GOTHIC STYLE IN ARTS AND LITERATURE

CONTENTS

• The notion of “gothic”

• Birth of the gothic novel

• Symbols and archetypes of the gothic novel

• Development of the genre

THE NOTION OF “GOTHIC”

Birth of the gothic novel

(1717-1797)

The Castle of Otranto (1764)

Gothic novel “must have”

• Terror, suspense, mystery• Breathtaking chapter endings• Supernatural (ghosts, magicians, werewolves, devils, monsters)

• Medieval setting (castle, abbey, monastery, ruins)

• Dark secrets and curses• Merciless vilain and virginal maiden

Ann Radcliffe(1764-1823)

Development of the genre

Charlotte Bronte

(1816-1855) Emily Bronte (1818-1848)Anne Bronte (1820-1849)

Satire and parody

Jane Austen “Northanger Abbey” (1818)

In search of a gothic novel?

• Clara Reeve• Matthew Gregory

Lewis• Mary Shelley• Charles Maturin• Sir Walter Scott• G.W.M. Reynolds• Edgar Allan Poe• Elizabeth Gaskell• Sheridan Le Fanu

• Bram Stoker• Charles Dickens• Robert Louis

Stevenson• Oscar Wilde• Henry James• Gaston Leroux• Arthur Conan Doyle• Joyce Carol Oates• Daphne du Maurier