What is a gothic novel? Contemporary gothic novels

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The concept of "Gothic" in literature defines a genre that combines horror, romance, fantasy and adventure. The genre was pioneered by the English writer Horace Walpole and his novel The Castle of Otranto.

Origin of the term

Today, the term "Gothic" is associated with many different trends in art, history and culture. It directly relates to architecture, literature, painting and music. However, the original meaning of the term comes, of course, from the name of the Germanic people - the Goths.

The Goths were one of many related, but very militant Germanic tribes. They were almost always at war with their neighbors and only joined forces with them to fight against the Romans. The pinnacle of their glory was the 5th century, when the tribes of the western and eastern Goths defeated Rome and conquered most of Spain. After that, the history of the tribe was absorbed by the history of the countries they conquered.

It took many centuries before the term "Gothic" began to mean anything else. During the Renaissance, when classical culture received its rebirth, "Gothic" was called the architectural style of the Middle Ages. A few centuries later they began to call it thata certain type of novel, most likely because the authors preferred old gothic-style buildings with a mysterious history as the setting.

History of the gothic novel

The gothic novel emerged from the early wave of romanticism in the middle of the 18th century and gained extraordinary popularity in the 19th century. He was born in England as a reaction to the strict formal style of the novels of the time.

However, you should not take the Gothic novel as the brainchild of romanticism. Its roots go much deeper into history, touching on medieval horror stories, folk tales, beliefs and sayings. Modern gothic novels also draw on these long-standing sources of inspiration, as is evident in the work of Stephen King or Anne Rice.

The first Gothic novel was Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, first published in 1764. The author himself said that he was interested in both modern and medieval novels, but in both genres Walpole found flaws that he tried to get rid of in The Castle of Otranto. According to him, the traditional medieval novel is too whimsical, and the modern one is too realistic. However, critics took the innovation with hostility, explaining that such a mixture of fiction, history and fictitious documents goes against acceptable literary principles.

Despite professional criticism, the Gothic novel in English literature has gained extraordinary popularity, whichthen influenced the emergence of a similar genre in German (Schauerroman) and French literature (Georgia and Roman Noir).

The gothic novel was called fantastic in Russia, and the writers who enriched this genre included Pushkin (“The Queen of Spades”), Lermontov (“A Hero of Our Time”) and Gogol (“Viy”, “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka ).

Elements of a gothic novel

The main features of the Gothic novel during its formation were emphasized by the boundaries of romanticism permitted in literature. Despite the desire of this cultural movement to excite feelings and excite emotions, romantic literature of the mid-18th century was too strict in terms of modernity.

The writers of gothic novels sought to shake up the established structure of the literature of the time by focusing on darker and more unexplored topics that could not be revealed using acceptable and acceptable methods. Fear, violence, mystery - these are all elements that need additional literary means. The Gothic novel in English literature forced the reader to go beyond the boundaries of the known and explainable, it was built more on mood, perception, on unconscious, but strong emotional impulses and hidden interests.

According to many critics, the gothic novel was a description of a fallen world, and this very world was shown to the reader using the main elements of the traditional novel, which, however, differ greatly in characteristics.

Location

Almost all gothic novels rely on the setting to provide the emotional content of the story. Therefore, descriptions of places, landscapes, weather and other elements of the environment play a very important role in this genre.

A typical gothic novel setting not only provokes feelings of fear and horror, but also describes the withering of the world as a whole. Old buildings, ruins, abandoned places say that once life was in full swing here, and now all that remains is only a shadow of the past, fraught with its history and keeping forgotten secrets.

Main characters

The characters in gothic novels form a kind of archetype, and there is a pattern of their characterization that fits most stories.

The protagonist is usually lonely, he is often in exile or imprisonment - of his own free will or against it. The antihero is the embodiment of evil - a state achieved by him through his own fault, as a result of a series of actions and decisions, or through the fault of others. The protagonist of works of this genre is often a wanderer wandering the Earth, being in eternal exile, which can represent a kind of divine punishment.

Storyline

Often the plot of a gothic novel reflects the withering of the world. The protagonist, tired of loneliness/imprisonment/exile, faces evil, often in the form of temptation or deceit. Temptation prompts the hero to go against himself, commit sin and end his fall. For example, in Ambrosio, or the Monk by M. G. Lewis, the protagonist is an exemplary monk of the Spanish order who is seduced by Matilda, who is actually a demon sent for the monk's soul.

Main Topics

Despite the fact that the main themes of the Gothic genre are the supernatural and the unattainable, among them the main theme of all romanticism is clearly traced - the problem of the "extra person", a kind of Byronic hero eaten up by contradictions.

One has only to look beyond the veil of horror and the supernatural, as the hero becomes an understandable person who, like everyone else, is characterized by fear and doubt. It's just that gothic literature tends to greatly exaggerate all the fears that a person encounters daily.

Criticism of Gothic literature

The gothic novel has been subjected to various criticisms during its existence. Literary figures often associated elements of the gothic novel with hidden feelings and desires of a person. The new century and the development of psychoanalysis gave rise to parallels between the Gothic elements and the human subconscious.

According to Davis Morris, this genre - the gothic novel - provides an outlet for those emotions, desires and fears that a person usually seeks to control, hide and ignore. The struggle of the protagonist with supernatural evil is a metaphor for the very real struggle that a person leads with objectionable and hidden thoughts.

Women's Gothic Literature

The English Gothic novel, with its castles, dungeons, dark forests and secret paths, was the birth of a unique phenomenon for English literature of the time. Women's Gothic literature, pioneered by Anne Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and Charlotte Bronte, allowed women writers to express professional and social ambitions, as well as their sexual desires, for the first time. The loose style of gothic romance allowed the ladies to raise issues such as gender hierarchy, patriarchal values and the sexual repression of women in conservative English society.

It was women's novels that introduced such a literary device as "an explanation of the supernatural." This cunning technique allowed the ladies to write novels similar in appearance, mood and often content to Gothic ones, but they, however, described a completely real life.

Gothic influence on Romantic poets

The best Gothic novels had a tangible impact on the English Romantic poets as well. The famous works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - "The Tale of the Old Mariner" and "Christabel", as well as the mystical works of John Keats "St. Agnes' Eve" and "Isabella" have similar Gothic elements. Features of the Gothic novel, such as visions, ghosts, storms and terrifying descriptions of gloomy landscapes, are borrowed by poets from the works of Anne Radcliffe.

Percy Bysshe Shelley's first published work was a gothicZastroci is a novel about an exile obsessed with the idea of revenge on his father and half-brother. A year later, the second novel "Saint Irvine" was published, the main character of which was an alchemist who wants to uncover the secret of eternal life. Both works were a rather crude and shallow version of the Gothic novel, but they influenced not only the career of Shelley himself, but also his future wife, who became the author of Frankenstein.

Not the last role in the development of the Gothic genre was played by the famous Lord Byron. His abandoned mistress described the poet as a "crazy, evil and dangerous" person, which became the main features of Childe Harold's alter ego, the prototype of the Byronic hero.

In addition, Byron often held competitions for the best mystery story among his circle of writer friends, including himself, the Shelleys and John Polidori. According to critics, it was these meetings that led to the creation of "Frankenstein" and Polidori's story "The Vampire".

Victorian era and goth reimagining

By the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, the popularity of the gothic novel had declined greatly, partly due to negative criticism, partly due to the popularity of historical novels by W alter Scott. However, Victorian literature was in for a rethinking of the Gothic genre.

The most important innovator in Gothic literature is considered to be Edgar Alan Poe. The writer paid as much attention to the psychology of his characters as to the traditional elements of the genre. Being greatLiterary critic, Poe was well aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of the Gothic, so he focused on the state of mind of his characters. In his opinion, horror was a literary topic worthy of study.

Changes have also taken place in the women's gothic novel. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights has all the right elements: a dark setting, ghosts, and a Byronic hero in Heathcliff. However, the main character of the novel is not just imprisoned, but experiences all the injustice of a patriarchal society and sexual discrimination. The protagonists of the Brontë sisters brought a social dimension to the women's gothic novel.

Genre has also strongly influenced such characteristic writers of the era as Charles Dickens. He stood at the foundations of the gothic literature called "urban gothic novel". On the pages of his works, the streets of London become that very gothic oppressive scene, evoking horror and a desire to escape. Works such as Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Bleak House took the action of the gothic novel to the city's avenues and alleyways.

The writers of the late nineteenth century followed in the footsteps of Dickens. The end of the Victorian era ushered in a new wave of popularity for the urban gothic novel, resurrected by the works of Robert Louis Stevenson (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Henry James (The Turn of the Screw), and Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray).

The most famous antagonist of the Gothic genre - Count Dracula - appeared on the pagesnovel of the same name by Bram Stoker. Stoker brought Transylvania and Eastern Europe in general to the attention of mystic writers, making the region a favorite setting for gothic novels.

Modern Gothic novels

Many contemporary science fiction writers and representatives of many other genres use gothic elements in their works. Gothic horror novels, of which Anne Rice is a prominent example, skillfully combine the traditions of the 18th century with the freedom of literary expression characteristic of modern literature. Gothic, in one way or another, are some of the novels of Stephen King and the work of Daphne du Maurier. A certain gothic charm is enjoyed by numerous rethinking of stories about vampires. Also, some works by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett and even Dan Brown can be attributed to the gothic genre.