the first lesbian vampire story? Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels who came from the same tradition which produced Oscar Wilde and James Joyce. Indeed, he went … [Read more...]
19C Horror
Horror stories and novels of the nineteenth century
tutorials and study guides on 19C horror stories
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
tutorial, commentary, study resources, and web links Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) became very popular as soon as it was first published under its real title of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. … [Read more...]
Dracula – a study guide
tutorial, commentary, study resources, and web links Dracula (1897) is not the first novel to deal with the myth of vampyres. It follows a tradition which includes Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto … [Read more...]
Frankenstein: a study – page 1
the romance, the double, the psyche Although Frankenstein is constructed from many of the basic elements of the romantic novel, Mary Shelly seems to have raised her 'ghost story' (1) well above the … [Read more...]
Frankenstein: a study – page 2
the romance, the double, the psyche The level of romantic conventionality dips even lower however in those passages which are not much more than a travelogue along the Rhine and through England to … [Read more...]
Frankenstein: a study – page 3
the romance, the double, the psyche Death too, as a convention, is observed without being too much exaggerated, even though there are a total of eight deaths in the story. Frankenstein's mother dies … [Read more...]
Frankenstein: a study – page 4
the romance, the double, the psyche For all the apparent antipathy between the two, Frankenstein feels himself closely linked to this other self. Immediately after his act of creation Frankenstein … [Read more...]
Frankenstein: a study – page 5
the romance, the double, the psyche However, the Frankenstein-Clerval-Monster conjunction immediately suggests yet another step in this interpretation - a reading of the novel based on the classical … [Read more...]
Frankenstein: a study – page 6
the romance, the double, the psyche Immediately the Monster has been created, Frankenstein falls into a guilt-induced dream which wonderfully combines all his sexual anxieties - conscious and … [Read more...]
Late Victorian Gothic Tales
mystery, weirdness, supernatural, and horror For reasons much debated amongst literary historians, there was a revival of the Gothic horror story at the end of the nineteenth century. Within the … [Read more...]
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
short stories of Gothic horror and the macabre Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the name often given to collections of Poe's stories. Edgar Allan Poe is celebrated as the originator of several … [Read more...]
The Island of Doctor Moreau
tutorial, study resources, plot, and web links The Island of Doctor Moreau was first published in 1896 in London by William Heinemann. The novel was successful in England and America, and a French … [Read more...]
The Picture of Dorian Gray
tutorial, commentary, study resources, and web links The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Oscar Wilde's version of the Gothic horror story, has entered popular consciousness even amongst people who have … [Read more...]
The Sandman
tutorial, study guide, web links, and further reading The Sandman was first published in 1817 as one of the stories in a collection called Die Nachtstucke (The Night Pieces) by E.T.A. Hoffmann. He … [Read more...]
Trilby
tutorial, study resources, plot, and web links Trilby was first published in serialised form in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in seven monthly instalments beginning January 1894. As was common … [Read more...]