This is the perfect time of year to get spooked out and The British Library is helping the cause with their latest exhibit, Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination.
Comprised of two hundred objects spanning two hundred and fifty years of Gothic literature the exhibit “presents an intriguing glimpse of a fascinating and mysterious world.”
image Universal /The Kobal Collection
Starting with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and ending with the current zombie craze:
The show provides plenty of insight into novels such as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, Northanger Abbey, Dracula and Rebecca but it also explores, among many other themes, the use of Gothic imagery by authors such as Charles Dickens and the Brontës; our fascination with hauntings; the rise of Gothic literature for children and the macabre appeal of the zombie as the monster of choice in the late 20th century. The exhibition also examines the influence of Gothic literature in other fields including fashion, music, art, architecture and, crucially, film.
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More on the exhibit here: Carry on Screaming from the British Library English and Drama blog and here’s some in-depth coverage of the Romantics and Victorians at the British Library
The exhibit runs through January 20, 2015.