By Megan Powell, Magali Prel, and Monique Smith
October is synonymous with Black History Month, a chance to celebrate Black achievements and provide an important reminder of places where systemic racism persists. Black History Month honours influential Black authors who shed light on why Black literature is important, authentically and accurately reflecting on and helping understand Black people’s experiences. October is also synonymous with Halloween, and to combine the two, the classics team has compiled a collection of gothic literature written by Black authors.
Gothic literature aims to remind the reader that the supernatural is always accompanied by uncertainty. An important gothic convention is the uncanny, which is used to bring the supernatural in proximity to the real world. With themes of race, sexuality, family or gender, these gothic classics are bound to give goosebumps whilst providing important commentary on the necessity of having Black voices in the literary world.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beloved is a novel first published in 1987 by American novelist Toni Morrison. Morrison’s writing is often recognised as lyrical and emotionally intense, infused with historical consciousness expressed by Black voices. Beloved is an important novel to learn about and understand the horrors and lasting impact of slavery.
It is set after the American Civil War, focusing on the life of Sethe, an escaped enslaved woman who fled from a plantation in Kentucky. She finds freedom in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her mother-in-law and children. However, the house they live in is haunted by the ghost of Sethe’s dead daughter, who died as a baby. The child’s presence is unsettling, and violent occurrences drive away Sethe’s sons. When a woman called Beloved arrives at the house, Sethe has a strange connection to her and this new presence disrupts the household and family.
Beloved is a haunting and powerful novel that discusses themes of memory, trauma, motherhood and the emotional and psychological scars left by slavery. Morrison examines the interconnection between memory, trauma and healing amid a painful and violent history, making it a monumental work of American literature. Due to its sensitive content, it is recommended to check trigger warnings before reading this novel.
Quicksand by Nella Larsen
Quicksand is the first novel by American author Nella Larsen, initially published in 1928. It is a work that explores cross-cultural, interracial and feminist themes.
The protagonist is the well-educated, biracial Helga Crane, who struggles to find her identity in a world of racialised crises in the twenties. Helga is the daughter of a Danish mother and a West Indian father, similar to Larsen’s own parentage. The novel gives us a glimpse into the dichotomy of biracial identity and the divergence into two vastly different worlds as the protagonist travels through uniquely different cultural spaces ranging from Jazz Age Harlem to Copenhagen.
Larsen is one of the few writers to explore racism and racial identity from a biracial perspective. As well as tackling racism, Larsen also uses Quicksand to investigate the problem of sexism, particularly society’s sexual objectification and perceived exotism of Black women.
Larsen brilliantly brings the grey areas of life to the forefront and gives voice to those who find themselves balancing between the Black and the white sides of society.
Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler
Published in 2005, Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction novel Fledgling employs the gothic genre, particularly the vampire plot. Butler’s final novel conveys another powerful message, adding to her prolific repertoire and earning this writer great esteem throughout the literary canon. In crossing the boundary between science fiction and the supernatural, Butler uses vampiric representations to identify the questions of morality and expose the limitations of “otherness.”
Shori is part of the Ina species, and her external appearance is like that of a young ten-year-old African American, even though she is fifty-three, presenting the qualities of the Ina. Butler abides by the science fiction rules of representation in building the history of the Ina. She adheres to a social commentary, with the connection between the otherness of the species in the novel becoming an allegory for race. Furthering the genre of vampire novels, Butler is original in depicting her Ina species as they have a symbiotic relationship with their human prey.
As the female pioneer in this genre, Butler’s penchant for science fiction is unmatched and Fledgling offers a captivating read to celebrate both Black History Month and Halloween.