What is the oldest book you've read that really disturbed youI just finished reading Matthew Lewis' The Monk and was surprised by how brutal it still is after over two centuries
The scene where Ambrosio suffocates his mother still sticks with me.Not really disturbing, but I thought the opening chapters of Dracula had a really nice atmosphere that the rest of the novel didn't really capture.
Currently reading Ramsey Campbell's Alone With the Horrors (around halfway done). He's got great prose, and while this collection, like most collections, can be a bit up and down, the ups are great. A big variety of topics, with most of them set in an urban environment. He's very good at creating a subtle, unsettling atmosphere. So far, my favourites are "The Scar", "The End of a Summer's Day", "The Man in the Underpass", and "In the Bag".>>24919376For me, it's probably also going to be The Monk. For second place though, I'll name The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf. For a story that's part religious allegory, it's got some surprisingly horrific scenes, including body horror.Special mention goes to Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin, which despite all its flaws contains one really brutal scene that starkly contrasts with the rest of the style and atmosphere of the novel, where someone has a vivid dream where he's being burned alive, and tells how everything looks and feels in great detail.
I agree. I was also quite shocked by Antonia's fate and Agnes' punishment, and Ambrosio's final fate also stuck with me for its savagery. He turned into a monster, but damn. I really didn't expect all that in a 18th century novel. Hats off to Matthew Lewis, especially as he was not yet 20 when he wrote it.(Pretty steamy too, as a critic said “The Monk could have a direct effect on passions of a woman reader")
>>24920335replying to>>24919736>>24920184Haven't read those yet, I'll check them out
>>24919376“The Man Whom the Trees Loved” would’ve worked better if Sophia Bittacy, the wife of the titular “man” and the POV character for most of the novella, wasn’t portrayed as being so silly and clueless at the start of the story. Like in everything else Blackwood ever wrote, the central idea he conceives is much better than his ability to execute it.
>>24919376>What is the oldest book you've read that really disturbed youthe ending to Frankenstein. Disturbing and heartbreaking
Bump in the night
>>24920579i never got the ending of that storyher husband's spirit gets absorbed by the trees, right? he becomes a soulless invalid or something?
>>24920184>>24922604Thanks for sharing! Do you have any gothic horror charts?
>>24922742the gothic horror charts are generally made by people who haven't read any gothic fiction
>>24922742I have a number of charts, including a gothic one, but that one is just straight up bad (the creator of the chart even said so lmao)Have some more short story collections!
>>24922750>>24922794I see>Have some more short story collections!Thank you anon, feel free to post more horror charts if you got anything else
Pretty good list of new releases from Independent authors. The traditional book publishers are absolutely cooked so the cream is rising in the independent author space.
>>24923436Sure!
>>24923436>>24923576Not really a chart, but it's fun
>>24922742>>24923436If you want actual gothic reccomendations (assuming you haven't read any gothic literature before)Books>Longsword by Thomas Leland (Proto-Gothic)>The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett (Proto Gothic)>The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (Start with this one)>The Mysteries of Udolpho, Romance of the Forest, and the Italian by Anne Radcliffe>The Monk by MG lewis>The Mysterious Freebooter, The Midnight Bell and the Castle of Ollada by Francis Lathom>The Haunted Cavern by John Palmer>Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles MaturinShort Story collections>Literary Hours by Nathan Drake>Great Tales of Terror by Peter HainingPoetry>Tales of Terror and Wonder by MG lewis
>>24923781A lot of these titles are new to me, thank you for sharing!
>>24919376There’s so published work more disturbing than that pancake family creepypasta.
>>24923576yo maupassant wrote some weird short stories holy shit thats awesome thanks man i never knew that
SOMEBODY TRANSLATE THIS INTO ENGLISH RIGHT NOW
>>24920184>The Black Spider by Jeremias GotthelfI second this story. It was great.
>>24924060Maupassant most famous weird story is "The Horla", which famously influenced Lovecraft and his idea of cosmic horror. He called it his (Maupassant's) masterpiece, although he also praised some of his other short stories, like “Who Knows?”, “The Spectre”, “He?”, “The Diary of a Madman”, “The White Wolf”, and “On the River”.>>24924092There's only a few stories translated to English and also collected in an anthology (a lot of them got translated individually but never collected). Check out Fantasmagoriana: Tales of the Dead if you want to read some of them in English. It is a big shame though that there still isn't a direct translation of all seven original books, that would be sick to read.
