American Gothic

American Gothic remains an enduringly fascinating genre, retainingits chilling hold on the imagination. This revised and expandedanthology brings together texts from the colonial era to thetwentieth century including recently discovered material, canonicalliterary contributions from Poe and Wharton among many others, andliterature from sub-genres such as feminist and'wilderness' Gothic.* Revised and expanded to incorporate suggestions from twelveyears of use in many countries* An important text for students of the expanding field of Gothicstudies* Strong representation of female Gothic, wilderness Gothic, theGothic of race, and the legacy of Salem witchcraft* Edited by a founding member of the International GothicAssociation

List of Authors x

Chronology xi

Thematic Table of Contents xv

Preface to the Second Edition xxviii

Editorial Principles xxix

Acknowledgments xxx

Introduction 1

Cotton Mather (16631728) 3

The Tryal of G. B. 4

The Trial of Martha Carrier 8

A Notable Exploit; wherein, Dux Faemina Facti [The Narrative of Hannah Dustan] 10

Abraham Panther 12

A surprising account of the Discovery of a Lady 12

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (17351813) 16

fromLetters from an American Farmer: Letter IX 16

Charles Brockden Brown (17711810) 24

Somnambulism: A Fragment 24

Washington Irving (17831859) 36

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 36

John Neal (17931876) 55

Idiosyncrasies 55

Nathaniel Hawthorne (18041864) 73

Alice Doanes Appeal 74

Young Goodman Brown 80

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (18071882) 89

The Skeleton in Armor 89

Edgar Allan Poe (18091849) 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 110

Five Poems 121

The Raven 121

The City in the Sea 124

Ulalume 125

Annabel Lee 127

Dream-Land 128

Herman Melville (18191891) 131

The Bell-Tower 131

George Lippard (18221854) 141

fromThe Quaker City; or, The Monks of Monk Hall141

Henry Clay Lewis (18251850) 146

A Struggle for Life 146

Rose Terry Cooke (18271892) 152

My Visitation 152

Emily Dickinson (18301886) 164

Eight Poems 164

F 43 Through lane it lay thro bramble 164

F 340 I felt a Funeral, in my Brain 165

F 341 Tis so appalling it exhilarates 165

F 360 The Soul has Bandaged moments 166

F 407 One need not be a Chamber to be Haunted 166

F 425 Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch 167

F 431 If I may have it, when its dead, 167

F 1433 What mystery pervades a well! 168

Louisa May Alcott (18321888) 170

A Whisper in the Dark 170

Harriet Prescott Spofford (18351921) 194

Her Story 194

Circumstance 206

Ambrose Bierce (18421914?) 215

An Inhabitant of Carcosa 215

The Death of Halpin Frayser 217

Henry James (18431916) 227

The Turn of the Screw227

George Washington Cable (18441925) 290

Jean-Ah Poquelin 290

Madeline Yale Wynne (18471918) 304

The Little Room 304

Sarah Orne Jewett (18491909) 312

The Foreigner 312

Kate Chopin (18511904) 328

Désirées Baby 328

Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (18521930) 333

Old Woman Magoun 333
Luella Miller 344

Gertrude Atherton (18571948) 353

The Bell in the Fog 353

Anonymous (Folk Tale) 367

Talking Bones 367

Charles W. Chesnutt (18581932) 368

The Dumb Witness 369
The Sheriffs Children 376

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (18601935) 387

The Giant Wisteria 387
The Yellow Wall-Paper 392

Elia Wilkinson Peattie (18621935) 403

The House That Was Not 403

Edith Wharton (18621937) 406

The Eyes 406

Robert W. Chambers (18651933) 419

In the Court of the Dragon 419

Edgar Lee Masters (18681950) 425

Two Poems 425

Nancy Knapp 425
Barry Holden 425

Edwin Arlington Robinson (18681935) 427

Six Poems 427

Luke Havergal 427
Lisette and Eileen 428
The Dark House 429
The Mill 430
Souvenir 431
Why He Was There 431

Frank Norris (18701902) 432

Lauth 432

Stephen Crane (18711900) 449

The Monster 449

Paul Laurence Dunbar (18721906) 483

The Lynching of Jube Benson 483

Alexander Posey (18731908) 488

Chinnubbie and the Owl 488

Jack London (18761916) 492

Samuel 492

H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft (18901937) 505

The Outsider 505

Select Bibliography 510

Index of Titles and First Lines 513

Index to the Introductions and Footnotes 515

American Gothic remains an enduringly fascinating genre, retaining its chilling hold on the imagination. This revised and expanded anthology brings together texts from the colonial era to the twentieth century including recently discovered material, canonical literary contributions from Poe and Wharton among many others, and literature from sub-genres such as feminist and 'wilderness' Gothic.

Revised and expanded to incorporate suggestions from twelve years of use in many countries
An important text for students of the expanding field of Gothic studies
Strong representation of female Gothic, wilderness Gothic, the Gothic of race, and the legacy of Salem witchcraft
Edited by a founding member of the International Gothic Association

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).