Christian Gothic
By The Misfit | October 27, 2009
Okay. So I told you that I’d eventually get around to telling you about my dissertation. I’m not going to inundate you with all of the specifics partially because it would probably bore most people, partially because I’m working on a larger project and, despite my dissertation, I’ve still got a ton of things to work out, and partially because it would take an immense amount of blogging about Gothic in general. One day I might go there, but there are better sites and people to handle that. For now, I’ll just give you a brief overview.
I don’t think it will come as a surprise to anyone that Gothic fiction has a history drenched in religion – much of 18th and 19th century Gothic fiction either embraces it (The Mysteries of Udolopho and Jane Eyre, for example) or rebels against it (The Monk or Zoflya comes to mind). What could be considered modern Gothic fiction utilizes it (The Exorcist, for one). Mostly, though, religion plays a minor role to the horror / Gothic elements of any given text. When I was trying to decide what the focus of my dissertation would be, I had originally planned to do a screenplay adaptation of one of the texts we studied, but after giving it much thought, I decided I should do a standard dissertation since there is a chance (albeit a small one at the moment) that I would continue on to do a PhD, in which case a screenplay adaptation wouldn’t serve me well at all.
I thought about the role religion plays in the Gothic and asked myself if Gothic fiction could use religious elements then why couldn’t the converse be true: why couldn’t Christian fiction use Gothic elements? This is what led to my exploring the idea of Christian Gothic fiction. Certainly there’s a market for what’s termed “Christian Speculative Fiction” (albeit it a small one) which incorporates any number of genres (science fiction, horror, supernatural thriller, to name a few), and I was intrigued with the seeming misnomer of a combination between Christian fiction and horror. I mean, seriously. The battle between good and evil is a basic Gothic trope, and I’d say Christianity is ready-made to address the same struggle.
So, I’ll be periodically posting reviews of books that I feel fall under the genre of Christian Gothic, beginning with the four I used for my dissertation. That’ll start next week. For now, here’s a top ten list of books that I’ve either already read or plan to read – don’t worry: I’ll let you know the difference. :-)
1. Demon: A Memoir – Tosca Lee (read)
2. House – Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti (read)
3. Shade – John B. Olson (read)
4. Isolation – Travis Thrasher (read)
5. Ghostwriter – Travis Thrasher (read)
6. This Present Darkness – Frank Peretti (read)
7. Field of Blood – Eric Wilson (currently reading)
8. House of Jackals – Eric Wilson (to read)
9. Coach’s Midnight Diner: The Jesus vs. Cthulhu Edition – Various (to read)
10. Coach’s Midnight Diner: The Back from the Dead Edition – Various (to read)
Despite all my research to date, I am not wholly familiar with Christian Fiction. If you have any suggestions of books to add to the list, please feel free to leave me a comment. I will also eventually provide links to the books. Am a bit pressed for time at the moment.
This Top-Ten list brought to you courtesy of OhAmanda who has a wonderful Top-Ten-Tuesday button, but my site is being particularly cranky today, so the button won’t add correctly. It’s probably user error. You can read her latest Top-Ten list here.
Topics: books for the misfit | 4 Comments »
October 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
I have only read one of the books on your list, and I am not entirely familiar with Christian fiction either! Your concept is fascinating.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Interesting idea, Keiti! I’m interested in hearing more! I’ve read House and all of Frank Peretti’s books. I’ll have to check out the rest.
I’m trying to think if I’ve read any other Christian “horror”…
October 27th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Thanks, Janna. Feel free to stop back any time to catch up on any books of interest. I’m sort of winging it at the moment, so it may be good for a chuckle or two, as well.
Which one have you already read?
October 27th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I’m glad you think so, Amanda.
It was tough pulling the dissertation together when there was virtually no existing information for it! House is a great book, and I really need to get around to watching the movie adaptation. I heard mixed reviews of it, but I’d like to make up my own mind. I’ve read a number of Frank Peretti’s books, too, and have enjoyed them all. I was actually originally going to include This Present Darkness in the dissertation, but decided to use Tosca Lee’s Demon: A Memoir instead. I’d already included him with House and thought having a female writer in the mix was a good idea. 