Review of American Gothic Tales (William Abrahams) by Various

A recommendable collection full of some stories I’ve read before and some unusual choices. Plenty of classics like “The Veldt,” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “A Rose for Emily.

But I preferred my encounters with the less-commonly anthologized ones like “Death in the Woods” by Sherwood Anderson, “The Man of Adamant” by Hawthorne, and “Cat in Glass” by Nancy Etchemendy. I am tempted to search out some stories by the latter mentioned author, since I got genuine creepy vibes from that story of haunted artwork.

I adored “Snow” by John Crowley. A truly melancholic and even humorous offering, touching on the ephemerality of life’s inimitable moments. Happiness is in the interstices. A vine of joy growing through a bedrock of suffering. But in the author’s subtle and elegant style, we are treated to a futuristic tale that will resonate with many readers.

I don’t consider “The Enormous Radio” by John Cheever to be Gothic literature. Doesn’t fit the bill for me. “The Reach” by Stephen King is also hardly Gothic. It’s a pretty engrossing ghost story though. I do not believe that ghost stories should automatically be considered Gothic. The one by Raymond Coover was just weird satire, and the final story, “Subsoil” by Nicholson Baker was nightmarish. I will never look at a Mr. Potato Head the same again. This anthology will surprise and delight, with additional stories by Melville, Le Guin, DeLillo, Peter Straub, Thomas Ligotti, and many more.

I never get much out of E. L. Doctorow or Kathe Koja tales, but maybe I haven’t found the right entry point. The purpose of an anthology is probably to assist readers in finding out which authors they love to read. But it can also point toward the authors you don’t need to read, the ones who don’t infect you with their style.

Steven Millhauser, whose stories are typically overly long, intricate descriptions of places and things, employs his style to great effect in the tale “In the Penny Arcade.” It is possible to write a Gothic story about an arcade, just as it is possible to write a horror story with nothing horrifying in it.