One Foot in Eden

The Southern Gothic literary genre draws inspiration from the Gothic genre. In Gothic fiction, the narrative focuses on supernatural elements, familial secrets, and the interconnection between psychological and social fears. Southern Gothic uses the same elements but adapts them to a Southern setting. Southern Gothic often explores underlying themes such as the history of racism and oppression in the South, highlighting the presence of violence and fear that contrasts sharply with overt expressions of Southern hospitality. The Southern Gothic genre was developed in the early 20th century when the work of Southern authors such as William Faulkner and Flannery O’Conner established and popularized its conventions. Both Faulkner and O’Conner reveal the hidden evils of the South by focusing on racism and the effects of slavery, rather than letting the South hide behind a veneer of Christian goodness. Within this framework, Ron Rash alters the traditional pattern of Southern Gothic narratives by depicting farmers in a rural Appalachian town instead of wealthy Southerners on old plantations. He also juxtaposes his characters’ fear of the supernatural with their Christian moral values to further emphasize key elements of the Southern Gothic genre, and his work focuses on the importance of the land and its history as a reminder of the violence and oppression that lingers in the local culture.