Fascination with Fear

Horace Walpole writes The Castle of Otranto

1765

The first, and extremely popular, Gothic novel. Gothic fiction's goal is to inspire terror and explore the supernatural; it contains elements of horror and romance.

"Wake Not the Dead," by Johann Ludwig Tieck

1800

The first known vampire romance is published.

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein

1818

... or, The Modern Prometheus is the first monster story.

Victor Hugo publishes The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1831

Considered a truly Gothic novel, with its bells and gargoyles.

Edgar Allan Poe publishes short stories

1839

Contains all things Gothic: death, decay, insanity, ghosts, and live burials.

Dark Romanticism

1840

Influenced by Gothic fiction and the ideas of the time, a new literary period emerges: dark romanticism. It is a reaction against the optimistic ideas of the literary movement of transcendentalism. Dark romanticism questions humanity's goodness and is fascinated by darkness, the supernatural, and social and moral decay.

Robert Louis Stevenson publishes The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1885

Classic story showing the darker side of man.

Abraham "Bram" Stoker publishes Dracula.

1897