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Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature MARY ELLEN SNODGRASS Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature Copyright © 2005 by Mary Ellen Snodgrass All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature / by Mary Ellen Snodgrass. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8160-5528-9 (alk. paper) 1. Gothic revival (Literature)—Encyclopedias. I. Title: Encyclopedia of Gothic literature. II. Title. PN3435.S58 2005 809′.911—dc22 2004046986 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by Joan M. Toro Cover design by Semadar Megged Printed in the United States of America VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 2 1 h For my friend Diana Norman, who is ever an example to me of careful research and spirited writing h CONTENTS Preface Introduction A-to-Z Entries Major Works of Gothic Literature Major Authors of Gothic Literature and Their Works A Time Line of Gothic Literature Film Noir and Classic Gothic Works as Cinema Bibliography of Primary Sources Bibliography of Secondary Sources Index xi xiii 1 375 391 415 436 438 445 466 Imagination is a capricious rover, fond of every object that carries it out of the track of daily and familiar occurrences. It loves to traverse the pathless desert and enchanted forest, to roam amidst wild uncultivated nature, and amuse itself with the extravagant effects of untutored passions. —Poet Elizabeth Carter in a letter to Elizabeth Vesey, August 14, 1780 A man who does not contribute his quota of grim story nowadays, seems hardly to be free of the republic of letters. He is bound to wear a death’s head as part of his insignia. If he does not frighten everybody, he is nobody. If he does not shock the ladies, what can be expected of him? —Leigh Hunt, Tale for a Chimney Corner (1819) PREFACE E Messent, Michael Meyer, Robert Mighall, Kay Mussell, Elizabeth Napier, Margot Northey, Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Ranger, Gabriel Ronay, Victor Sage, Cannon Schmitt, Andrew Smith, Robert Spector, Jack Sullivan, Tsvetan Todorov, Yi-Fu Tuan, James Twitchell, S. L. Varnado, Andrew Webber, Susan Williams, Judith Wilt, and Leonard Wolf. Of particular merit are the analyses of Margaret Atwood, Susan Gubar, Sandra Gilbert, H. P. Lovecraft, David Punter, Montague Summers, Mary Tarr, Devendra Varma, and Anne Williams. In addition to a panoply of recovered Gothic works and facsimile editions are the handy electronic texts, including biographies from the University of Pennsylvania and Sheffield Hallam University, The Literary Encyclopedia, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, the illustrations of George Cruikshank from Princeton University, Dickens’s London, The Northanger Canon, and Chris Willis’s Web sites. Rounding out the text are additional study aids to particularize the lives of writers such as William Cullen Bryant and August Wilson; published works including Bellefleur and “The House of Night”; and details of Japanese Gothic, La Llorona, chiaroscuro, premature burial, and Gothic serials. Reference helps include alphabetic listings of major titles and