It would probably surprise most people to hear that there is a German subgenre of Gothic writing. It’s rarely discussed often overlooked and hard to research. And yet, there is such a thing. And it’s distinctly different from all of the other Gothic subgenres.
English Gothic majors in suspense and Romanticism. Southern Gothic capitalizes on dark humor, the struggle between history and the modern era, and the use of the grotesque. And then there’s German Gothic.
What on earth makes a book German Gothic? And why is the genre so obscure?
I’ll answer the second question first. In my opinion, the genre is so unknown for two reasons. The first is a simple one: it’s overshadowed by the extensive number of quality Gothic works in other subgenres such as traditional English authors and later American writers in the Southern Gothic tradition. There are certainly vastly fewer German Gothic works, so it’s no wonder that the other subgenres tend to steal the show.
The second reason is more complex. The German Gothic genre is a muddied one. The German equivalent of the Gothic novel is referred to as “schauerroman,” which translates literally as “shudder novel.” The name refers to the sense of horror that Gothic often evokes. However, this definition is used to encompass three different types of novels.
- Ritterroman (“Chivalric novel”) – Stories that are set in a medieval period and which feature the actions of heroic knights. We might classify these as historical novels.
- Räuberroman (“Bandit novel”) – These stories may be fiction or true crime. They’re about the actions of an outlaw who’s a good guy, helping the poor or fighting against corrupt leadership. This is essentially the German equivalent of the classic English story, Robin Hood. We might classify this type of novel as action adventure or true crime, depending upon how it’s written.
- Geisterroman (“Spirit novel”) – These books are about demons, ghosts, hauntings and other unseen elements. We would generally classify this type of book as Gothic, although some could just as easily be Horror.
It’s easy to see how confusing the German Gothic category can be. Of the three types of German Gothic novels, only one translates into what we think of as Gothic. I believe that this confusion makes the genre less navigable for Gothic readers.
That said, there are some German novels – specifically those in the Geisterroman category – that look a lot like what we love in a Gothic story. And these have their own unique approach to the Gothic genre.
Geisterroman – Unique Characteristics
What sets German Gothic novels (those we’d call Geisterroman) apart from other Gothic subgenres is that the novels tend to be darker and to focus on things that are hidden and/or supernatural.
For example, German Gothic books tend to focus on demons, especially demonic possession, and incest. And the conclusions tend to be more pessimistic than in English Gothic works. Take for example one of the most well-known German Gothic works – The Necromancer by Peter Teuthold- which concerns itself with the art of communicating with the dead. The book, also called The Tale of the Black Forest, was written in 1794.
The story jumps around from tale to tale, telling the story of various characters’ interactions with a necromancing wizard by the name of Volkert. It has a somewhat disjointed feel about it, with each tale only nominally related to the others. Jane Austen mocked it in pseudo-Gothic novel, Northanger Abbey. To be totally fair though, The Castle Otranto, England’s foray into Gothic writing thirty years prior is just as awkward.
However, it highlights something that has become a trend in the German version of Gothic writing: a focus on the occult.
Another novel Austen mentions in Northanger Abbey is The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parsons. The tale tells the story of a young woman who, in fleeing from the dark intentions of her Uncle, stumbles upon a castle in which another man hides his own dark secrets. Without giving anything away, the story is told in classic Gothic style albeit gorier than English Gothic ones.
Which is why I mention this story: it’s an example of the fact that German Gothic tends to be raw and gruesome in ways that other Gothic subgenres circumvent.
German Gothic tales also tend to feature things like secret societies and their occult activities. A good example of this would be The Horrid Mysteries (or “Der Genius”) by Carl Grosse. The story features a man who becomes involved in a secret society which is attempting to bring about communism by secretly promoting violence and civil unrest.
The Brothers Grimm
Let’s not forget, of course, that the Grimm brothers – Jacob and Wilhelm – were German and that their approach to storytelling is often referred to as Gothic. As you may know, Grimm fairy tales are generally dark – much darker than what we’re used to in our sanitized, Disney culture. In Grimm tales – stories which were generally not considered to be appropriate for children – Snow White’s mother wanted to eat her daughter’s lungs and liver and Cinderella’s stepsisters attempt to fit into the glass slipper by cutting off pieces of their feet.
Though we could argue that the Grimm brothers didn’t actually write these – they were collators of ancient folk stories – it demonstrates quite clearly the German appetite for darker, more morbid tales than we see among other Gothic audiences. [I’m excluding Modern Gothic, which we’ll discuss in the next post.]
Contemporary Works?
I became acquainted with this Gothic subgenre when I was researching and writing my first novel. My particular Gothic style tends towards the German Gothic style I described above, which was simply a coincidence (are there any?) since I had already set the story in Bavaria in the 1880s and had planned and begun writing the book when I discovered this.
I mention that because it’s hard to find German Gothic tales today. I suspect that that has more to do with the modern melting pot of literary genres than a literal dearth of these. There are very likely other authors like myself whose Gothic tales share more in common with the German subgenre than any other. For example, some people have referred to English Gothic works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as being an example of the German Gothic despite their origins.
That said, I don’t yet have any good contemporary examples. But I’m looking for them, so if you know of any, please comment below!
The German style, with its darker approach, comes closest to the Gothic-Horror crossover that we see quite often today. It’s a framework that modern audiences would love. If that appeals to you, join me in writing in this little-known but fascinating tradition.
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