Southern Gothic

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Southern Gothic is a subgenre of the gothic novel, unique to American literature.

Like its parent genre, it relies on supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to guide the plot. Unlike its predecessor, it uses these tools not for the sake of suspense, but to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

The Southern Gothic author usually avoids perpetuating antebellum stereotypes like the contented slave, the demure Southern belle, the chivalrous gentleman, or the righteous Christian preacher. Instead, the writer takes classic Gothic archetypes, such as the damsel in distress or the heroic knight, and portrays them in a more modern and realistic manner — transforming them into, for example, a spiteful and reclusive spinster, or a white-suited, fan-brandishing lawyer with ulterior motives.

One of the most notable features of the Southern Gothic is "the grotesque" — this includes situations, places, or stock characters that often possess some cringe-inducing qualities, typically racial bigotry and egotistical self-righteousness — but enough good traits that readers find themselves interested nevertheless. While often disturbing, Southern Gothic authors commonly use deeply flawed, grotesque characters for greater narrative range and more opportunities to highlight unpleasant aspects of Southern culture, without being too literal or appearing to be overly moralistic.

This genre of writing is seen in the work of such famous Southern writers as William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Harper Lee, Harry Crews, Lee Smith, John Kennedy Toole, Cormac McCarthy, Davis Grubb, Barry Hannah, Katherine Ann Porter, Lewis Nordan, Thomas Wolfe and William Gay among others. Tennessee Williams described Southern Gothic as a style that captured "an intuition, of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience." However, the genre was itself open to criticism, even by its alleged practitioners. As Flannery O'Connor remarked, "anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic."^[1]

Notable works

Literature

1929 Sartoris & The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

• Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

1930 As I Lay Dying & "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

1931 Sanctuary by William Faulkner

1932 Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell

• Light in August by William Faulkner

1933 God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell

1935 Pylon & Uncle Willy by William Faulkner

• Kneel to the Rising Sun by Erskine Caldwell

1936 Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

1937 You Have Seen Their Faces by Erskine Caldwell & Margaret Bourke White

1938 The Unvanquished by William Faulkner

1940 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

• "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty
• The Hamlet by William Faulkner

1941 Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers

• A Curtain of Green by Eudora Welty

1942 Go Down, Moses & Two Soldiers by William Faulkner

• The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty

1943 Shingles for the Lord by William Faulkner

1944 The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

1946 The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

• 27 Wagons Full of Cotton by Tennessee Williams
• The Geranium by Flannery O'Connor

1947 A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (Pulitzer Prize award)

1948 Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

• Summer and Smoke & The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
• Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner

1951 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers

• Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner
• The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams

1952 Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

1953 The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb

1955 A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (Pulitzer Prize award)

1957 Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams

• The Town by William Faulkner

1958 Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams

1959 The Mansion by William Faulkner

• Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams

1960 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Pulitzer Prize Award)

• The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor

1962 The Reivers by William Faulkner (Pulitzer Prize award)

1965 The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy

• Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor

1968 Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

1969 Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O'Connor

1972 Geronimo Rex by Barry Hannah

• The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (Pulitzer Prize award)

1976 Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

1979 Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

• The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor by Flannery O'Connor

1978 Lancelot by Walker Percy

• Airships by Barry Hannah

1980 A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Pulitzer Prize award)

• Ray by Barry Hannah

1983 Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair by Lewis Nordan

• Oral History by Lee Smith
• The Tennis Handsome by Barry Hannah

1989 And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave

• The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole

1990 Big Bad Love by Larry Brown

1991 Music of the Swamp by Lewis Nordan

1992 Joe by Larry Brown

1993 Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

• The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

• In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke

1994 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

1995 The Sharpshooter Blues by Lewis Nordan

• Bats out of Hell by Barry Hannah

1996 The Green Mile by Stephen King

• High Lonesome by Barry Hannah

1997 Lightning Song by Lewis Nordan

• Father and Son by Larry Brown

1998 A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews

• Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace

1999 The Long Home by William Gay

2000 Tideland by Mitch Cullin

• A Fine Dark Line by Joe R. Lansdale
• Provinces of Night by William Gay

2001 Yonder Stands Your Orphan by Barry Hannah

• Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

2002 The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

2003 The Choir of Ill Children by Tom Piccirilli

2004 Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale

2005 Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest

• Gather at the River: Notes From the Post Millennial South by Hal Crowther
• November Mourns by Tom Piccirilli

2006 Wings to the Kingdom by Cherie Priest

• Twilight by William Gay

2007 Not Flesh 'Nor Feathers & Dreadful Skin by Cherie Preist

• The Shadows, Kith and Kin & Lost Echoes by Joe R. Lansdale
• The River Wife by Jonis Agee
• Homeplace by Elizabeth Mssie

2008 Tennyson by Lesley M.M. Blume

• Firefly Rain by Richard Dansky
• Fathom by Cherie Priest

2009 The Missing by Tim Gautreaux

• The Lost Country by William Gay

Films

• The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
• Romance of the Limberlost (1938)
• Son of Dracula (1943)
• Intruder in the Dust (1949)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Best Picture nom.)
• The Night of the Hunter (1955)
• The Rose Tattoo (1955, Best Picture nom.)
• Baby Doll (1956)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958, Best Picture nom.)
• The Defiant Ones (1958, Best Picture nom.)
• The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
• The Tarnished Angels (1958)
• God's Little Acre (1958)
• The Fugitive Kind (1959)
• The Sound and the Fury (1959)
• Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
• Desire in the Dust (1960)
• Summer and Smoke (1961)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Best Picture nom.)
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
• Cape Fear (1962)
• Toys in the Attic (1963)
• Night of the Iguana (1964)
• Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
• This Property is Condemned (1966)
• The Chase (1966)
• Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
• Cool Hand Luke (1967)
• In Cold Blood (1967)
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
• The Reivers (1969)
• Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)
• The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
• The Beguiled (1971)
• Deliverance (1972, Best Picture nom.)
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
• The Sugarland Express (1974)
• Days of Heaven (1978)
• Wise Blood (1979)
• The Beyond (1981)
• Southern Comfort (1981)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984, remake)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
• No Mercy (1986)
• Angel Heart (1987)
• Sister, Sister (1987)
• Two Moon Junction (1988)
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1989, remake)
• Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
• Wild At Heart (1990)
• Scorchers (1991)
• Cape Fear (1991, remake)
• The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991)
• Storyville (1992)
• Flesh and Bone (1993)
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
• The Neon Bible (1995)
• The Passion of Darkly Noon (1995)
• Heaven's Prisoners (1996)
• Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
• Sling Blade (1996)
• Interview with the Vampire (1997)
• Eve's Bayou (1997)
• Eye of God (1997)
• Little Boy Blue (1997)
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
• Hush (1998)
• The Gingerbread Man (1998)
• The Green Mile (1999)
• Wayward Son (1999)
• Cookie's Fortune (1999)
• A Texas Funeral (1999)
• Lush (1999)
• Cypress Edge (1999)
• Red Dirt (2000)
• A Good Baby (2000)
• Meeting Daddy (2000)
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
• George Washington (2000)
• The Gift (2000)
• Monster's Ball (2001)
• Frailty (2001)
• Big Bad Love (2001)
• The Rough South of Larry Brown (2002, doc)
• Big Fish (2003)
• Cold Mountain (2003)
• Dunsmore (2003)
• Two Soldiers (2003, short)
• Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2003, doc)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003, remake)
• All the Real Girls (2003)
• The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)
• A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004)
• Undertow (2004)
• Chrystal (2004)
• Dead Birds (2004)
• Stillwater (2005)
• The Skeleton Key (2005)
• The King (2005)
• Tideland (2005)
• Things That Hang from Trees (2006)
• Crack in the Sidewalk (2006, short)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
• Southern Gothic (2007)
• The Reaping (2007)
• Hounddog (2007)
• Black Snake Moan (2007)
• No Country for Old Men (2007, Best Picture win)
• Dog Days of Summer (2007)
• Shotgun Stories (2008)
• Ballast (2008)
• A Genesis Found (2009)
• In the Electric Mist (2009)
• "That Evening Sun" (2009)

Television

• Trilogy, Quantum Leap (NBS, 1993)
• American Gothic (TV series) (CBS, 1995-1996)
• Carnivàle (HBO, 2003-2005)
• Eastbound & Down (HBO, 2009-)
• True Blood (HBO, 2008-)
• Squidbillies (2004-)

Comics and graphic novels

• Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
• Jonah Hex

Music

• Drive-By Truckers
• Bobbie Gentry
• Iron and Wine
• Neil Young
• Nick Cave
• Neutral Milk Hotel
• Reverend Glasseye
• Slim Cessna's Auto Club
• Phosphorescent
• Ugly Casanova
• R.E.M.
• Murder by Death
• Neko Case
• The Handsome Family
• 16 Horsepower
• Jim White
• Gene Clark
• Gram Parsons
• Townes van Zandt
• Steve Earle
• Alex Chilton
• Josh Ritter

See also

• Gothic fiction
• Southern Ontario Gothic
• African American literature
• Southern literature
• Southern Renaissance
• Grotesque
• Suburban Gothic
• Tasmanian Gothic

Notes

External links

• The Southern Literary Trail features the major fiction writers from the South during the 20th Century.