Novel and Short Story in Southern Gothic
Southern Gothic is most closely associated with prose fiction, as in novels and short stories. For one thing, Southern Gothic is partly inspired by Gothic literature, and most Gothic literature was also written as prose fiction.
The most famous works of Southern Gothic literature are novels like William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury or Carson McCullers's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, as well as short stories like Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" or Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
As always, there's totally an important exception: Tennessee Williams. Williams was a playwright, and though a lot of his work deals with familiar Southern Gothic themes—decay, for instance, is a big one in his work—he mostly wrote, well, plays.
Shmoops:
William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is one of the most famous (and awesome) novels in the Southern Gothic tradition. Explore why it made such a splash here.
Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is a classic Southern Gothic short story. It deals with a whole range of themes, from society and class to family. Check out these themes here.