American Gothic An Anthology from Salem Witchcraft to H. P. Lovecraft

by Crow, Charles L.

• ISBN13: 9780470659793
• ISBN10: 0470659793
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-12-26
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

American Gothic remains an enduringly fascinating genre, retaining its chilling hold on the imagination. This revised and expanded anthology brings together texts from the colonial era to the twentieth century including recently discovered material, canonical literary contributions from Poe and Wharton among many others, and literature from sub-genres such as feminist and 'wilderness' Gothic. Revised and expanded to incorporate suggestions from twelve years of use in many countries An important text for students of the expanding field of Gothic studies Strong representation of female Gothic, wilderness Gothic, the Gothic of race, and the legacy of Salem witchcraft Edited by a founding member of the International Gothic Association

Author Biography

Charles L. Crow is Professor Emeritus of English at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, USA, and has been a visiting scholar or lecturer at universities in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, and Croatia. He edited the first edition of this volume for Blackwell in 1999 and has written monographs and articles on several nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writers. A founding member of the International Gothic Association, he is also editor of A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America (Wiley-Blackwell, 2003), and co-editor of two other books.

Table of Contents

List of Authors x

Chronology xi

Thematic Table of Contents xv

Preface to the Second Edition xxviii

Editorial Principles xxix

Acknowledgments xxx

Introduction 1

Cotton Mather (1663–1728) 3

“The Tryal of G. B.” 4

“The Trial of Martha Carrier” 8

A Notable Exploit; wherein , Dux Faemina Facti [The Narrative of Hannah Dustan] 10

“ Abraham Panther” 12

A surprising account of the Discovery of a Lady … 12

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735–1813) 16

from Letters from an American Farmer : “Letter IX” 16

Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810) 24

“Somnambulism: A Fragment” 24

Washington Irving (1783–1859) 36

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 36

John Neal (1793–1876) 55

“Idiosyncrasies” 55

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) 73

“Alice Doane ’ s Appeal” 74

“Young Goodman Brown” 80

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) 89

“The Skeleton in Armor” 89

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) 94

“Hop-Frog” 94

“The Cask of Amontillado” 100

“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” 104

“The Fall of the House of Usher” 110

Five Poems 121

“The Raven” 121

“The City in the Sea” 124

“Ulalume” 125

“Annabel Lee” 127

“Dream-Land” 128

Herman Melville (1819–1891) 131

“The Bell-Tower” 131

George Lippard (1822–1854) 141

from The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall 141

Henry Clay Lewis (1825–1850) 146

“A Struggle for Life” 146

Rose Terry Cooke (1827–1892) 152

“My Visitation” 152

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) 164

Eight Poems 164

F 43 “Through lane it lay – thro’ bramble –” 164

F 340 “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” 165

F 341 “ ’ Tis so appalling – it exhilarates –” 165

F 360 “The Soul has Bandaged moments –” 166

F 407 “One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –” 166

F 425 “ ’ Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch” 167

F 431 “If I may have it, when it ’ s dead,” 167

F 1433 “What mystery pervades a well!” 168

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) 170

“A Whisper in the Dark” 170

Harriet Prescott Spofford (1835–1921) 194

“Her Story” 194

“Circumstance” 206

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) 215

“An Inhabitant of Carcosa” 215

“The Death of Halpin Frayser” 217

Henry James (1843–1916) 227

The Turn of the Screw 227

George Washington Cable (1844–1925) 290

“Jean-Ah Poquelin” 290

Madeline Yale Wynne (1847–1918) 304

“The Little Room” 304

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) 312

“The Foreigner” 312

Kate Chopin (1851–1904) 328

“Désirée ’ s Baby” 328

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930) 333

“Old Woman Magoun” 333

“Luella Miller” 344

Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) 353

“The Bell in the Fog” 353

Anonymous (Folk Tale) 367

“Talking Bones” 367

Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) 368

“The Dumb Witness” 369

“The Sheriff ’ s Children” 376

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) 387

“The Giant Wisteria” 387

“The Yellow Wall-Paper” 392

Elia Wilkinson Peattie (1862–1935) 403

“The House That Was Not” 403

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) 406

“The Eyes” 406

Robert W. Chambers (1865–1933) 419

“In the Court of the Dragon” 419

Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) 425

Two Poems 425

“Nancy Knapp” 425

“Barry Holden” 425

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1868–1935) 427

Six Poems 427

“Luke Havergal” 427

“Lisette and Eileen” 428

“The Dark House” 429

“The Mill” 430

“Souvenir” 431

“Why He Was There” 431

Frank Norris (1870–1902) 432

“Lauth” 432

Stephen Crane (1871–1900) 449

“The Monster” 449

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) 483

“The Lynching of Jube Benson” 483

Alexander Posey (1873–1908) 488

“Chinnubbie and the Owl” 488

Jack London (1876–1916) 492

“Samuel” 492

H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft (1890–1937) 505

“The Outsider” 505

Select Bibliography 510

Index of Titles and First Lines 513

Index to the Introductions and Footnotes 515