SOUTHERN GOTHIC

'Southern Gothic' is a subgenre of the Gothic writing style, 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, Cormac McCarthy, Barry Hannah, Lewis Nordan, and William Gay among others. Tennessee Williams described Southern Gothic as a style that captured "an intuition, of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience."

Contents

Notable works

Films

Songs

Comics & Graphic Novels

Historical incidents

See also

Notable works

★ ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' by Harper Lee

★ ''The Little Friend'' by Donna Tartt

★ ''As I Lay Dying'' and ''A Rose for Emily'' by William Faulkner

★ ''Wise Blood'' and ''A Good Man Is Hard To Find'' by Flannery O'Connor

★ ''Orpheus Descending'' by Tennessee Williams

★ ''Child of God'' by Cormac McCarthy

★ ''The Knockout Artist'' by Harry Crews

★ ''Bastard Out of Carolina'' by Dorothy Allison

★ ''Member of the Wedding'' and ''The Heart is a Lonely Hunter'' by Carson McCullers

★ ''Tideland'' by Mitch Cullin

★ ''Other Voices, Other Rooms'' by Truman Capote

★ ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' by John Berendt

Films

★ ''Sling Blade''

★ ''Angel Heart''

★ ''Cookie's Fortune''

★ ''Frailty''

★ ''The Defiant Ones''

★ ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?''

★ ''The Green Mile''

★ ''A Streetcar Named Desire''

★ ''Cat On A Hot Tin Roof''

★ ''Eve's Bayou''

★ ''The Gift''

★ ''The Skeleton Key''

★ ''Black Snake Moan''

★ ''Wise Blood''

★ ''The Night of the Hunter''

★ ''The Beguiled''

★ ''Cape Fear''

Songs

★ "Tupelo" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

★ "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday

★ "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry

★ "Wendell Gee" by R.E.M.

★ "Southern Anthem" by Iron and Wine

★ "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Sufjan Stevens

★ "Effigy" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

★ "Fancy" by Bobbie Gentry

★ "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence

★ "Drunken Angel" by Lucinda Williams

★ "Little Amsterdam" by Tori Amos

★ "The End" by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Comics & Graphic Novels

★ Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher

Historical incidents

★ Scottsboro Boys

★ Emmett Till

★ Leo Frank

See also

★ Gothic fiction

★ Southern Ontario Gothic

★ African American literature

★ Southern literature

★ Southern Renaissance

★ "The Grotesque"