Shadows and Secrets
The Gothic is the shadow self of the Enlightenment. Where reason seeks to explain, the Gothic seeks to terrify. It is a genre of crumbling castles, family curses, and buried secrets, exploring the irrational forces that lurk beneath the surface of civilized life.
But the Gothic is not just about scares; it is about the sublime—the feeling of awe and terror we feel in the face of something greater than ourselves. From Wuthering Heights to Frankenstein, these stories remind us that the world is full of mysteries that science cannot explain, and that the past is never truly dead.
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
A love story closer to a horror story. On the savage, wind-battered moors of Yorkshire, the foundling Heathcliff and the wild Catherine Earnshaw share a bond that is primal, violent, and utterly destructive. When they are separated by class and circumstance—Catherine marries the wealthy Edgar Linton—Heathcliff sets out on a path of cold-blooded revenge. The novel spans two generations, showing how Heathcliff's bitterness poisons everyone around him. It is a radical departure from the polite Victorian novels of its time, featuring characters who are cruel, selfish, and driven by raw emotion. It challenges the idea that love is always a force for good, suggesting it can also be a haunting and a possession.