Shushwishwin

Gothic Kindness

Wednesday, 30th July

I have been thinking about a genre which I would love to see more of: Gothic Kindness. Here follow descriptions of the themes of several books, which you will only find a spoiler if you are very spoiler-allergic.

Gothic Kindness - I came across this idea when a friend read one of my favourite books, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. They wanted to read more books like Piranesi, and so I started hunting around the flooded vestibules of my memory for ideas.

The key qualities of Piranesi are: the all-permeating presence of the House, the innocence and kindness of the protagonist, and the degree to which we inhabit their mind.

The first and last make me think of gothic literature - which for me means Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Titus Groan, The Woman in Black and works which heavily feature the presence of the past in the present, as a sometimes foreboding, sometimes benevolent ‘character’ in the story (in Piranesi, the House is benevolent - “its kindness infinite” in fact). In short, in gothic literature, the ‘atmosphere’ itself is characterised. Gothic literature is also interested in a character’s psychology, their thoughts and explanations of the world, which may be very different to the objective reality of the situation but are the only avenue we have to explore the world.

The last characteristic of Piranesi, the kindness and innocence of the protagonist, is not a particularly gothic trait by itself. But it is shared by several other books in similar ways. Fortress in the Eye of Time, the Singing Hills series (beginning with Empress of Salt and Fortune) and The Goblin Emperor all follow kind protagonists through challenging circumstances.

The combination of these two genres into Gothic Kindness makes a neat little subgenre, the clearest other example of which is Nona the Ninth.

I’m on the look out for more!.