Was America the OG of the Gothic?
Student Type
Undergraduate
College Affiliation
College of Arts and Humanities
Department
English
Submission Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
It is widely accepted among literary scholars that the origin of the Gothic is European, specifically, that the Gothic as a literary genre was first conceived by the British writer Horace Walpole with the publication of his 1764 magnum opus, The Castle of Otranto. However, when considering recent research into the origins of the Gothic, specifically the origins of American Gothic literature, a rift in scholarly thought emerges that places the Gothic as a defined genre and literary mode against its derivative history and its more obscure qualities or qualitas occulta. This oral presentation will examine this rift by comparing Horace Walpole's unpublished 1737 poem, Seeds of Poetry and Rhyme, with Puritan American Anne Bradstreet's 1666 poem, The Author to Her Book, ultimately asking the question: was America the OG of the Gothic?
Recommended Citation
Sciandra, Amanda, "Was America the OG of the Gothic?" (2023). 2023 Student Academic Showcase. 2.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/src_2023/Oral_Presentations/Session2/2
Was America the OG of the Gothic?
It is widely accepted among literary scholars that the origin of the Gothic is European, specifically, that the Gothic as a literary genre was first conceived by the British writer Horace Walpole with the publication of his 1764 magnum opus, The Castle of Otranto. However, when considering recent research into the origins of the Gothic, specifically the origins of American Gothic literature, a rift in scholarly thought emerges that places the Gothic as a defined genre and literary mode against its derivative history and its more obscure qualities or qualitas occulta. This oral presentation will examine this rift by comparing Horace Walpole's unpublished 1737 poem, Seeds of Poetry and Rhyme, with Puritan American Anne Bradstreet's 1666 poem, The Author to Her Book, ultimately asking the question: was America the OG of the Gothic?