These works and writers included: Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Then she started to show me works by women authors that she considered to be great writers of that time. She showed me The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis which is considered the face of this genre. The Gothic novel was a perfect piece in this “era puzzle” and it was a time where these authors were able to express their out of the box views.Īfter the NYU Fales Collection tour, I was able to briefly talk to curator Charlotte Priddle about what texts and authors played a part in the Gothic literature era. Some of these included: the French Revolution where identity and social class were drastically changed in favor of everyone who wasn’t seen as royalty Challenging set religious thoughts the rise of the Industrial Revolution The spread of revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment Era. She explained that Gothic works were seen as everything that wasn’t considered the “proper literature.” This genre was starting to cause a stir in the literary world, particularly because it came during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century where things were quickly changing. While visiting the NYU Fales Collection, the curator delved into the Gothic era of literature. The library visit to New York University’s Fales Collection is what gave me the spark for the topic of my final paper. The library trips were an added bonus to my learning experience.

To be honest, I didn’t think that I would find someone’s life so interesting, especially since teachers always gave students the basic facts about the authors’ works we were learning that week. But, we never went in depth as to who he was as an individual and what inspired him to become a writer in the first place.

The only Keats work I was familiar with was “Ode on a Grecian Urn” from a few of my college classes. Before attending this Senior Seminar class, I came in with minimal knowledge about the great John Keats.

Famous authors of gothic literature