Terror and Wonder: Exploring Gothic culture's roots in British literature

Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination has opened at London's British Library exploring Gothic culture's roots in British literature and celebrating 250 years since the publication of the first Gothic novel. dracula costume

Alongside the manuscripts of classic novels such as Frankenstein, Dracula and Jane Eyre, the exhibition brings the dark and macabre to life with artefacts, old and new. Highlights of the exhibition include a vampire slaying kit and 18th and 19th century Gothic fashions, as well as one of Alexander McQueen's catwalk creations. Also on display is a model of the Wallace and Gromit Were-Rabbit, showing how Gothic literature has inspired varied and colorful aspects of popular culture in exciting ways over centuries.

Julie Harris, costume design for Dracula, [1979]. On loan from the BFI National Archive

Celebrating how British writers have pioneered the genre, Terror and Wonder takes the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole*, and exhibits treasures from the Library's collections to carry the story forwards to the present day. Eminent authors over the last 250 years, including William Blake, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, the Brontës, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, MR James, Mervyn Peake, Angela Carter and Neil Gaiman, underpin the exhibition's exploration of how Gothic fiction has evolved and influenced film, fashion, music, art and the Goth subculture.

Julie Harris, costume design for Dracula, [1979]. On loan from the BFI National Archive

Lead curator of the exhibition, Tim Pye, says: "Gothic is one the most popular and influential modes of literature and I'm delighted that Terror and Wonder is celebrating its rich 250 year history. The exhibition features an amazingly wide range of material, from stunningly beautiful medieval artefacts to vinyl records from the early Goth music scene, so there is truly something for everyone".

From Nosferatu to the most recent zombie thrillers, the exhibition uses movie clips, film posters, costume designs and props to show how Gothic themes and literature have been adapted for stage and screen, propelling characters like Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde and Frankenstein's monster to mainstream fame. Exciting exhibits on loan to the Library include Clive Barker’s original film script and sketches for Hellraiser, as well as Stanley Kubrick's annotated typescript of The Shining.

Webutante Face Lace at the British Library's shop

Showing how Gothic fiction has inspired great art, the exhibition features fine paintings and prints, such as Henry Fuseli's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and Nathaniel Grogan's Lady Blanche Crosses the Ravine, a scene taken directly from the Queen of Terror, Ann Radcliffe's *The Mysteries of Udolpho. These classic images precede dramatic contemporary artworks, such as Jake and Dinos Chapman's series 'Exquisite Corpse', showing how the dark and gruesome still inspire today's artists.

Celebrating the British Goth scene, the Library reveals a brand new series of photographs of the Whitby Goth Weekend by the award-winning photographer Martin Parr. Commissioned specially for this exhibition, the photographs take a candid look at the biannual event, which takes place in the town famously featured in Dracula, capturing its diversity and energy.

Earlier this year the Library announced that they are putting our literary treasures online with a new website, Discovering Literature. Many of the Gothic literary greats featuring in the exhibition, including the Brontës, Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, can be explored amongst the Romantic and Victorian literature now available online.

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Terror and Wonder: Exploring Gothic culture's roots in British literature

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