Top Ten Gothic Novels from the 1800s

Written by: Drake Morgan

Gothic is a term that has been usurped by our modern world. Goths dress in black, wear a lot of makeup, and listen to Bauhaus. Gothic began as a term to describe architecture. It was a building style popular in the high medieval period. We all know it well. Towering spires that climb to the heavens. Massive, ornate doors. Flying buttresses. In the 1800s, this guy named Lord Byron wrote a few poems. People like Ann Radcliffe, Clara Reeve, Friedrich Schiller, and Mathew Gregory Lewis wrote a few novels. A new literary tradition was born. I make jest of course, as these authors and many others forged a bold new form of literature. They delved into the darkness of the human soul. They explored the sinister, hidden regions of humanity. They exposed those elements of ourselves we begged to remain hidden.

The best Gothic fiction is…