Good Omens, A Reactionary Gothic Novel Anthony Joseph Giannetti

“Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett challenges the stereotypical conventions of Gothic literature and provides a more modern approach to the genre. Conventionally, the Gothic is associated with terrifying creatures such as Frankenstein or Dracula, and remote, dark settings such as abandoned castles or haunted graveyards. These paradigms led to the stagnation of Gothic imagination in the twentieth century in which the clichéd plots of well-known works such as Frankenstein or Dracula were merely reproduced under differing names. This is evidenced in the seemingly innumerable film variations of Dracula and Frankenstein that have been banished into obscurity. “Good Omens”, in large part, is a reaction to this partial decline of the genre. In an attempt to introduce some originality to the genre, Gaiman and Pratchett intentionally abandoned the typical conventions of the Gothic novel. As is significantly noted on the opening page of the novel, “It wasn’t a dark and stormy night” (Gaiman and Pratchett 4). In departing from these conventions, Gaiman and Pratchett helped to develop a sub-genre of Gothic literature known as Gothic satire. Although many Gothic stereotypes are parodied in the novel, it is thematically Gothic...