Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines fiction, horror, death and Romanticism. Its origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled (in its second edition) A Gothic Story..he genre also influenced American writing to create the Southern Gothic genre, which combines some Gothic sensibilities (such as the grotesque) with the setting and style of the Southern United States. Examples include William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Truman Capote, Flannery O'Connor, Davis Grubb, and Harper Lee.