American Gothic: An Anthology 1787-1916; Editor: Crow, Charles L.; Paperback

Editor: Crow, Charles L.
Blackwell Anthologies; Paperback
496 pages
Published: June 1999
Blackwell Publishers
ISBN: 0631206523

This collection brings together Gothic works by a number of authors, both men and women, black and white, which illuminate many of the deepest concerns and fears of nineteenth-century America. Among the themes in the book are the horror at illness and bodily decay, the mutual mistrust of men and women as gender roles shifted radically, the relationship of humans and machines, the horrorthat may lurk within outwardly normal families, and the tragedy of race relations in America. The collection contains short stories, novellas, and poems by some of America's best-known authors, including Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, and Twain. There is also strong representation of the female and African American Gothic.