Table Of ContentJourneys	into	Darkness
Studies	in	Supernatural	Literature
Series	Editor:	S.	T.	Joshi
Titles	in	the	Series
Lovecraft	and	Influence:	His	Predecessors	and	Successors,	edited	by	Robert	H.
Waugh,	2013
Lord	 Dunsany,	 H.	 P.	 Lovecraft,	 and	 Ray	 Bradbury:	 Spectral	 Journeys,	 by
William	F.	Touponce,	2013
Critical	Essays	on	Lord	Dunsany,	edited	by	S.	T.	Joshi,	2013
Ramsey	Campbell:	Critical	Essays	on	the	Modern	Master	of	Horror,	edited	by
Gary	William	Crawford,	2014
Lord	Dunsany:	A	Comprehensive	Bibliography,	Second	Edition,	by	S.	T.	Joshi
and	Darrell	Schweitzer,	2014
Journeys	 into	 Darkness:	 Critical	 Essays	 on	 Gothic	 Horror,	 by	 James	 Goho,
2014
Journeys	into	Darkness
Critical	Essays	on	Gothic	Horror
James	Goho
	
	
	
	
	
ROWMAN	&	LITTLEFIELD
Lanham	•	Boulder	•	New	York	•	Toronto	•	Plymouth,	UK
Published	by	Rowman	&	Littlefield
4501	Forbes	Boulevard,	Suite	200,	Lanham,	Maryland	20706
www.rowman.com
	
10	Thornbury	Road,	Plymouth	PL6	7PP,	United	Kingdom
	
Copyright	©	2014	by	Rowman	&	Littlefield
	
All	rights	reserved.	No	part	of	this	book	may	be	reproduced	in	any	form	or	by	any	electronic	or
mechanical	means,	including	information	storage	and	retrieval	systems,	without	written	permission
from	the	publisher,	except	by	a	reviewer	who	may	quote	passages	in	a	review.
	
British	Library	Cataloguing	in	Publication	Information	Available
	
Library	of	Congress	Cataloging-in-Publication	Data
Goho,	James,	1946-author.
Journeys	into	darkness	:	critical	essays	on	gothic	horror	/	James	Goho.
pages	cm.	--	(Studies	in	Supernatural	Literature)
Includes	bibliographical	references	and	index.
ISBN	978-1-4422-3145-0	(cloth	:	alk.	paper)	--	ISBN	978-1-4422-3146-7	(electronic)
1.	Horror	tales,	American--History	and	criticism.	2.	Horror	tales,	English--History	and	criticism.	3.
Gothic	fiction	(Literary	genre),	American--History	and	criticism.	4.	Gothic	fiction	(Literary	genre),
English--History	and	criticism.	I.	Title.
PS374.H67G64	2014
813'.0873809--dc23
2013043655
	
TM
	 	The	paper	used	in	this	publication	meets	the	minimum	requirements	of	American	National
Standard	for	Information	Sciences	Permanence	of	Paper	for	Printed	Library	Materials,	ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992.
	
Printed	in	the	United	States	of	America
For	Pam
	
	
“Who	ever	lov’d,	that	lov’d	not	at	first	sight?”
Christopher	Marlowe,	Hero	and	Leander,	176
Acknowledgments
	
I	want	to	thank	the	people	who	generously	gave	their	time	or	counsel	on
this	 book.	 S.	 T.	 Joshi	 encouraged	 me	 to	 prepare	 the	 manuscript.	 He	 is	 a
continuing	source	of	wisdom	on	Gothic	matters.	I	cannot	say	thanks	enough	to
him.	Several	of	the	chapters	in	this	book	are	revised	from	articles	published	in
journals	edited	by	Mr.	Joshi.	I	also	want	to	thank	Jason	V.	Brock	for	his	kind
comments	on	and	publishing	of	one	of	the	essays.	Thanks	also	to	Jared	Waters,
of	the	wonderful	Centipede	Press,	for	publishing	two	of	the	essays.	And	thanks
to	 Derrek	 Hussey	 of	 Hippocampus	 Press	 for	 publishing	 my	 essays	 on	 H.	 P.
Lovecraft.	 The	 Winnipeg	 Millennium	 Library	 was	 instrumental	 in	 obtaining
copies	of	difficult-to-access	references	through	interlibrary	loans.	Jill	Pascoe	and
Shaun	 Goho	 read	 the	 manuscript	 and	 provided	 valuable	 suggestions.	 Special
thanks	to	both	for	their	contributions.	It	is	a	much	better	book	due	to	their	help.
Any	errors	or	flaws	in	the	book	are	mine	alone.	Of	course,	the	real	source	of	any
inspiration	there	may	be	in	this	book	is	the	Gothic	authors;	they	are	the	creative
source.	And	deepest	thanks	to	Pam,	who	is	always	magical,	for	her	countless
hours	helping	on	this	book.
The	publishing	history	of	the	original	essays	follows:
“The	 Haunted	 Wood:	 Algernon	 Blackwood’s	 Canadian	 Stories.”	 Weird
Fiction	Review	no.	4	(2013).
“‘The	Outsider’:	A	Sequel	to	‘The	Fall	of	the	House	of	Usher’?”	Nameless
Digest	1,	no.	1	(2012):	99–115.
“Suffering	and	Evil	in	the	Short	Fiction	of	Arthur	Machen.”	Weird	Fiction
Review	no.	3	(2013):	57–84.
“The	Aboriginal	in	the	Works	of	H.	P.	Lovecraft.”	Lovecraft	Annual	no.	6
(2012):	54–75.
“What	 Is	 ‘the	 Unnamable’?	 H.	 P.	 Lovecraft	 and	 the	 Problem	 of	 Evil.”
Lovecraft	Annual	no.	3	(2009):	10–52.
“The	Sickness	unto	Death	in	H.	P.	Lovecraft’s	‘The	Hound.’”	Lovecraft
Annual	no.	2	(2008):	88–103.
Introduction
Literature	tells	the	stories	of	a	people,	but	Gothic	literature	tells	the	hidden
stories	of	a	people.	Hidden	because	they	tell	darkly	of	dark	things.[1]	They	look
underneath	beds,	go	into	attics,	wander	through	graveyards,	and	go	deep	down
into	cellars	and	caves.	There	is	darkness	in	Gothic	tales,	the	darkness	of	a	forest,
or	a	city,	or	in	our	houses,	and	in	our	heads.	We	are	all	afraid	of	the	dark.	The
Gothic	tells	what	terrifies	people.
This	book	explores	Gothic	horror	through	the	lenses	of	recognized	masters
in	that	literary	genre.	Charles	Brockden	Brown	is	the	earliest	American	Gothic
writer.	His	novels	carved	out	a	unique	American	Gothic	and	his	themes	and
images	 are	 still	 found	 in	 recent	 horror	 fiction	 and	 film.	 There	 is	 something
startlingly	new	in	Brown;	he	unearths	lasting	American	Gothic	archetypes:	the
dark	 forest,	 a	 city	 ravaged	 by	 disease,	 the	 indigenous	 peoples	 as	 Gothic
monsters,	and	the	violence	found	in	ordinary	home	settings.	Edgar	Allan	Poe	is
the	foremost	Gothic	short	story	artist.	His	stories	repeatedly	broke	new	ground
and	initiated	new	narrative	readings.	In	this	book,	Poe’s	“The	Fall	of	the	House
of	Usher,”	the	greatest	of	all	haunted	house	stories,	is	hypothesized	to	be	the
precursor	of	one	of	H.	P.	Lovecraft’s	signature	stories,	“The	Outsider.”	It	seems
that	horror	does	breed	its	own	offspring.	Lovecraft	is	the	twentieth	century’s
Gothic	 master.	 He	 is	 the	 inspiration	 for	 so	 many	 horror	 writers.	 This	 book
studies	 Lovecraft’s	 “The	 Hound”	 in	 depth	 from	 the	 perspective	 of	 Søren
Kierkegaard’s	The	Sickness	unto	Death.	As	well,	Lovecraft’s	use	of	the	image	of
the	aboriginal	is	traced	across	his	fiction	to	reveal	the	centrality	of	it	in	his	body
of	 work.	 A	 third	 chapter	 on	 Lovecraft	 focuses	 on	 his	 keystone	 story,	 “The
Unnamable.”	It	is	a	fictionalized	treatise	on	the	art	of	horror	narrative.	But	more
so,	it	contains	clues	to	guide	us	deep	into	the	caverns	of	Lovecraft’s	ruminations
on	the	problem	of	evil.	In	the	Arthur	Machen	chapter,	suffering	and	evil	is	the
guiding	principle	in	my	review	of	four	of	his	greatest	stories,	written	in	the
1890s.	 The	 stories	 reveal	 the	 darkness	 shrouding	 the	 fin	 de	 siècle	 of	 the
nineteenth	century	in	England.
The	forest	is	a	dark	place,	but	one	also	of	solace	for	Algernon	Blackwood.
Here	 his	 Canadian	 stories	 are	 surveyed	 to	 understand	 their	 influence	 on	 his
fiction	writing	and	how	the	wood	can	be	seen	as	both	dangerous	and	full	of	awe.
Many	of	Ambrose	Bierce’s	stories	take	place	in	a	forest.	His	American	Civil
War	stories	often	show	armies	and	individuals	in	woods,	separated	by	an	open
field.	Bierce	is	a	keystone	author	within	the	Gothic	horror	tradition	and	a	master
of	the	short	story	form.	He	is	the	foremost	writer	about	war	and	its	effects	on
individuals.	But	he	writes	of	the	agony	of	individuals	in	crisis	and	chaos	both	in
war	and	in	peace.
The	original	Gothic	arose	as	a	sort	of	scream	against	the	ruling	order.	It	was
a	critique	of	a	decadent	society,	reigned	over	by	despotic	royals,	and	lorded	over
by	a	hypocritical	clergy.	The	prisons	and	hideous	tortures	of	the	Inquisition	were
real;	the	ravine	between	the	rich	and	poor	was	unbridgeable.	The	traditional
European	Gothic	can	be	thought	of	as	an	expression	of	rebellion	against	perverse
power.	It	illuminated	a	decadent	social	edifice	for	what	it	really	was:	violent	in
enforcing	 a	 rigid	 social	 order,	 and	 oppressive	 against	 the	 poor,	 women,	 and
outsiders.	And	more,	there	is	a	deep	dread	in	the	Gothic,	a	terror	in	the	soul,	as
Poe	would	say,	of	an	ultimate	void.	No	name	can	be	given	to	real	dread.	Great
Gothic	gives	readers	an	experience	of	an	unexplainable	dread.
The	American	Gothic	is	different	from	the	European	in	its	topography,	with
the	 wilderness	 and	 frontier	 as	 Gothic	 spaces,	 and	 the	 indigenous	 peoples	 of
America	 transformed	 into	 Gothic	 monsters.	 Slavery	 as	 well	 is	 part	 of	 the
darkness	at	the	heart	of	the	American	Gothic.	Another	recurring	image	is	the
witch,	rising	up	from	the	1692	Salem	horror.	The	penultimate	chapter	traces	the
witch	archetype	from	Salem	through	recent	American	films.	The	book	concludes
with	a	survey	of	Fritz	Leiber’s	urban	Gothic.	He	reanimated	the	Gothic	by	taking
horror	into	ordinary	settings,	especially	the	modern	city,	which	seems	to	spawn
its	own	terror.	A	city	not	only	will	break	your	heart;	a	city	will	cut	your	throat.
His	 works	 are	 also	 a	 sociological	 critique	 of	 aspects	 of	 modern	 life	 in	 a
mechanized	and	marketing-focused	society.	But	underneath	it	all,	Leiber	writes
about	the	fragility	of	humans	in	a	cosmos	of	indifference	at	best	and	perhaps	of
fierce	 hostility.	 Not	 only	 does	 Leiber	 speak	 to	 urban	 social	 anxieties	 and
despairs,	he	triggers	our	fundamental	dread.
There	are	several	themes	woven	throughout	the	essays.	One	is	the	urban
Gothic,	 starting	 with	 Brown,	 seen	 in	 Machen	 and	 Lovecraft,	 and	 realized	 in
Leiber;	 another	 is	 the	 wilderness	 as	 a	 dangerous	 Gothic	 space	 in	 Brown,
Lovecraft,	 and	 Algernon	 Blackwood.	 A	 third	 theme	 is	 understanding	 Gothic
literature,	in	part,	as	a	manifestation	of	economic,	social,	and	political	anxieties
and	conflicts,	which	is	found	in	Brown,	Bierce,	and	Leiber	most	explicitly.	A
fourth	notion	is	Gothic	horror	as	giving	a	voice	to	those	who	suffer,	those	who
experience	evil.	This	stands	out	in	Brown’s	Wieland	and	Arthur	Mervyn,	and
Description:The tradition of supernatural horror fiction runs deep in Anglo-American literature. From the Gothic novels of the eighteenth century to such contemporary authors as Stephen King and Anne Rice, writers have employed horror fiction to unearth many disquieting truths about the human condition, ranging