I really enjoy the atmosphere of stuff written and/or set in the 1700s-early 1800s but I’m not sure where to look. Some of my favourite books are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Monk by Matthew Lewis, and Dracula, so I’m looking for more stuff like that!
I prefer a male protagonist, I’m also a big fan of gothic lit and stuff set in cloisters or religious settings, like Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse. Not so much horror but I like eerie and unsettling stuff too, so bonus for anything like that. I appreciate any suggestions!
by Low-Grade2161
16 Comments
Little House series
[removed]
Matthew Corbett series by Robert McCammon starts in 1699, I believe but the following books are after 1700.
Wuthering Heights, Tom Jones, and Gulliver’s Travels are all of the time period and still very readable.
Closer to 1890s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” will always be a favorite. It can have a gothic feeling at times. I’ve seen it labeled as gothic horror, but I don’t personally feel it’s scary. Just dark. The moral dillemma (pursuing beauty and youth at the cost of your soul and humanity) is amazingly portraited imo.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke is set in the very late 1700’s- early 1800’s. It takes place during the Napoleonic Wars. It’s sort of an alternate history where magic is real and they are trying to bring it back into regular practice. The book has A LOT of Gothic elements.
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg
Sorrows of young Werhter
Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
Moby Dick, and most of Herman Melville’s other stories are set in that time frame.
Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe is set in the EARLY 1700’s
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson would fit both the time frame and the gothic
You might also try some of Edgar Allen Poe’s stories.
*The Count of Monte Cristo*
*The Phantom of the Opera*
*Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell*
Isabel Cañas’s work, especially The Hacienda. Set in early 1820s Mexico, female protagonist living in a haunted house, seeking help from a priest. Her books are horror novels but there’s nothing gory or particularly extreme, and her work is generally well researched.
I have read nothing with a more vivid late 1700s-early 1800s vibe than the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian
*The Interview with the Vampire* by Anne Rice.
*The Vampire Lestat* by Anne Rice.
Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon a true gem of a book
Anne Rice’s *Cry to Heaven* is set in eighteenth century Italy and it’s just sublimely gorgeous. It’s also getting a film adaptation this fall by Tom Ford and starring Adele in her acting debut and it’s gonna be Oscar bait for sure so it’ll be great to read it now before it comes out!