A Brief History of Weird Fiction

Here is a brief overview of weird fiction’s evolution:

Beginnings: As the nineteenth century brought about the golden age of ghost stories, another branch of literature found inspiration in the supernatural, which fell outside of the expected Gothic tale that blended elements of romance, horror, and death. These weird stories were examples of paranormal fiction containing twists or subversions of expectations, branching out from the traditional tale of the age to add a sense of dread and mystique.
Poe: In the mid-nineteenth century, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first authors to write in a dark style different from the common fiction styles of the era.
Pulp magazines: The popularity of weird fiction hit its initial peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as new horror authors found inspiration in earlier works. The American pulp magazine Weird Tales published many of these types of stories between the 1920s and 1950s.
Lovecraft: In 1937, H.P. Lovecraft popularized the term “weird fiction” in a series of essays, categorizing the work of himself and others (notably Poe) within this specific subgenre. Bolstered by a growing platform, the weird fiction movement continued to gain favor with other writers.
The New Weird: By the 1990s, the weird fiction movement experienced a shift, giving birth to the ‘the new weird’ literary subgenre. ‘The new weird’ is a more recent speculative fiction branch with a more realistic and complex fantasy tone.

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