favorite ways to get book recommendations or study up on a new genre. Here are just a few of the podcasts I love that I feel like have a similar vibe to what I’m trying to do with this blog: Continue reading Podcasts to Check Out If You Love This Blog!
“Dark academia.” You may have seen this phrase being used by bookish influencers on TikTok or tagged onto writers’ mood boards on Twitter and Instagram. The phrase is generally accompanied by images in muted earthy tones and dark burgundy, often featuring cardigans with elbow patches and pleated skirts, dark wood furniture, hallowed halls of learning, and libraries full of cloth-bound tomes. Though the term has only come into popular use in recent years, perusing an image search is enough to quickly give you a sense of the vibe—a cohesive aesthetic that encompasses fashion, architecture, and personal paraphernalia. But is there something more to dark academia than just visually appealing imagery with which to decorate one’s social media presence?
When you think of spooky or scary creatures, monkeys are probably not the first animal that crosses your mind. Cats, rats, and bats. Even corvids and canines. These creatures more obviously fit the aesthetic of the Gothic, and you’ll commonly see them crawling through castles, darkening the skies, or lurking in graveyards in Gothic texts. But there were also many who found monkeys to be deeply unsettling—especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is both the strangeness and the familiarity of these creatures that makes them excellent vessels for horror. On the one hand, primates bear a significant resemblance to humans in both their physical features and the actions they are capable of—a similarity which would ultimately lead Darwin to his paradigm-shattering theory of evolution in the mid-nineteenth century. On the other hand, these creatures are still distinctly inhuman. And for many Western writers whose only encounters with other primates came from colonial excursions, monkeys were inevitably associated with the Evil, Exotic East. You’ll see all of these elements brought out in the examples listed below of some of my favorite monkeys in Gothic literature:
Now that 2021 is behind us, it’s time to look ahead to the new year. There’s no telling what 2022 will bring us, and I’ve been struggling with feeling optimistic as we head into another year of the pandemic, but at least one good thing is certain: there will always be new books! In fact, there are so many exciting new releases coming, that I was able to compile this year’s list of books to read in record time. Here are just a few of the books I’m looking forward to:Continue reading Books I’m Excited for in 2022
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is one of literature’s best-known Gothic novels and certainly one of the most commonly read—and for good reason! Jane Eyre was at the forefront of a wave of a new variation on the genre that really gave the Gothic Romance a sense of the romantic. The interplay between Jane’s fierce independence and her blossoming passion for the brooding and Byronic Mr. Rochester is a love story as relatable today as it was in 1846. And I do mean today: 2021 seems to be the year for revisiting Jane Eyre. Of course, there have been reimaginings of Brontë’s story in years past—most famously Jean Rhys’s feminist and postcolonialist vindication of the “madwoman in the attic” with Wide Sargasso Sea in 1966. But something in the air seems to have everybody returning to this Gothic classic all at once right now. Below are a few Jane Eyre retellings that all came out within the last year:Continue reading 2021 Jane Eyre Retellings
H. P. Lovecraft is not particularly known for his varied and nuanced depictions of female characters. In fact, he’s known for barely depicting women in his tales of cosmic horror at all. Discounting female eldritch gods and dead queens, I’ve come up with a total of three women across Lovecraft’s oeuvre that play significant roles in his stories. Let’s take a look at how they fit into the mythos: Continue reading The Women of Lovecraft
Man vs. Nature. It’s a conflict at the core of so much of Gothic and horror fiction and takes a myriad of forms. But the most literal iteration of this trope when the story’s protagonists find themselves up against deadly, monstrous plants. From poisonous perfumes to strangling vines to invasions of invasive species, who knows what untold horrors might be hidden in the greenery around you! Below are a few of my favorite examples of people-killing plants throughout horror literature.
There are many things I’m looking forward to about 2021—mainly that the seemingly cursed year of 2020 is finally over! While I know that things won’t magically get better just because we’ve turned over a new calendar year, there’s just something refreshing about the feeling of a new start. And part of that new start means planning out a TBR list of new releases for this year! Here are some of the books I’m most excited for: Continue reading Books I’m Excited for in 2021
