Many British and French Gothic novels are being rediscovered today that are part of the second Gothic Golden Age, an age too often overlooked, but integral to the evolution of the Gothic. While nationalism influences these works, they are a melting pot of ideas and styles from both nations. Consequently, the only way to truly understand the Gothic tradition in British literature is to understand that tradition in French literature and vice-versa.
In Vampire Grooms and Spectre Brides, Tyler R. Tichelaar, PhD, argues there is, in fact, no such thing as French Gothic or British Gothic literature, or even British or French literature during the nineteenth century. Works like The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame can be better understood when placed within the context of the blended tradition since novels in both languages and in translation continually crisscrossed the English Channel, only to return in new iterations throughout the century. From John Polidori to Paul Féval and Bram Stoker, and from Mrs. Radcliffe to Eugène Sue and Charles Dickens, the Gothic produced some of the strangest, most fascinating, and most significant novels ever written.
In bringing together these works, some only recently translated or not fully translated at all, Vampire Grooms and Spectre Brides provides a missing context that will help redefine Gothic literature for future generations and serve as a blood transfusion to some works long thought dead.
British and French authors discussed include: Sade * Radcliffe * Lewis * Scott * Polidori * Bérard * Nodier * Hugo * Ainsworth * Quinet * Sue * Féval * Reynolds * Dumas * Bulwer-Lytton * Dickens * Nizet * Verne * Stoker * and many more!
Tichelaar, Tyler R.: - Tyler R. Tichelaar has a PhD in Literature from Western Michigan University and Bachelor and Master's Degrees in English from Northern Michigan University. He is the owner of Marquette Fiction, his own publishing company, and of Superior Book Productions, a professional editing, proofreading, and book layout company. He has served as president and vice president of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association, has been a book reviewer for Reader Views, Marquette Monthly, and UP Book Review, and regularly blogs about Gothic and Arthurian literature and Upper Michigan history.Tyler published his first novel Iron Pioneers: The Marquette Trilogy, Book One in 2006. Since then he has published twenty-two titles. In 2009, Tyler won first place in the historical fiction category in the Reader Views Literary Awards for his novel Narrow Lives. He has since sponsored that contest, offering the Tyler R. Tichelaar Award for Historical Fiction. In 2011, Tyler was awarded the Marquette County Outstanding Writer Award, and the same year, he received the Barb Kelly Award for Historical Preservation for his efforts to promote Marquette history. In 2014, his play Willpower was produced by the Marquette Regional History Center, with the assistance of a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council. Tyler has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his short stories. In 2021, his biography of518 Vampire Grooms and Spectre BridesOjibwa Chief Charles Kawbawgam, titled Kawbawgam: The Chief, The Legend, The Man, was named a UP Notable Book.A lifelong love for Gothic literature led Tyler to write his doctoral dissertation on nineteenth-century British Gothic literature. It was published in an expanded form in 2012 as The Gothic Wanderer: From Transgression to Redemption by Modern History Press. Vampire Grooms and Spectre Brides: The Marriage of French and British Gothic Literature is a companion work to his earlier book. Tyler has presented papers on Gothic and Arthurian literature at the Michigan Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Bulwer-Lytton Conference, and the Medieval Studies Conference. He also taught composition and literature at Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, and Clemson University before becoming self-employed as an author and editor.In his spare time, Tyler enjoys reading Gothic and many other types of literature, living in beautiful Upper Michigan, walking along Lake Superior, doing jigsaw puzzles, and traveling to historical and Gothic places like Bulwer-Lytton's Knebworth House, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Tower of London, and Bran Castle in Romania. He plans to write many more books.
