Abstract

American Gothic Art and Architecture in the Age of Romantic Literature analyses the impact British Gothic novels and historical romances had on American art and architecture in the Romantic era. Key figures include Thomas Jefferson, Washington Allston, Alexander Jackson Davis, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Thomas Cole, Edwin Forrest and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne articulated the subject of this book when he wrote that he could understand Sir Walter Scott’s romances better after viewing Scott’s Gothic Revival house Abbotsford, and he understood the house better for having read the romances. This study investigates this symbiotic relationship between the arts and Gothic literature to reveal new interpretative possibilities.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One. Gothic Monticello: Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Narratives
Chapter Two. ‘Banditti Mania’: The Gothic Haunting of Washington Allston
Chapter Three. ‘Arranging the Trap Doors’: The Gothic Revival Castles of Alexander Jackson Davis
Chapter Four. Old Dwellings Transmogrified: The Homes of James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving
Chapter Five. Gothic Castles in the Landscape: Thomas Cole, Sir Walter Scott And the Hudson River School of Painting
Chapter Six. The Theatrical Spectacle of Medieval Revival: Edwin Forrest’s Fonthill Castle
Conclusion. ‘Clap It Into a Romance:’ Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Gothic Houses