Southern Gothic

E10497

Southern Gothic is a literary genre that blends macabre, grotesque, and supernatural elements with social critique to explore the history, decay, and moral complexities of the American South.

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Statements (61)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fiction genre
literary genre
subgenre of Gothic fiction
associatedWithAuthor Carson McCullers
Cormac McCarthy
Eudora Welty
Flannery O'Connor
surface form: Flannery O’Connor

Harper Lee
Tennessee Williams
Truman Capote
William Faulkner
associatedWithWork A Good Man Is Hard to Find
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Sound and the Fury
surface form: As I Lay Dying

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Sound and the Fury
To Kill a Mockingbird
Wise Blood
developedInPeriod 20th century
explores conflict between past and present in the South
history of the American South
racial inequality in the American South
social injustice in the American South
hasCharacteristic atmospheric setting
focus on decay
focus on moral complexity
focus on psychological depth
grotesque elements
macabre elements
sense of doom
social critique
supernatural elements
use of dark humor
use of irony
hasSetting Southern United States
surface form: American South

decaying plantations
post-Civil War South
rural Southern towns
hasTheme alienation
class conflict
decay of the Old South
family dysfunction
guilt
legacy of slavery
madness
outsiders and misfits
racial tension
religious hypocrisy
sin
violence
influencedBy American realism
Gothic literature
surface form: Gothic fiction

regionalism
relatedGenre American Gothic
Gothic horror
dark comedy
usesMotif decaying mansions
grotesque characters
hauntings
religious symbolism
violent revelations

Referenced by (37)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find genre Southern Gothic
Carson McCullers genre Southern Gothic
Cormac McCarthy genre Southern Gothic
Eudora Welty genre Southern Gothic
Flannery O'Connor genre Southern Gothic
Flannery genre Southern Gothic
subject surface form: Flannery O'Connor
Harper Lee genre Southern Gothic
Mary genre Southern Gothic
subject surface form: Mary Flannery O'Connor
Sartoris genre Southern Gothic
Tennessee Williams genre Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: Southern Gothic fiction
The Devil All the Time genre Southern Gothic
Truman Streckfus Persons genre Southern Gothic
William Faulkner genre Southern Gothic
Wise Blood genre Southern Gothic
Luster genreOfWork Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: Southern Gothic literature
Wise Blood hasInfluenceOn Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: American Southern Gothic literature
American literature hasMovement Southern Gothic
Mystery and Manners hasPart Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction
Mystery and Manners hasPart Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: The Grotesque in Southern Fiction
Gothic literature hasSubgenre Southern Gothic
Gothic literature influenced Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: Southern Gothic literature
Donna Tartt influencedBy Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: Southern Gothic literature
A Christmas Memory literaryMovement Southern Gothic
Mr. Jason Compson III literaryMovement Southern Gothic
subject surface form: Jason Compson III
Jefferson, Mississippi literaryMovement Southern Gothic
Mystery and Manners literaryMovement Southern Gothic
Miss Quentin literaryMovementContext Southern Gothic
Flannery O'Connor movement Southern Gothic
Flannery movement Southern Gothic
subject surface form: Flannery O'Connor
Mary movement Southern Gothic
subject surface form: Mary Flannery O'Connor
Tennessee Williams movement Southern Gothic
Truman Streckfus Persons movement Southern Gothic
this entity surface form: Southern Gothic literature