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The study of Gothic literature
The study of Gothic literature
The study of Gothic literature
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Gothic Description The night sky was dismal, a brutal darkness with only the moon hanging lonely, sightlessly peering through the eerie fog. The spine-chilling wind blowing, whistling and howling as if sending signs of vileness ((whispers of…….?????)). The huge petrifying old oak trees with finger-like branches swaying violently. • Lightning/ thunder • Rain • Moon - white orb - hanging in the lonely sky ………stood a huge old isolated and dilapidated mansion……… The walls were a stormy grey colour with old vines mingled throughout. The windows were cracked and the windows sills have ((rotted????)) . The walkway leading toward the house were cracked with weeds poking out of the cracks. • Entrance gates - creek…..wind blowing - old rusty
...ome the dream of attainment slowly became a nightmare. His house has been abandoned, it is empty and dark, the entryway or doors are locked. The sign of age, rust comes off in his hands. His body is cold, and he has deteriorated physically & emotionally. He is weathered just like his house and life. He is damaged poor, homeless, and the abandoned one.
Gothic elements are used to show suspense, symbolism, and drama, while also setting dark and twisted tones about the story and its characters. In the passage "The Fall of the House of Usher" the author uses Gothic elements to entice the reader with details of ominous character persona and setting.
In today’s literature there are many types of genres that people find fascinating, all the way from fantasy to non-fiction. A very interesting genre is Gothic Fiction, where many elements are used to such as violence, ghosts, monsters and many other dark and mystical elements that make up Gothic Fiction. There are many great authors who are well known for their dark gothic style such as Edgar Poe, who has written the short story “Fall of the House of Usher” and the “Black Cat,” or Horacio Quiroga who has written “Feather Pillow” and a more recent author, Ransom Riggs who has written Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children. These three author’s stories all have gothic elements, such as psychological issues, death and fear that parallel one other which shows a common trend between gothic literatures.
Elements of Southern Gothic Literature Literature comes in all types of styles and one type is Southern Gothic. But what makes a story develop into this type of Southern Gothic style? There are many characteristics that are apparent in literature, so what conditions are distinct that would give them the term Southern Gothic literature? What kind of elements do we call for when trying to find this type of literature? Southern Gothic is a literature that has a style all its own.
us shall you leave this earthly abode. Oh no, you will run by my side
Gothic literature was developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth century of the Gothic era when war and controversy was too common. It received its name after the Gothic architecture that was becoming a popular trend in the construction of buildings. As the buildings of daunting castles and labyrinths began, so did the beginning foundation of Gothic literature. The construction of these buildings will later become an obsession with Gothic authors. For about 300 years before the Renaissance period, the construction of these castles and labyrinths continued, not only in England, but also in Gothic stories (Landau 2014). Many wars and controversies, such as the Industrial Revolution and Revolutionary War, were happening at this time, causing the Gothic literature to thrive (“Gothic Literature” 2011). People were looking for an escape from the real world and the thrill that Gothic literature offered was exactly what they needed. Gothic literature focuses on the horrors and the dark sides to the human brain, such as in Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Gothic literature today, as well as in the past, has been able to separate itself apart from other types of literature with its unique literary devices used to create fear and terror within the reader.
Looking at Gothic Horror The horror genre remains very popular with cinema audiences even nowadays because the special effects today make creatures look even more terrifyingly realistic and it also means that you can film stunts or scenes like somebody turning into a werewolf for example, much more easy to film and much more effective. An example of a modern horror film that consists of very effective special effects is 'Underworld' that makes use of computer generation to make some impressive transformation scenes. The advances in technology give modern horror films an edge over classics and a modern audience expects a lot more from a horror film nowadays.
Southern Gothic Literature is a subgenre of Gothic fiction writing, which takes place in the American South. The Southern Gothic style is one of that employs the topics such as death, bizarre, violent, madness, and supernatural. These tools are used “to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South (Wikipedia).” The view of the South which is self-identified as the “national” or “American” view is basically a colonial Romance, with the rest of the nation identified with the forces of the light and the South with the forces of the darkness (Wacker 107).The authors of Southern Gothic typically use damaged characters to make their stories better, and to show deeper meanings of unpleasant Southern characteristics. These characters are diverse from society due to social, physical or mental disabilities. However, not all characteristics of the characters are bad; it is that a mixture of good and bad is found in most of the characters. Two authors who express the Southern Gothic writing style are William Faulkner, who wrote “A Rose for Emily,” and Flanner O Conner, the author of “Good Country People” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
I had done some fashion work in St. Paul and I had principally gone to Chicago to shoot fashion, but I found myself doing more and more work on the south side, the poverty stricken areas where the blacks lived. That is what got me a Rosenwald Fellowship, the first one ever given in photography. At the time, Jack Delano was in Chicago and he encouraged me to come to the Farm Security Administration.
I peered around through the rain, desperately searching for some shelter, I was drowning out here. The trouble was, I wasn’t in the best part of town, and in fact it was more than a little dodgy. I know this is my home turf but even I had to be careful. At least I seemed to be the only one out here on such an awful night. The rain was so powerfully loud I couldn’t hear should anyone try and creep up on me. I also couldn’t see very far with the rain so heavy and of course there were no street lights, they’d been broken long ago. The one place I knew I could safely enter was the church, so I dashed.
Gothic encompasses many genres of expression. Gothic artists speak out through the forms of literature, architecture, film, sculptures, paintings, and music. Many times, one genre of Gothic inspires another, creating fusing parallels between the two. In this way, each genre of Gothic rises to a more universal level, coalescing into the much broader understanding of Gothic. Gothic writers, such as Mary Shelley, influence Gothic music, as one sees in stylistic devices including diction, setting, and tone.
Gothic storytelling is a form of writing that usually includes horror, death, and romance. People write gothic style for the thrill of having a little bit of scariness in their story. Gothic style can be shown through the imagery and themes. The Fall of the House of Usher and Crimson Peak are two stories that show gothic writing though the imagery of the houses and supernatural.
In the late 1800’s, the many cultural changes in England brought changes to Gothic literature. Instead of situating fear in the outlying regions of the countryside, writers brought terror inside the heart of the city; London. Through the mangling of everyday settings and situations, Gothic tales began to create suspense and terror in its readers through fantastical supernatural events that occur within their neighborhoods. Bram Stoker’s Dracula serves as an example of this shift as Count Dracula moves from the sparsely inhabited countryside to the more populated hunting grounds of London. The “urban gothic” as defined by Kathleen Spencer takes social and cultural trends of the time and creates fictions that center on the insecurities and familiar surroundings of Victorian England. In response, the actions and behaviors of characters change as well. In one example of urban gothic fiction, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson utilizes the norms and expectations of society to create a disturbing narrative that addresses the emerging concerns of decadence in Victorian high society. The advancement of Gothicism from focusing on the supernatural to exposing the unnatural is also evident in Jekyll and Hyde when compared with Walpole’s The Castle of Ortranto. In Walpole’s narrative, terror comes from ghostly or other worldly revenge. The initiation of fear comes from an outside source. In Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, the terror lies within the psychological issues of mankind.
When writing gothic literature authors commonly use similar gothic elements. Main themes from these books and stories include Death, Psychological issues and a fascination with the past. The authors use these elements to draw in readers and add suspense and mystery into their stories. One of the major gothic elements used in these short stories is death and the pain that comes along with the death of a loved one. In the short story “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe the narrator experiences “sorrow for the lost Lenore” (Poe 436) and begins to presumably hallucinate as a response to what happened to him.
Gothic Literature During the 18th and 19th century, America expanded their writing in a new genre called Gothic Literature. This new way of writing allows authors to portray a darker side in their style of writing. Before, this style was offered the only literature written was based more on romance. The choice of evil in any type of writing was extremely sparse and many feel it was deemed insane. Many authors now have the opportunity to grow and make their styles of writing more known.