As a former all-year-round Gothic enthusiast, festivities like Halloween or gloomy October days never fail to thrill my heart. However, why reserve such an exhilarating genre just for certain months of the year, when you can enjoy it all year round?
As much as I understand that the art of reading a book lies not only in the book itself but also in the atmosphere in which it is read, I cannot help but write in defence of reading the Gothic genre throughout the year. The Gothic goes beyond haughty storms and cloudy skies; it also relies on ugly sentiments and, ironically, finding the beauty within those.
The matter is that Gothic has always been so tightly associated with a curated aesthetic that when the long and sunny days arrive, the urge to read the genre decreases. And it does make sense, because aesthetics is a very important part of the Gothic genre, but that does not mean that you cannot enjoy it as much in the months outside of the winter.
One of the things I like the most about reading a Gothic piece during the prohibited days, such as a calm August evening, is that it makes me excited for the winter that is to come. As we all know, the end of the summer is one of the hardest goodbyes of the year, but imagining you are part of a Poe short story seems like the perfect motivation to fight against the winter blues.
Moreover, reading Gothic during the whole year round can help you reach a deeper level of understanding of the genre, detaching yourself from the influence of the ambience and taking a more psychological perspective. For instance, Zweig’s Letter from an Unknown Woman puts the focus not on the obscurity of the atmosphere, but on the obscurity of the protagonist’s mind.
The twisted, the uncanny and the strange are also crucial instances of the Gothic, which are independent from the weather or the season. Summer is a time for reflection and, as far as it might seem to be from what we imagine when
we think of the word “Gothic”, it brings the perfect opportunity for introspection. This genre did not only emerge as a form to praise the coldest of the seasons, but to explore and reflect on the darker corners of the mind. So please, do not let the sunniest of the days stop you from reading the eeriest of the stories.
“Scheldt Gothic” by Carl Graph is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0