Southern Gothic Literature Background Information on writing style

Southern Gothic Literature Background Information on writing style and on Flannery O’Connor

Background • Sub-genre of the Gothic style – Popular in Europe in 1800 s • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley • Dracula by Bram Stoker • Unique to American literature – relies on supernatural, ironic or unusual events to guide the plot – uses these to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

Background • Takes classic Gothic archetypes, such as the monster or the heroic knight, and turns them into American Southerners – a spiteful, reclusive spinster; an uneducated drunk – a quiet, wise lawyer • Most notable feature is the “grotesque” – a character whose negative qualities allow the author to highlight unpleasant aspects in Southern culture. – Something in the town, the house, the farm is bizarre and often falling apart

Defining Feature • Cast of ‘off-kilter’ characters – Broken bodies, minds or souls • Used to symbolize problems created by the established pattern • Used to question established pattern’s morality and ethical justification – The “Innocent” is a common character, who may or may not be “broken, ” but who often acts as a redeemer for others. For example, Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird

Other Specific Features of Southern Gothic LIterature • Freakishness • Outsider • Imprisonment • Violence • Sense of Place

Freakishness • In most southern gothic stories, there is an important character (not always the protagonist nor the antagonist) who is set apart from the world in a negative way by a disability or an odd, and often negative perception of the world.

Outsider • Southern novels are filled with characters who are set a part from the established cultural pattern, but who end up being heroes because their difference allows them to see new ways of doing things that ultimately help to bring people out of the “dark. ”

Imprisonment • This is often both literal and figurative. – Many southern gothic tales include an incident where a character is sent to jail or locked up. – There also Southern gothic characters that live in fate's prison.

Violence • Racial, social and class difference often create underlying tension in Southern gothic novels that threatens, and usually does, erupt in violent ways

Sense of Place • You can’t read a Southern Gothic novel without understanding what a Southern town “feels” like: – old small towns • Houses have front porches with rocking chairs • Old downtown with stately but worn-down buildings

Southern Gothic Novels/Books • To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee): About a young girl growing up in the racist Jim Crow south and her white father, who is a lawyer, defends a black man accused of raping a white woman • In Cold Blood (Capote): Introduced a new genre of literature (non-fiction novel). The book tells the true story of a murdered family and the two men who committed the crime

Southern Gothic Novels/Books • The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner): Fiction novel told from 4 points of view about the deterioration of the Compson family, spanning over a 30 year period. Employs various narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. • Wise Blood (O’Connor): Story of a recently discharged World War II war veteran (Hazel Motes) who returns to his Tennessee home to find it abandoned. From there, he begins to wander around in search of something greater.

Flannery O’Connor • Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. • She studied writing at the University of Iowa and published “The Geranium, ” her first short story, in 1946. • She wrote novels, but was best known for her short story collections. • She died of lupus in 1964 after fighting it for more than 10 years. More detailed Biography: http: //www. biography. com/people/flannery-oconnor -9426760

Flannery O’Connor Short Stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find” http: //pegasus. cc. ucf. edu/ ~surette/goodman. html “Good Country People” http: //plaza. ufl. edu/lacy. ho dges/Good. Country. People. pdf