Gothic 1900-1950

Citation

Foley M (2012) Gothic 1900-1950. In: Hughes W, Punter D & Smith A (eds.) The Encyclopedia of the Gothic. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405182903.html

Abstract
First paragraph: A consideration of how the Gothic literary mode manifests itself between 1900 and 1950 involves a number of threads that challenge, question, complement, overlap, and oppose each other. Strangely, it is the work of a writer often thought of as beyond categorization that provides a way into untangling these threads. In Supernatural Horror in Literature (1935), H. P. Lovecraft dedicates his final chapter to eulogizing the "masters" of the contemporary tale of horror. He begins by suggesting that the best horror-tales of today, profiting by the long evolution of the type, possess a naturalness, convincingness, artistic smoothness, and skilful intensity of appeal quite beyond comparison with anything in the Gothic work of a century or more ago. Technique, craftsmanship, experience, and psychological knowledge have advanced tremendously with the passing years, so that much of the older work seems naïve and artificial. ( Lovecraft 1973 : 87) As evocative as this argument may be, it is not a matter here of agreeing with Lovecraft, but rather of highlighting his focus on "artistic smoothness" and its achievement through "technique, craftsmanship, experience, and psychological knowledge." Discussing Gothic 1900-50 in terms of "technique," "craftsmanship," and "psychological knowledge" helps bring together some of the central literary issues of the age and allows us to consider the literary

Keywords
Gothic; modern Gothic; H.P. Lovecraft; Djuna Barnes; Algernon Blackwood; M R James; Daphne Du Maurier