Solving Misconceptions About American Gothicism: a Journey Through Charles Brockden Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe’s Most Representative

摘要

The aim of this paper is to solve the misconceptions that many people have about the 19th C American Gothic literature. As a starting point, I have decided to carry out an empirical study. I have chosen 100 participants between 18 and 60 years old with L1 Spanish. The methodology is the design of a multiple-choice task by means of the on-line platform Survey Monkey. Questions and answers have been designed in Spanish. Results revealed that participants had not a clear image about what American Gothic literature is.In order to solve it, I have analyzed works by Charles Brockden Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. At the end of the paper, the reader will have a clear image of American Gothic literature, who brought it to America, and you will discover that dark settings, authors’ insights and gore situations are the main characteristics common in any Gothic work.