Confederacy: A Social and Political History in Documents Book

“To escape thus from humdrum reality is a primitive desire, and, in itself, it is excellent and right. The world, if we had not our dreams, would, God knows, be a very dull place. Of course, as precisians will never fail to tell you, there is danger in dreams. But, if we had not our dreams, life, I take it, would be far more dangerous; in fact, it would not be worth living at all. We call our dreams Romance, and it was just this that the Gothic novelists gave to their readers. This, then, is exactly the reason why I think the Gothic novelists, with all their faults and failings, have done us an infinite service, and proved themselves true friends to those of us who care to withdraw, be it even for a short time, and at rare intervals, from the relentless oppression and carking cares of a bitter actuality.” (198)

A classic of Gothic criticism. To be honest, I had kind of figured it was out-dated and not really worth reading, but I was wrong. It's definitely old school, and often more descriptive than analytical (the chapter on the Historical Gothic, for instance, is mostly a list of semi-detailed descriptions of all Gothic novels influenced by Sophia Lee's The Recess), but nonetheless, there are some insightful arguments to be found. The essential argument, or rather, paean, as you can begin to see from the above quote, is that the Gothic represents the height of the romantic, which is the opposite of the realistic. But there is also a lot of good material in the classic, philological vein, discussing influences and literary-historical contexts. And delightful, ornate prose, with an occasional touch of the curmudgeonly. I'm glad I read it.