S-Town : A Contemporary Piece Of Southern Gothic Literature

Southern Gothic literature, which is a sub-genre of the Gothic writing style, is unique to the American South. Southern Gothic literature has many of the same aspects as Gothic literature; it focuses on topics such as death, madness, and the super natural as well has having many mystical, bizarre, violent, and grotesque aspects. These tools are used "to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South (Wikipedia)."

The American Gothic Genre, which focuses on the paranormal aspects of life, began in the 1700s and is still used today. Kelly Link is the author of “The Specialist’s Hat”, and the author of many literary collections. She's received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and has co-edited a number of anthologies. She uses imagery, intimidating diction, and literary devices to convey the emotion and theme of snakes, hollowness, and death in this story.

Consolidate that with a southern setting and we understand that it's not quite Gothic, but rather Southern Gothic. The Southern Gothic kind concentrations – now and again inconspicuously, now and again clearly – on servitude, or the fallout of subjugation in the South. You can see this in "A Rose for Emily."

popular at the time. The elements of a Gothic novel are, it is set at

Gothic literature has been criticized as being a dreary, dark, and death-involving subset of Romanticism (a literary movement accentuating human individuality, imagination, and subjectivity). In addition, gothic lit incorporates several themes- not all about deathly acts - but includes some emotional and surprising themes such as dreams, nightmares, or hallucinations, and grotesque or bizarre occurrences. Two short stories, both written by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled “The Raven,” and “The Black Cat,” as well as the novel The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, all encompass these gothic elements, found throughout each story.

Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writes with violent characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight.

Southern Gothic literature is a sub-genre of the Gothic writing style. It is unique to Southern America. Southern gothic style is a style of writing that engages very ugly and ironic events to study the value of the American south and its people. In this essay, I’m going to go over each story and give some details about the authors and their backgrounds. On one page, I will be comparing and contrasting all three stories. I will show how they’re similar through tone, plot, and scene in the story. And at the end, I am going to describe the three stories; “A Rose for Emilycomma inside quotes”, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, and “Sanctuary”. Period inside quotes All of these short stories are good examples of southern gothic writing, because

Southern Gothic literature has been a popular literary genre since the early 19th century and that popularity continues today. Southern Gothic cannot be defined in one sentence, as it has

S-Town contains some characteristics of southern gothic literature, like irony. The irony in southern gothic literature is a big part of the whole thing. During the podcast, we encounter a lot of irony. An example that catches my eye is the ironic statement that John makes about people having piercings and tattoos, when he has both of those. John states “ Whoever has piercings or tattoos are dumb, worthless crackheads.” It's ironic that John talks about this, because he has both of them and a lot of them too. Irony is heard so much in the podcast about people talking about other people. Kendall bought John’s land, and John was trying to get his son imprisoned. Kendall is going to tear the house down and use the land. Irony is one of the most used characteristics. Violence is another main characteristic in southern gothic literature. There is a lot of Violence that happens in

Race and gender roles were an ever present issue in the Southern culture and dynamic. After the Civil War, dramatic changes began to take place in the South. Political leaders began to enact Civil Rights amendments, industrialization became more popular, and gender roles were beginning to be indistinct. In Southern literature, the portrayal of female characters evolved along side with the Southern culture. Female characters became more independent, strong-willed, and hardworking. Even African Americans became the main characters in Southern literature. In “Caroline Gordon’s Ghosts: The Women on the Porch as Southern Gothic Literature”, Tanfer Tunc discusses the evolution of the female character in Southern literature.

Throughout the course of history, literature has gone through considerable changes. Dating back to its humble beginnings in folklore, fables, and storytelling all the way up to the scientific books and dramatic novels of today. Literature is arguably the centerpiece of all mankind. It is useful for record keeping, education, and bringing cultures and societies together. It has allowed us to expand our minds by painting a picture of the beautiful places this world has to offer outside of our corners of the earth. One genre of literature I find especially intriguing is Southern Gothic Literature. It is a subclass of gothic fiction, specifically set

First, to begin by discussing what Southern Gothic is. “Southern Gothic is a mode or genre prevalent in literature from the early 19th century to this day. Characteristics of Southern Gothic include the presence of irrational, horrific, and transgressive thoughts, desires, and impulses; grotesque characters; dark, humor, and overall angst-ridden sense of alliteration” (Bjerre). Faulkner is widely known for his grotesque descriptions of Yoknapatawpha County and character description.

The term gothic fiction implies a British literary genre from the late eighteenth, and early nineteenth century. The modernized term seems to have been generalized into anything that is dark, gloomy, or depressing. Gothic novels often time posses an emphasis on portraying the terror, a prominent use of supernatural circumstances, the presence of highly stereotyped characters, and the attempt to display techniques of literary suspense. There are also other parallels among this vastly popular genre. Gothic novels often time describe the city of London in corresponding ways. Also a common theme amongst gothic literary works is the duality of human nature, or the quality or characteristic of being twofold. These mutual themes are apparent in

The author uses the town as a symbol of the new South by utilizing the historical context, the overall thematic elements as well as the characterization of the protagonist.

As Brian and John B. Mclemore walk through the maze John had built himself, John exclaims “It’s kind of funny being lost in something you designed yourself.” This ironic statement perfectly describes the life of John in this piece of southern gothic literature. The story of John’s eccentric life is told spectacularly told by Brian Reed in Stown. Stown’s southern setting and values makes it a piece of southern gothic literature, but Stown goes further and relates to today making it more contemporary. S-town is a contemporary piece of southern gothic literature because of the social issues, decay, and irony it presents throughout.