The Crimsoned Hills of Onondaga: Romantic Antiquarians and the Eu ...

The gothic novel was influential in the creation of other narrative modes still wildly popular today, including science fiction, romance, and detective stories. At the core of the original gothic formula is a narrative of pursuit. A heroine is chased by some representative figure of evil through a ruined castle (subterranean vaults and passages are favorite haunts). A hero usually intercedes and saves her. Writers quickly began producing ingenious variations in fiction; they invented strange new hybrids by combining the gothic with other available forms, which led to a process of rapid evolution that, nearly 250 years later, shows no evidence of slowing or exhaustion.

Especially in Britain, gothic novels were considered vulgar and associated with the lower socials orders, libertines, and the debauched. Evolving in the modern world, the gothic mode fared better, attracting fans in the arenas of both elite and popular culture. Indeed, it has been a significant force in melding these opposing camps. The mode’s presence in Romantic Antiquarian writing at least partially accounts for the popularity of (ostensibly) nonfiction about antiquities. Demonstrating its adaptability, some antiquarian-gothic elements were absorbed seamlessly into the formal discourse of modern archaeology while mainstream Romantic features were discarded. As critics said from the start, the gothic mode appeals to the senses and emotions rather than intellect and reason. Art that functions on this level can serve as a beneficial tool in a propagandist’s hands, and critics have also long recognized that gothic fiction has been used to advance political and social agendas, a topic that will be explored further in the chapters ahead.