American Gothic Short Stories

Favorite reads from my American Gothic Literature Class

The past few months I was immersed in the American Gothic. We read a lot of works, and I wanted to share some of my favorites.

• “My Kinsman, Major Molineau” by Nathaniel Hawthorne — I think it’s best to go into this one not knowing what you’re about to read. So I won’t say more than that it’s excellent.

• “Wakefield” by Nathaniel Hawthorne — a man tells his wife he’s going on a journey and will be back soon… but he relocates himself to a house only a street away and lives there unbeknownst to her for TWENTY years. Wild.

• “Lost in a Pyramid” by Louisa May Alcott - I couldn’t not include this one in my list. It was the first mummy’s curse story and the primary source for my research project all semester. We also read “Pauline’s Passion and Punishment” by Alcott, which was an over-the-top sensation novella that read like something Jo March would write.

• “The Reach” by Stephen King - This one is hauntingly beautiful.

• “The Boarded Window” by Ambrose Bierce - I finished this one by saying to myself “What the heck did I just read?!”

• “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner - A southern aristocrat keeping a big secret.

• Bonus: While this does not count as one of his gothic stories, I read “Some Words with Mummy” by Edgar Allan Poe for my research project, and thought it was a hoot. Well worth the read!

We read many more stories for the class. I listed them in my weekly wrap-ups if you’re interested. But the ones mentioned above were the ones that I enjoyed the most.

I will say that “creepy” is not usually my vibe, so there were some stories that while they left an impression on me, they were not my favorite. If you like creepy/graphic vibes, you may want to also look at reading some of these:

• “The Rats in the Walls” by H.P. Lovecraft

• “The Jolly Corner” by Henry James

• “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe