SOUTHERN GOTHIC WRITING

OLLI Of Greater Birmingham presents Southern Gothic Writing with instructor: Ralph Voss, Professor Emeritus of English, UA.

Gothic literature has existed for centuries, but American Southern Gothic literature originated chiefly with Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century. This program will describe what Gothic literature is, and will detail the characteristics that make for Southern Gothic literature, with examples from some of the South’s greatest practitioners of the genre. If attendees wish to establish a framework for the program, they may want to read some or all of the following works, which contain many of the examples to be discussed:

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and The Telltale Heart (short stories)

William Faulkner’s Rose for Emily

Flannery O’Connor’s Good Country People (short story) Truman Capote’s Children on their Birthdays (short story) Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (novel)

Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (novel)