Gothic Literature

● History● Main Elements● Expressions● Famous Writers● Influence

History & Origin

● late 18th century authors imitate medieval age

● political, social, and theological motives

● 1764 – Horace Walpole's „Otranto“ to be first Gothic Novel

● Ann Radcliffe: developing a standard in Gothic Novel

„I rushed out of the court in agony. The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom, and would not forego their hold. . . .“

Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto

History & Origin● at the same time: development of „roman noir“ in

France and „Schauerroman“ in Germany

● influenced by writers like J.W. von Goethe or E.T.A. Hoffmann

● 1794: „The Mysteries of Udolpho“ regarded as the best example of eighteenth-century fiction, making Radcliffe well known

● 1818: Mary Shelley's „Frankenstein“ - progressive work, linking gothic elements with romantic style

● English Gothic gave impact to American and French Gothic

Expressions

Gothic Literature expressed...

● the fear of changes in politics or religion● the wish to return to Medieval Age, times of fantasy● the feeling of the failure to survive in the modern world● emphasized romantical feelings● deepest fears and unspeakable evils

„'These walls,' said he, 'were once the seat of luxury and vice. They exhibited a singular instance of the retribution of Heaven, and were from that period forsaken, and abandoned to decay.' His words excited my curiosity, and I enquired further concerning their meaning.“

Ann Radcliffe, A Sicilian Romance

Main Elements

Gothic Literature comes along with a pleasing sort of terror and an extension of essentially Romantic literary pleasures, featuring:

„During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens...There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart- an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime.“

Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

Main Elements

● pleasurably terrifying experiences in ancient castles (both psychological and physical)

● haunted houses, ghosts, supernatural mystery

● darkness, death, decay, the macabre

● secrets, hereditary curses and of course some blood

Famous Writers & Books

English Gothic:

● Horace Walpole (1717-1797, „The Castle of Otranto“)

● Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823, „Mysteries of Udolpho“)

● Matthew Gregory Lewis (1775-1818, „The Monk“)

U.S. Gothic:

● Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849, „The Fall of the House of Usher“)

● Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864, „Mosses from an Old Manse and other stories“)

Influences and Neo-Gothic● Influences on later romantic novels (Lord Byron, John

Keats)

● Writers like Charles Dickens, having read gothic novels in childhood, were inspired

● Heavy Influences on Horror Novels in the 20th century (Stephen King,...)

● Reprints by Science-Fiction magazines

● themes re-used in music such as Gothic, Heavy Metal and Black Metal

● Name- and idea-giving to the gothic subculture

Sources● enotes.com/gothic-literature/

● en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction

● litgothic.com/index_fl.html

● de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_novel

● gutenberg.org/wiki/Gothic_Fiction_(Bookshelf)

● wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/romantic/topic_2/welcome.htm

● Edgar Allan Poe – The Fall of the House of Usher and other Tales