American Gothic Tales (William Abrahams)

The chapter from Wieland is excellent; I have read the novel, and found it one of the best gothic novels of America. I figure it is the way schizophrenia works in human mind. I also enjoyed Melville's "the tartarus of maids". Maybe it is not strictly a gothic tale, but it has a gothic atmosphere, and many levels of reading. I like the way the landscape is depicted, and the feelings it conjures. It is really an industrial nightmare, possibly inspired by the XIX century industrial revolution, and the terrible labour conditions of that time.The legend of Sleepy hollow is a brilliant combination of gothicism, humour, and a thorough or exhaustive description of primitve dutch communities, rural life, and the lovely place where they settled. It is not so easy a combination, so the writer must have been very gifted to create it, and make of it one of the american classics. I did not like to much Ambrose Bierce's "The damned thing", It certainly is not the best gothic tale of this writer. He had wrote many other and more interesesting gothic tales, like "an episode in owl creek bridge".It seems that american writers of the nineteen century were higly influenced by religious puritanism, and - mainly - by its dark side, and destructive behaviour. For instance, "The man of adamant", of Hawthorne, and the above mentioned Wieland.I did not like to much Gertrude Ashterton tale. Neither did I like Sherwood Anderson "death in the woods"; it is simply a sad story of a miserable woman, but it lacks interest. I enjoyed a lot, Lovecraft`s, derleth`s, and Faulkner tales. "The lonesome place" is a remarkable tale, about our dark places of our minds, and our fears of those places. Faulkner story is about a decadent southern aristocrat, that slightly reminded me of Tenesse Williams` Blanche DuBois. (even if they were not alike in any apparent sense) E.B. White story, "The door", is an unsettling tale of what happens in human mind when confronted with apparently insoluble problems. I do not know if it is a gothic story, but is a very good one. "The lovely house", by Shirley Jackson, has a feeling of impending danger... you feel that things are not so lovely as they look, that people are not what they seem to be, and that something bad is about to happen. Paul Bawles story is somewhat poor, I did not like it to much, notwithstanding the reference to drug use.William Goyen tale, and "The Penny Arcade", are excellente literary works, but cannot be considered gothic. "Cat in glass", by Nancy Echemendy, is hundred per cent gothic, and a very good story. "Replacements", is quite weird and interesting. I did not like Stephen King tale, "The Reach", it is very long and not very good. There is a short tale called "time and again", that cannot be considered gothic either, but is quite good, unsettling, and weird. "The last feast of Harlekin ", is one of the best tales of the books. Gradually you start to feel a dangerous athmosphere, unfathommable misteries from ancient times, and fear of the unknown, and of what it is about to happen.Mrs. Oates selection of american gothic tales includes many excellent, some good and a few definitively mediocre stories. I do think that in spite of some flaws, it is a book to recommend to anyone interested in good literature.

Extraordinarily compelling collection of stories from american authors assembled by Joyce Carol Oates. Rather than hew closely to a definition of "gothic", however loose that may be, she aims to display "the range, depth, audacity, and fantastical extravagance of the human imagination".The stories range from the whimsical "The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce, to the psychologically suspenseful "The Lovely House" by Shirley Jackson, to the downright horrific "The Outsider" by H. P. Lovecraft.It is difficult to find a thread that links the stories, aside from wondrous imagination, but if I had to identify one, it would be: the reader is led to question something about themselves, whether their origin, their beliefs, or their sanity. Each story is unsettling enough to make that kind of reflection inevitable.

The collection assembled by Ms. Oates is superb. She has introduced me to the genre of Gothic writings and I am absolutely grateful for having purchased this anthology. There are plenty of wonderful surprises by both historically famous authors and many whom I had not had the previous pleasure of knowing. The book if a true gem of my humble personal library and I will recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I was assigned this book to read for a horror and fantasy class. I enjoyed all of the stories assigned. Great read if you like this type of thing! I've been a lover of the horror genre since I was a young child. Love it!

Joyce Carol Oates has done a wonderful job of compiling famous and obscure creepy stories from America's past and present. Through this book I discovered the writing of Harlan Ellison, W.S. Merwin, and Don Delillo. The last story, "Subsoil", is delightfully weird, and I've never managed to find it anywhere else. Highly recommended.

Oates writes a short but convincing Introduction which links our gothic horror genre to our Puritan past. First story is from Charles Brockden Brown's novel Wieland of 1798. The last is Nicholson Baker's "Subsoil" published in The New Yorker in 1994. The collection itself was published in 1996. Not bad, but there is nothing from the last twenty years.Lots of old faithfuls we likely read in high school; Hawthorne, Poe, Bierce, Anderson, and Lovecraft. But it was nice to reread old friends.

Na

Bought for son for school and was enjoyable to read and write and essay about.

Great!

Lieferung und Zustand einwandfrei. Die Auswahl der Kurzgeschichten ist sehr gut. Es sind sowohl Klassiker, als auch moderne Geschichten enthalten. Mein Buchladen hat Monate dafür gebraucht, dieses Buch aufzutreiben, um schließlich mit leeren Händen dazustehen. Amazon lieferte es zwei Tage nach Bestellung. Ich bin begeistert.

I love to take my time and sample my way thru this type of book.. it truly is a bag of candy. even a story by Shirley Jackson I hadn't seen . I love short stories and would influence anyone to nibble through them. sharon

I had not read a great deal of Joyce Carol Oates before this so was very happy to find these stories so compelling and beautifully written. Highly recommend!