How a teenage encounter turned Kathy George from a bored teen into a Gothic writer
Mad Max, The Cure and Wuthering Heights: how a teenage encounter with a Gothic classic sparked a lifelong obsession.
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A teenage brush with a classic gave KATHY GEORGE a lifelong love of Gothic stories, from Wuthering Heights to Mad Max. Now she has produced her own take on the genre, with a distinctly Australian twist.
My grandparents had a house at the sea and one rainy afternoon when I was 14 and bored, my aunt went to the bookshelf, picked out Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and handed it to me. The rain spattered the windowpanes as I curled up on the window seat and read, but I scarcely heard it. I was not only engrossed, I was hooked. I had discovered Gothic fiction.
When I finished Rebecca, I reached for Jamaica Inn. The stately English home and isolated coastal dwelling, both harbouring dark secrets; the angst-ridden heroines foiled in their struggle to find true happiness; the brooding skies; the craggy clifftops and bleak landscape where nothing was what it seemed. What more could a romantic teenager want?
When I was 16, Wuthering Heights was a setwork book and more than half my class was in love with Heathcliff. Tormented, intense and complex, he remains my favourite literary character to this day. I have a vivid memory of most of us faintly marking the ambiguous paragraph where Cathy and Heathcliff have sex but, to our great disappointment, Miss Young skated nimbly over that part.
I read Great Expectations at school, as well. Little knowing that like Magwitch, the gnarly convict who accosts Pip in the graveyard, I would one day make Australia my home, too. I was appalled when weird Miss Havisham caught fire, when her ruin of a house burned all around her — part and parcel of Gothic writing as fans will know — and I was gutted (spoiler alert) when Estella did not fall in love with Pip. I cried; it was all too sad.
I also fell for Jane Eyre, which encompasses everything you could want in a Gothic novel: an orphan battling to find not only love but her place in life; the enigmatic and prickly Mr Rochester, who we grow to love; his imprisoned and mad first wife; and, to top it off, the cremation of the mysterious house, Thornfield. What’s not to love?
When I studied for a masters in Australian Gothic literature, I discovered an extraordinary body of works. Picnic at Hanging Rock is haunting, subtle and nuanced, and makes you think. Chris Womersley’s beautiful novel Bereft stands out, too. Set in 1919 at the time of the Spanish flu, it concerns a shell-shocked soldier returned from the Great War, and a young girl who may or may not be real. And the Mad Max movies. Yes, they are Gothic. The desolate landscape, the searing heat, the characters who are on the edge of madness.
(I should add here that loving Gothic stories doesn’t mean I’ve ever felt particularly drawn to so-called Gothic music or fashion. Black lipstick doesn’t suit me at all! Although having said that, I do love a bit of The Cocteau Twins or The Cure.)
Now I have written my own Australian Gothic novel, Sargasso — a Wuthering Heights for the modern-day Australian reader. Sargasso is set in an isolated beach house on the Australian coastline, and concerns the obsessive childhood friendship between Hannah and Flint. Flint is a Heathcliff. He is a tortured and complex soul, poor man, and it was an absolute thrill to create him.
I played around with the hallmarks of Gothic writing. Instead of the bleak English climate, I used the harsh Australian sun; in place of the stately English home or dreary mansion, I created a stunning, architect-designed beach house, which becomes a character in the novel.
Over time I’ve become interested in houses and architecture and I do believe certain houses have souls — all that life and living that they are witness to, where does it go, what do they do with it? My house sighs. Its doors bang when there’s no breeze and its staircases creak. It appears to be alive, and it has a secret. Does it burn down? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
I don’t think I am done with the Gothic. I like to think I am just beginning. They say that in times of crisis and anxiety, trauma shows up in the books, films and art that we create. We’ve had enough crises and anxiety in the past year to last a lifetime, and while I’ll be grateful when we can revert to normal, I can’t help loving that there seems to be an awakened interest in the Gothic genre. I think, in fact, I smell it in the ashes blowing towards me!
Kathy George’s Sargasso, published by HarperCollins Australia, is on sale now. If dark and gripping is your thing, try our Book of the Month for February: Girl A, by Abigail Dean. Head to booktopia.com.au and enter code GIRLA at checkout to receive 30 per cent off the RRP of $29.99. And share your literary loves at the Sunday Book Club group on Facebook.
Originally published as How a teenage encounter turned Kathy George from a bored teen into a Gothic writer
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