Mexican Gothic

Content Warning: This section of the guide references sexual assault and rape.

Moreno-Garcia announces the genre of her novel with its title, Mexican Gothic. The general setting, characters, use of terror to entertain readers, and focus on the supernatural are all elements that place the novel firmly in the Gothic genre. On the other hand, Moreno-Garcia’s decision to write a Mexican Gothic signals her intention to renovate the genre. She departs from conventions of the English Gothic by playing with expectations related to gender.

While the traditional English Gothic got its start with 18th-century novelist Horace Walpole, Mexican Gothic is more clearly connected to the work of writers like 19th-century novelist Ann Radcliffe. Radcliffe used terror to entertain her readers, but she also framed seemingly supernatural effects as ultimately rooted in the natural world and included determined female protagonists who challenged traditional notions of femininity.

Another of Moreno-Garcia’s Gothic conventions is the inclusion of dreams, visions, and portrayals of inexplicable compulsions within Noemí. These elements add suspense and terror, and her approach to inspiring terror is not unusual for the genre. These terrors are primarily psychological ones because Noemí cannot fit them into the rational order in which she lives.