Through the Pale Door: A Guide to and through the American Gothic

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Through the Pale Door is a bibliographical guide to the primary sources and central texts of American Gothic literature. It surveys and defines the Gothic achievements of approximately 200 American writers who were working in and were influenced by various modes of Gothicism from 1798 to 1982. The book collects, selects, identifies, and classifies all specimens of American Gothic literary activity from its initial expression at the end of the 18th century in the novels of Charles Brockden Brown, to the writings of the modern masters such as H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, and Stephen King. The historical introduction explains and emphasizes those special characteristics, tendencies, and directions taken by the shapers of an American Gothic tradition which made it different from the British model form. The core bibliography brings together 509 entries selected to suggest the development and variety of American Gothic endeavor in both its popular and more serious manifestations. Each item in the bibliography is analytic and critical as well as synoptic in its substance with each item assigned a single number for instantaneous referencing and cross-referencing. An appendix citing the important secondary studies of American Gothicism and three indexes, an author-and-title index and an index of critics and subjects, are provided to enhance the researcher's task and to give immediate access to all of the materials of Through the Pale Door. This book is suitable for any library and can be read in its entirety by general students as a bibliographical chronicle of the American Gothic movement.

Reviews

"It is the compiler's belief as expressed in the detailed introduction that the gothic novel as practiced in America rapidly diverge[d] from the European model just as our country had broken away from England.' Frank states that the American gothic reflects a unity of mood and theme.' To this end he has brought together some 509 titles ranging from the work of Charles Brockden Brown to Stephen King. There are a great many familiar and to-be-expected names included (Poe, Hawthorne, Shirley Jackson) and there are somewhat unexpected entries, e.g., Moby Dick. (Although no one will ever claim that Robert E. Howard is anything more than a genre author, a closer reading of his work would have included a far more appropriate novella, Pigeons from Hell, one that more comfortably fits into the overall theme.) The annotations are generally quite well done and illuminate the basic concept. The indexes are excellent; the chronology and the critical sources will be helpful. The value of this bibliography to some extent depends upon the measure of user agreement with the overall thesis; still it should be favorably considered by libraries, academic and public, supporting a strong American literature program. It would be a useful supplement to Frank's Guide to the Gothic and The First Gothics, which identifies and discusses 500 English gothic novels."-Choice
. . . Through the Pale Door is a well-chosen bibliography with valuable critical synopses. It will be useful in college libraries and large public libraries that serve students, faculty, and general readers interested in this genre.-Reference Books Bulletin
Frank provides a selective bibliographical census of American Gothic literature, ' offering a list of over 500 primary texts from 1798 to 1982 which are influenced by American Gothicism. Examination of this large body of literature, Frank maintains, suggests a variety of gothicism distinct from that of the British tradition. Included with each entry is a brief list of editions of the text and a critical synopsis' which provides an analysis of the gothic elements within the work and a brief discussion of the position of the work in the American Gothic tradition.-Studies in the American Renaissance
It is the compiler's belief as expressed in the detailed introduction that the gothic novel as practiced in America rapidly diverge[d] from the European model just as our country had broken away from England.' Frank states that the American gothic reflects a unity of mood and theme.' To this end he has brought together some 509 titles ranging from the work of Charles Brockden Brown to Stephen King. There are a great many familiar and to-be-expected names included (Poe, Hawthorne, Shirley Jackson) and there are somewhat unexpected entries, e.g., Moby Dick. (Although no one will ever claim that Robert E. Howard is anything more than a genre author, a closer reading of his work would have included a far more appropriate novella, Pigeons from Hell, one that more comfortably fits into the overall theme.) The annotations are generally quite well done and illuminate the basic concept. The indexes are excellent; the chronology and the critical sources will be helpful. The value of this bibliography to some extent depends upon the measure of user agreement with the overall thesis; still it should be favorably considered by libraries, academic and public, supporting a strong American literature program. It would be a useful supplement to Frank's Guide to the Gothic and The First Gothics, which identifies and discusses 500 English gothic novels.-Choice
." . . Through the Pale Door is a well-chosen bibliography with valuable critical synopses. It will be useful in college libraries and large public libraries that serve students, faculty, and general readers interested in this genre."-Reference Books Bulletin
"Frank provides a selective bibliographical census of American Gothic literature, ' offering a list of over 500 primary texts from 1798 to 1982 which are influenced by American Gothicism. Examination of this large body of literature, Frank maintains, suggests a variety of gothicism distinct from that of the British tradition. Included with each entry is a brief list of editions of the text and a critical synopsis' which provides an analysis of the gothic elements within the work and a brief discussion of the position of the work in the American Gothic tradition."-Studies in the American Renaissance

Author Bio

FREDERICK S. FRANK is Professor of English and Holder of the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at Allegheny College. He has taught at Boston University, is the author of many published articles, and three books entitled, Guide to the Gothic: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism, The First Gothics: A Critical Guide to the English Novel, and Montague Summers: A Bibliographical Portrait.