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After

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Washington Irving1820

5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Premature Burial

    Edgar Allan Poe2013

    A narrator obsessed with taphephobia recounts historical instances of people being interred while alive before describing his own experience.

    playful → tense, still gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

playful → dreamlike

3 more ↓

  • Gormenghast

    Mervyn Peake1950

    A young heir and a social climber navigate the rigid rituals of a decaying, labyrinthine castle. The prose is dense and descriptive.

    playful → dark, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Racconti [55 stories]

    Edgar Allan Poe2011

    A collection of 55 stories featuring unreliable narrators and gothic settings. Themes include obsession, premature burial, and the macabre.

    playful → dreamlike, still gothic

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    James Hogg1824

    A religious fanatic becomes convinced he is predestined for salvation and commits crimes at the behest of a mysterious stranger.

    playful → cold

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+3

Faster

3 more ↓

  • The Rising

    Brian Keene2003

    A father travels across an apocalypse where the dead are possessed by malevolent, intelligent demons. The world is ending permanently.

    playful → bleak

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+3

  • Shattered

    Dean Koontz1973

    A man and his future stepson drive across America while being stalked by the woman's vengeful ex-husband.

    playful → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+1

  • The Executioner

    Chris Carter2010

    A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer who murders victims using their specific phobias. Each crime scene features a blood-scrawled number.

    playful → tense

    pace+2·prose-2·bleak+2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    Same playful register

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

  • Absalom, Absalom!

    William Faulkner1936

    The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.

    playful → elegiac

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3

  • Either/Or

    Søren Kierkegaard1992

    A collection of papers presents two life philosophies: the aesthetic pursuit of pleasure and the ethical commitment to duty.

    playful → meditative

    pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • The Monk

    Matthew Gregory Lewis

    A celebrated monk is seduced by a woman in disguise and descends into a cycle of rape, murder, and sorcery. He eventually makes a pact with Satan.

    playful → bleak, still gothic

    pace+1·prose0·bleak+3

  • The House Next Door

    Anne Rivers Siddons1978

    A couple watches as a newly built house next door causes a series of tragedies for its occupants. The house preys on the flaws of those inside.

    playful → dread, still gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+3

  • The Elementals

    Michael McDowell1981

    Two families vacation at a coastal estate where one of three houses is slowly being buried by sand and inhabited by a malevolent presence.

    playful → dread, still gothic

    pace0·prose0·bleak+3