Gothic Classics

Guido has lost it all. At rock bottom and wandering the shore, Guido spies a misshapen creature floating toward him in the water, riding on a huge chest. The creature offers Guido a path of revenge – switching bodies for three days in exchange for the untold riches in the chest. Guido unfortunately fails to see a potential downside. Through skillful handling of the gothic motif of the doppelgänger, Shelley’s tale explores concepts that would eventually culminate into her masterpiece – Frankenstein.

Helt ny full cast indlæsning fra 2015. Medvirkende: Lars Mikkelsen, Lars Thiesgaard, Sofie Vea, Thomas Magnussen, Jon Lange, Kristian Boland, Morten Hauch-Fausbøll, Anette Støvelbæk, Henrik Kofoed, Helle Merete Sørensen og Nis Bank-Mikkelsen. Indlæst af Momo - Skuespillernes Lydbogsværksted.

"The Castle of Otranto" is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word "Gothic" to the novel in the subtitle - A Gothic Story. Set in a haunted castle, the novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetic of the book has shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music and the goth subculture.

The titular house in this short story sits not far from the state of Missouri. An old, run-down building, missing windows and doors, it has been overgrown with foliage, and its dilapidated appearance has given it an ‘evil reputation’.

The story is set in Padua and follows botanist Giacomo Rappaccini’s garden of poisonous plants. A student from the university of Padua falls for a maiden in the luscious garden, but he soon learns some troubling information about his beloved’s true nature.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is known for her themes of female entrapment and patriarchal control, and she gives this a Gothic twist in "The Giant Wistaria". A wealthy young couple and their friends rent a manor house, excited by the prospect that it’s haunted, and they are not disappointed when they all experience the same vivid dream.

Mary Shelley hat als 18jährige etwas vollbracht, was noch kein Mensch vor oder nach ihr geschafft hat: In diesem zarten Alter einen Roman zu verfassen, der die Zeiten überdauert und eine bis heute aktuelle Thematik behandelt. Können, dürfen und sollen wir Leben auf Basis aller uns zu Verfügung stehenden technischen Mitteln ermöglichen oder sind Gottes bescheidene und beschränkte Grenzen Sperrgebiet für unseren Intellekt?

A Charlotte Riddell novella from the British Library Tales of the Weird collection Haunted Houses. When his cousin Geoffrey dies, barrister Hercules Stafford Trevor agrees to act as his young widow’s guardian. But Trevor has troubles of his own when he discovers that the legends surrounding his country house might have more than a grain of truth in them, and it seems these hauntings are destined to become intertwined with the fate of the widow.

The tale of murder and terror, told by a nameless homicidal madman, influenced later stream-of-consciousness fiction and helped secure the author’s reputation as master of the macabre. The narrator relates with relish his murder and dismemberment of an old man. Poe’s revelation of the narrator’s madness is a classic study in psychopathology.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) will forever be known as the author of one of the all-time great Gothic novels, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus (1818). In 1824, she published her essay "On Ghosts", which offers a personal glimpse into her own opinions and experiences. This edition includes a new preface with historical context and an excerpt from M.G. Lewis' 1796 work The Monk: A Romance that Shelley references in "On Ghosts".

In the classic Wuthering Heights, Catherine is forced to choose between passionate, tortured gypsy Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton. Catherine surrenders to the expectations of her class and sets off a domino effect with lasting consequences. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal are visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the lovers tortured past.

It tells the story of a young woman whose mother died in her childbirth - just as Shelly's own mother died after hers - and whose relationship with her bereaved father becomes sexually charged as he conflates her with his lost wife, while she becomes involved with a handsome poet.

Als junger Mann lernte Frédéric Boutet bereits in den literarischen Cafés von Paris unter anderem Oscar Wilde kennen und machte Bekanntschaft mit den Symbolisten und den Dekadenten. Und im Alter von 24 Jahren gab Boutet im okkultistischen Pariser Verlag Chamuel eine Sammlung erster fantastischer, dekadenter Erzählungen mit dem Titel Contes dans la nuit heraus. In den folgenden Jahren veröffentlichte er im gleichen Verlag weitere groteske und dekadente Geschichten, von denen einige bereits den kommenden Surrealismus vorwegnahmen.

In Edgar Allan Poe's short and turbulent life, he laid the groundwork for the genre of modern horror and, almost as an aside, invented the modern detective story.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a Gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is about a London legal practitioner who investigates strange occurrences between his friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde. The phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" has entered the vernacular to refer to people with a dual nature.

Edgar Allan Poe's early literary works were poetic, but he quickly turned to prose. He worked for several magazines and journals till in January 1845, The Raven was published and became an instant classic. Poe was also an early proponent of the detective story and announced his entry to this genre with the classic short story 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'.

El narrador intenta convencernos de su salud mental, diciéndonos que lo único que le pasa es que es un poco nervioso porque todos sus sentidos están extremadamente sensibilizados. El anciano con el que vive tiene un ojo azul que está velado, al que nuestro narrador describe como un ojo de buitre. El anciano realmente le cae bien pero odia el ojo de buitre....Hasta tal punto llega a odiar ese ojo que se convierte en una obsesión enfermiza, que le hace imposible no pensar en otra cosa que no sea planificar el asesinato del anciano.

"La caída de la Casa Usher" es la quintaesencia del cuento gótico: una casa embrujada, un paisaje lúgubre, dos hermanos gemelos, una enfermedad misteriosa... Todos los elementos del género son fácilmente identificables y, sin embargo, parte del terror que inspira esta historia se debe a su vaguedad; no podemos decir a ciencia cierta en qué parte del mundo o exactamente cuándo tiene lugar la historia. Estamos solos con el narrador en este espacio embrujado, y ni nosotros ni el narrador sabemos por qué.

William Wilson es un relato corto de Edgar Allan Poe. Su ambientación está inspirada en los años de formación de Poe fuera de Londres. El cuento sigue el tema del "doble". Fue publicado por vez primera por la revista Burton's Gentleman's Magazine en octubre de 1839, y más tarde apareció en la colección de 1840 Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.

Con Poe nacería el terror como género, fruto de sus obsesiones y de su corta vida errante. Transmutó el gótico alemán utilizando las claves del Romanticismo, anticipándose un siglo a los miedos y a los deseos más íntimos del hombre moderno. Las maldiciones ancestrales, las fuerzas ingentes y desatadas de la naturaleza, son elementos con los que el autor tratará de contagiar al lector para enfrentarlo al pavor de sus miedos más profundos.