Gothic tropes

A contributor to The Herald comments on a recent survey that showed that 'three out of 10 British children aged eight to 15 did not know where stories such as Noah's Ark or Adam and Eve come from' and looks at it from a reader's point of view and its many, many references and echoes in literature.

So, unless you are a Christian, one should read it as you would Wuthering Heights or War And Peace, though even more closely. With the exception only of the likes of Milton, Shakespeare, Burns or Blake, most writers refer only sparingly if at all to their literary predecessors. Writers great and small, however, have dipped into the Bible as frequently as if it were a cookie jar and dinner a long way off. (Rosemary Goring)

The New York Post ranks and reviews 'The 17 best books we read in January 2024' and one of them is an old habitué of BrontëBlog:

“Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

[...] “Putting a decidedly feminist and glamorous spin on the gothic tropes of Brontë and Du Maurier, and turning the creep factor up to eleven, Moreno-Garcia’s genre-hopping best-seller is catnip for all who can’t resist the siren song of a dark old house and even darker family secrets,” Vannessa Cronin, senior editor, Amazon Books Editorial, told the New York Post.

I loved the premise behind this novel and fell in love with its spooky, scandalous charm. It was also wittily written and enticing, so it’s a surefire bet to add to your reading list. (Victoria Giardina)

The Oxford Student discusses 'The literary subtleties of Saltburn'.

The Gothic notes of Saltburn do not end here, as the arguably most unsettling scene of the film seems to be a reference to Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. Echoing the scene of the tormented Heathcliff digging up Catherine’s grave to achieve ‘ease’ for his mind, Oliver’s relations with Felix’s grave mirror the desperate attempt to feign a sense of intimacy with someone now physically unattainable. With both scenes testament to the authenticity of the characters’ depraved depths of obsession and desire, the grave scene is just one of the many parallels the film draws between Oliver and Heathcliff. (Isra Khan)