If Gothic Literature Were Real Places… You’ve Already Been There

 

Good evening my lovely friends, did you have a lovely weekend? I had a very relaxing time, it’s another bank holiday weekend here. The weather in the Scriptorium is like the sirocco wind heavy with memory and longing.

On Saturday afternoon, I opened the old photo album and gazed upon the cities that shaped my love of gothic literature. Places I went to that though they were new to me at the time, it seemed that I had already been there.

Lady Cora cat has claimed the chaise longue, so do make yourself at home and let’s talk about gothic cities that you already know and love.

Prague: The City That Watches You Back

On a recent trip to Prague, I was enthralled by the beauty of the architecture, the narrow streets with cobble stones that hold many secrets. Feet walked silently there once, yet their footsteps still seem caught upon the breeze drifting in from the Vltava.

Walking along it is easy to get sidetracked by the magnificent buildings, the crowds but for the gothic soul, a twist here, a turn down a street, and it all changes.

Streets That Remember Footsteps 

Before visiting Prague, I was researching jazz clubs, as you know I love jazz. Jazz and gothic literature go hand in hand. I was also wanting to get lost in the side streets, where characters live. Characters like Unorna from The Witch of Prague (1891) by F. Marion Crawford. An atmospheric novel about an orphan girl with hypnotic powers, and an ability to cast spells. 

When you stand in the Old Town Square, with your eyes closed briefly you can feel Unorna as she tries to steal the Wanderer’s affection instead of helping him, using her powers to find his lost love, Beatrice.

Where Even the Statues Seem to Listen 

Every street seems to have alleyways off to other alleys, then you come to a little square, and a statue who sees you. Its eyes stare ahead when you meet its gaze, but the moment you lower your own, it watches and listens. Did you hear that?  

Paris: The City That Seduces You into Ruin

Paris, a city known for its beauty, its style and its gothic soul. You don’t just visit Paris; you come home to her. She weaves her magic. She gives you time to remember who you were before calling you home, and then when you are ready you come home. But did you leave it too long? Don’t worry if you did, she waits.

Where Desire Outlives Reason 

The narrow-cobbled streets, the large boulevards, the stairs. Beautiful parklands with hundreds of hectares in a city and yet, you step into Montmartre and you have stepped into a different world. 

The Montmartre Cemetery with its ivy and beautiful angels covered in moss. Ready to sit beside you as you walk around the mausoleums. A companion, a guide, willing to give you an introduction to Monsieur Zola or Monsieur Dumas. Or perhaps Monsieur Degas might paint you.  

The Allure of Montmartre  

I love Paris, but not for the fashion, the chic, or the beautiful people who stroll down The Avenue des Champs-Élysées. My love of Paris goes deep into its gothic heart, to the catacombs, Rue du Mont-Cenis, and Le Stryge as he watches over Paris day and night. 

That’s my Paris, my city, that’s the allure of Montmartre.

Vienna: The City That Knows Your Secrets

One of the most beautiful cities that I have ever been to is Vienna. F. Scott Fitzgerald once described buildings in the Great Gatsby, as ‘a long white cake of apartment houses’  In Vienna the buildings are so beautifully decorative, more neoclassical than Gothic, but there are hints of gothic architecture like Votivkirche, a neo gothic church with its towers and an uncanny likeness to Notre Dame cathedral. 

It was after visiting the Votivkirche, that I found myself wandering beautiful side streets, on a mission to find an old bookshop, that I wandered into a law bookstore. After perusing the shelves, and some lithographs in frames, I left and decided that I would have coffee and strudel at the famous Café Central. A place as famous for its atmosphere as the people who frequented it, writers like Alfred Polgar, Arthur Schnitzler. Revolutionaries like Lenin, Trotsky, it is also reputed to have had Freud give a consultation or two with his patients. 

Yes, my excitement was clear, but I got distracted and turned down yet another street and found myself in a different café, but one equally as mysterious and beautiful. 

Some Places Recognize You 

As I mentioned, I wanted to visit the café famous for its past clientele, but when I stepped inside this particular salon, I was greeted with a rush of warm air, Vienna in December is quite cold. So, the warmth was welcome.

I was seated at a lovely table with a view of the raised piano, the piano music drifting through the salon was an aural delight. I gave my order and was putting my notebook on the table when I happened to look up, time seemed to slow, everybody seemed to have slackened their movements. Coming toward me was a tall, an extremely tall gentleman, perhaps 6’6, with close-cropped blond hair of almost military precision. He wore a smart pinstripe suit with a black trenchcoat over his very broad shoulders. He was seated at the table across from mine at the window. Before he opened his newspaper, he bowed his head slightly in a greeting and then opened his paper.

The striking thing about the scene was, this man, didn’t belong in the present, he could just as easily have belonged in the 1940s, the 1840s, or 1740s, even. It was as if the place had remained the same and it had recognised those who had stayed, blended in and remained. 

Some places, have an uncanny knack of recognising you. Gothic cities are like that. They know the souls, the ones who stay when time has moved on.

Thank you for coming on this tour of some amazing Gothic and not so gothic cities with me. My love of literature, particularly gothic fiction has taken me to places that I have read about, and never really left.

I hope that this inspires you to discover these places for yourself. Cities reveal themselves slowly, especially when you wander beyond the familiar streets. 

Until next time, open your mind to the extraordinary, and travel on a journey of discovery through the joy of reading.

Anna.