American Gothic

Charles L. Crow is Professor Emeritus of English at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, USA, and has been a visiting scholar or lecturer at universities in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, and Croatia. He edited the first edition of this volume for Blackwell in 1999 and has written monographs and articles on several nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writers. A founding member of the International Gothic Association, he is also editor of A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America (Wiley-Blackwell, 2003).

“This excellent anthology provides an entertaining collection of gothic works of various genres written by both canonical authors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe, and less familiar American writers, such as Harriet Prescot Spofford and Ella Wilkinson Peattie ... Summing Up: Recommended.  Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.”  (Choice, 1 January 2014)“One of the main strengths of this collection lies in  the fact that it places alongside the intelligent selection of extracts from authors already rightly well associated with the genre contributions from lesser known  figures such as George Lippard. John Neal, Charles W. Chestnutt, and Cotton Mather, to name but a few. The edition also benefits greatly from a much greater acknowledgement of the traditionally underlooked contributions to the genre made by female authors… The anthology's thoughtful selection of texts and authors, and useful, practical, scholarly apparatus mean that it should be an immensely useful resource for anyone teaching on courses related to this ever-expanding and influential subsection of American literary studies.”—Bernice Murphy, Trinity College Dublin

• List of Authors xChronology xiThematic Table of Contents xvPreface to the Second Edition xxviiiEditorial Principles xxixAcknowledgments xxxIntroduction 1Cotton Mather (1663–1728) 3“The Tryal of G. B.” 4“The Trial of Martha Carrier” 8A Notable Exploit; wherein , Dux Faemina Facti [The Narrative of Hannah Dustan] 10“ Abraham Panther” 12A surprising account of the Discovery of a Lady … 12J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735–1813) 16from Letters from an American Farmer : “Letter IX” 16Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810) 24“Somnambulism: A Fragment” 24Washington Irving (1783–1859) 36“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 36John Neal (1793–1876) 55“Idiosyncrasies” 55Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) 73“Alice Doane ’ s Appeal” 74“Young Goodman Brown” 80Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) 89“The Skeleton in Armor” 89Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) 94“Hop-Frog” 94“The Cask of Amontillado” 100“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” 104“The Fall of the House of Usher” 110Five Poems 121“The Raven” 121“The City in the Sea” 124“Ulalume” 125“Annabel Lee” 127“Dream-Land” 128Herman Melville (1819–1891) 131“The Bell-Tower” 131George Lippard (1822–1854) 141from The Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall 141Henry Clay Lewis (1825–1850) 146“A Struggle for Life” 146Rose Terry Cooke (1827–1892) 152“My Visitation” 152Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) 164Eight Poems 164F 43 “Through lane it lay – thro’ bramble –” 164F 340 “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” 165F 341 “’ Tis so appalling – it exhilarates –” 165F 360 “The Soul has Bandaged moments –” 166F 407 “One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –” 166F 425 “’ Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch” 167F 431 “If I may have it, when it ’ s dead,” 167F 1433 “What mystery pervades a well!” 168Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) 170“A Whisper in the Dark” 170Harriet Prescott Spofford (1835–1921) 194“Her Story” 194“Circumstance” 206Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?) 215“An Inhabitant of Carcosa” 215“The Death of Halpin Frayser” 217Henry James (1843–1916) 227The Turn of the Screw 227George Washington Cable (1844–1925) 290“Jean-Ah Poquelin” 290Madeline Yale Wynne (1847–1918) 304“The Little Room” 304Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) 312“The Foreigner” 312Kate Chopin (1851–1904) 328“Désirée ’ s Baby” 328Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930) 333“Old Woman Magoun” 333“Luella Miller” 344Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) 353“The Bell in the Fog” 353Anonymous (Folk Tale) 367“Talking Bones” 367Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) 368“The Dumb Witness” 369“The Sheriff ’ s Children” 376Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) 387“The Giant Wisteria” 387“The Yellow Wall-Paper” 392Elia Wilkinson Peattie (1862–1935) 403“The House That Was Not” 403Edith Wharton (1862–1937) 406“The Eyes” 406Robert W. Chambers (1865–1933) 419“In the Court of the Dragon” 419Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) 425Two Poems 425“Nancy Knapp” 425“Barry Holden” 425Edwin Arlington Robinson (1868–1935) 427Six Poems 427“Luke Havergal” 427“Lisette and Eileen” 428“The Dark House” 429“The Mill” 430“Souvenir” 431“Why He Was There” 431Frank Norris (1870–1902) 432“Lauth” 432Stephen Crane (1871–1900) 449“The Monster” 449Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) 483“The Lynching of Jube Benson” 483Alexander Posey (1873–1908) 488“Chinnubbie and the Owl” 488Jack London (1876–1916) 492“Samuel” 492H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft (1890–1937) 505“The Outsider” 505Select Bibliography 510Index of Titles and First Lines 513Index to the Introductions and Footnotes 515