Southern Gothic: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Southern Gothic is a sub-genre of the Gothic writing style that is unique to American literature. Southern gothic literature explores and critiques the stereotypical culture of the South. It accomplishes this task by using supernatural, ironic, or unusual events to reveal the inequities of Southern society. The Southern gothic style combines the elements of classic Gothicism with particular Southern archetypes (the reclusive spinster or the white-suited, fan brandishing lawyer; for example) and puts them in a Southern milieu.

Some of the areas that are critiqued in the Southern gothic genre include: race, gender, religion, and politics. It is not just the dominant culture that is being critiqued in these works. Southern gothic literature is not dry or detached. Actions and people that act against humanity, logic, and morality all are portrayed unfavorably. It is often not as simple as saying this person, or group of people, is bad and the other is good. It is more often the case that a mixture of good and bad is found in most of the characters, and the reader, despite cringing at some of the characters' actions, will relate because of the empathy the writer has created. This creation of empathy is of monumental importance, because once the reader is attached to the characters on a personal level, or "hooked", then the social criticisms become more apparent.

This genre of writing is seen in the work of such famous Southern writers as William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Erskine Caldwell, Eudora Welty, and Tennessee Williams. Tennessee Williams described Southern gothic as a style that captured "an intuition, of an underlying dreadfulness in modern experience."