Eighteenth Century Literature: Subverting Beauty and Family for Women in the Novels of Sarah Scott

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Radcliffe's novels, above all The Mysteries of Udolpho , were best-sellers. However, along with most novels at the time, they were looked down upon by many well-educated people as sensationalist nonsense. Radcliffe also provided an aesthetic for the genre in an influential article "On the Supernatural in Poetry", [13] examining the distinction and correlation between horror and terror in Gothic fiction, [14] utilizing the uncertainties of terror in her works to produce a model of the uncanny.

Romantic literary movements developed in continental Europe concurrent with the development of the Gothic novel. These works were often more horrific and violent than the English Gothic novel. Matthew Lewis ' lurid tale of monastic debauchery, black magic and diabolism entitled The Monk offered the first continental novel to follow the conventions of the Gothic novel. Though Lewis's novel could be read as a pastiche of the emerging genre, self-parody had been a constituent part of the Gothic from the time of the genre's inception with Walpole's Otranto.

Lewis's portrayal of depraved monks, sadistic inquisitors and spectral nuns [17] —and his scurrilous view of the Catholic Church—appalled some readers, but The Monk was important in the genre's development. In this book, the hapless protagonists are ensnared in a web of deceit by a malignant monk called Schedoni and eventually dragged before the tribunals of the Inquisition in Rome, leading one contemporary to remark that if Radcliffe wished to transcend the horror of these scenes, she would have to visit hell itself. The Marquis de Sade used a subgothic framework for some of his fiction, notably The Misfortunes of Virtue and Eugenie de Franval , though the Marquis himself never thought of his like this.

Sade critiqued the genre in the preface of his Reflections on the novel stating that the Gothic is "the inevitable product of the revolutionary shock with which the whole of Europe resounded". Contemporary critics of the genre also noted the correlation between the French Revolutionary Terror and the "terrorist school" of writing represented by Radcliffe and Lewis. German gothic fiction is usually described by the term Schauerroman "shudder novel". Lewis as The Bravo of Venice in The Ritterroman focuses on the life and deeds of the knights and soldiers, but features many elements found in the gothic novel, such as magic, secret tribunals, and medieval setting.

Benedikte Naubert's novel Hermann of Unna is seen as being very close to the Schauerroman genre. While the term Schauerroman is sometimes equated with the term "Gothic novel", this is only partially true. Both genres are based on the terrifying side of the Middle Ages, and both frequently feature the same elements castles, ghost, monster, etc. However, Schauerroman 's key elements are necromancy and secret societies and it is remarkably more pessimistic than the British Gothic novel.

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All those elements are the basis for Friedrich von Schiller's unfinished novel The Ghost-Seer — During the next two decades, the most famous author of Gothic literature in Germany was polymath E. Russian Gothic was not, until recently, viewed as a critical label by Russian critics. If used, the word "gothic" was used to describe mostly early works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Most critics simply used the tags such as "Romanticism" and "fantastique". The first Russian author whose work can be described as gothic fiction is considered to be Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin. Although many of his works feature gothic elements, the first one which is considered to belong purely in the "gothic fiction" label is Ostrov Borngolm Island of Bornholm from The term "gothic" is sometimes also used to describe the ballads of Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky particularly "Ludmila" and "Svetlana" Also, the following poems are considered to belong in the gothic genre: The other authors from the romanticism era include: Some parts of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov's " A Hero of Our Time " are also considered to belong in the gothic genre, but they lack the supernatural elements of the other Russian gothic stories.

The key author of the transition from romanticism to realism, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol , is also one of the most important authors of the romanticism, and has produced a number of works which qualify as gothic fiction. His works include three short story collections, of which each one features a number of stories in the gothic genre, as well as many stories with gothic elements. The last story is probably the most famous, having inspired at least eight movie adaptations two of which are now considered to be lost , one animated movie, two documentaries, and a video game.

Gogol's work is very different from western European gothic fiction, as he is influenced by Ukrainian folklore, Cossack lifestyle and, being a very religious man, Orthodox Christianity. After Gogol, the Russian literature saw the rise of the realism, but many authors wrote stories belonging to the gothic fiction territory. Another Russian realist classic, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky , incorporated gothic elements in many of his works, although none of his novels are seen as purely gothic. Also, Grigori Alexandrovich Machtet wrote the story "Zaklyatiy kazak".

Gothic fiction

During the last years of the Russian Empire , in the early 20th century, many authors continued to write in the gothic fiction genre. Further contributions to the Gothic genre were seen in the work of the Romantic poets. Shelley published a second Gothic novel in , St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian , about an alchemist who seeks to impart the secret of immortality.

The poetry, romantic adventures, and character of Lord Byron— characterised by his spurned lover Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad and dangerous to know"—were another inspiration for the Gothic, providing the archetype of the Byronic hero. Byron was also the host of the celebrated ghost-story competition involving himself, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley , and John William Polidori at the Villa Diodati on the banks of Lake Geneva in the summer of This latter story revives Lamb's Byronic "Lord Ruthven", but this time as a vampire.

The Vampyre has been accounted by cultural critic Christopher Frayling as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written and spawned a craze for vampire fiction and theatre and latterly film which has not ceased to this day. A late example of traditional Gothic is Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin , which combines themes of anti-Catholicism with an outcast Byronic hero.

By the Victorian era, Gothic had ceased to be the dominant genre, and was dismissed by most critics. Indeed, the form's popularity as an established genre had already begun to erode with the success of the historical romance popularised by Sir Walter Scott. However, in many ways, it was now entering its most creative phase. Recently readers and critics have begun to reconsider a number of previously overlooked Penny Blood or " penny dreadful " serial fictions by such authors as George W.

Reynolds who wrote a trilogy of Gothic horror novels: Faust , Wagner the Wehr-wolf and The Necromancer Another famous penny dreadful of this era was the anonymously authored Varney the Vampire Varney is the tale of the vampire Sir Francis Varney, and introduced many of the tropes present in vampire fiction recognizable to modern audiences — it was the first story to refer to sharpened teeth for a vampire.

An important and innovative reinterpreter of the Gothic in this period was Edgar Allan Poe. Poe focused less on the traditional elements of gothic stories and more on the psychology of his characters as they often descended into madness. Poe's critics complained about his "German" tales, to which he replied, 'that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul'.

Poe, a critic himself, believed that terror was a legitimate literary subject. His story " The Fall of the House of Usher " explores these 'terrors of the soul' while revisiting classic Gothic tropes of aristocratic decay, death, and madness. The influence of Ann Radcliffe is also detectable in Poe's " The Oval Portrait " , including an honorary mention of her name in the text of the story. Elizabeth Gaskell 's tales "The Doom of the Griffiths" "Lois the Witch", and "The Grey Woman" all employ one of the most common themes of Gothic fiction, the power of ancestral sins to curse future generations, or the fear that they will.

The gloomy villain, forbidding mansion, and persecuted heroine of Sheridan Le Fanu 's Uncle Silas shows the direct influence of both Walpole's Otranto and Radcliffe's Udolpho. Le Fanu's short story collection In a Glass Darkly includes the superlative vampire tale Carmilla , which provided fresh blood for that particular strand of the Gothic and influenced Bram Stoker 's vampire novel Dracula According to literary critic Terry Eagleton , Le Fanu, together with his predecessor Maturin and his successor Stoker, form a subgenre of Irish Gothic, whose stories, featuring castles set in a barren landscape, with a cast of remote aristocrats dominating an atavistic peasantry, represent in allegorical form the political plight of colonial Ireland subjected to the Protestant Ascendancy.

The genre was also a heavy influence on more mainstream writers, such as Charles Dickens , who read Gothic novels as a teenager and incorporated their gloomy atmosphere and melodrama into his own works, shifting them to a more modern period and an urban setting, including Oliver Twist —8 , Bleak House Mighall and Great Expectations — These pointed to the juxtaposition of wealthy, ordered and affluent civilisation next to the disorder and barbarity of the poor within the same metropolis.

Bleak House in particular is credited with seeing the introduction of urban fog to the novel, which would become a frequent characteristic of urban Gothic literature and film Mighall His most explicitly Gothic work is his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood , which he did not live to complete and which was published in unfinished state upon his death in The mood and themes of the Gothic novel held a particular fascination for the Victorians, with their morbid obsession with mourning rituals, mementos , and mortality in general.

The s saw the revival of the Gothic as a powerful literary form allied to fin de siecle , which fictionalized contemporary fears like ethical degeneration and questioned the social structures of the time.

Stoker's book also established Transylvania and Eastern Europe as the locus classicus of the Gothic. In America, two notable writers of the end of the 19th century, in the Gothic tradition, were Ambrose Bierce and Robert W. Bierce's short stories were in the horrific and pessimistic tradition of Poe. Chambers, though, indulged in the decadent style of Wilde and Machen, even to the extent of his inclusion of a character named 'Wilde' in his The King in Yellow.

The conventions of Gothic literature did not spring from nowhere into the mind of Horace Walpole. The components that would eventually combine into Gothic literature had a rich history by the time Walpole perpetrated his literary hoax in Gothic literature is often described with words such as "wonder" and "terror. The necessity for this came as the known world was beginning to become more explored, reducing the inherent geographical mysteries of the world. The edges of the map were being filled in, and no one was finding any dragons.

The human mind required a replacement. The setting of most early Gothic works was a medieval one, but this had been a common theme long before Walpole. In Britain especially, there was a desire to reclaim a shared past. This obsession frequently led to extravagant architectural displays, and sometimes mock tournaments were held.

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It was not merely in literature that a medieval revival made itself felt, and this too contributed to a culture ready to accept a perceived medieval work in The Gothic often uses scenery of decay, death, and morbidity to achieve its effects especially in the Italian Horror school of Gothic. However, Gothic literature was not the origin of this tradition; indeed it was far older.

The corpses, skeletons, and churchyards so commonly associated with the early Gothic were popularized by the Graveyard Poets , and were also present in novels such as Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year , which contains comical scenes of plague carts and piles of plague corpses. Even earlier, poets like Edmund Spenser evoked a dreary and sorrowful mood in such poems as Epithalamion.

All of the aspects of pre-Gothic literature mentioned above occur to some degree in the Gothic, but even taken together, they still fall short of true Gothic. Bloom notes that this aesthetic must take the form of a theoretical or philosophical core, which is necessary to "sav[e] the best tales from becoming mere anecdote or incoherent sensationalism. These sections can be summarized thus: The birth of the Gothic was also probably influenced by political upheaval beginning with the English Civil War and culminating in a Jacobite rebellion more recent to the first Gothic novel A collective political memory and any deep cultural fears associated with it likely contributed to early Gothic villain characters as literary representatives of defeated Tory barons or Royalists "rising" from their political graves in the pages of the early Gothic to terrorize the bourgeois reader of late eighteenth-century England.

The excesses, stereotypes, and frequent absurdities of the traditional Gothic made it rich territory for satire. Jane Austen's novel is valuable for including a list of early Gothic works since known as the Northanger Horrid Novels. These books, with their lurid titles, were once thought to be the creations of Jane Austen's imagination, though later research by Michael Sadleir and Montague Summers confirmed that they did actually exist and stimulated renewed interest in the Gothic.

They are currently all being reprinted. Cherry Wilkinson, a fatuous female protagonist with a history of novel-reading, fancies herself as the heroine of a Gothic romance. She perceives and models reality according to the stereotypes and typical plot structures of the Gothic novel, leading to a series of absurd events culminating in catastrophe. After her downfall, her affectations and excessive imaginations become eventually subdued by the voice of reason in the form of Stuart, a paternal figure, under whose guidance the protagonist receives a sound education and correction of her misguided taste.

James , Hugh Walpole , and Marjorie Bowen. In America pulp magazines such as Weird Tales reprinted classic Gothic horror tales from the previous century, by such authors as Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle , and Edward Bulwer-Lytton and printed new stories by modern authors featuring both traditional and new horrors. Lovecraft who also wrote a conspectus of the Gothic and supernatural horror tradition in his Supernatural Horror in Literature as well as developing a Mythos that would influence Gothic and contemporary horror well into the 21st century.

From these, the Gothic genre per se gave way to modern horror fiction , regarded by some literary critics as a branch of the Gothic [64] although others use the term to cover the entire genre. Gothic Romances of this description became popular during the s, s, and s, with authors such as Phyllis A. Many featured covers depicting a terror-stricken woman in diaphanous attire in front of a gloomy castle , often with a single lit window.

Many were published under the Paperback Library Gothic imprint and were marketed to a female audience. Though the authors were mostly women, some men wrote Gothic romances under female pseudonyms.

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Outside of companies like Lovespell, who carry Colleen Shannon, very few books seem to be published using the term today. The genre also influenced American writing to create the Southern Gothic genre, which combines some Gothic sensibilities such as the grotesque with the setting and style of the Southern United States. The Southern Ontario Gothic applies a similar sensibility to a Canadian cultural context. Farrell's novels spawned a subgenre of "Grande Dame Guignol" in the cinema, represented by such films as the film based on Farrell's novel , which starred Bette Davis versus Joan Crawford ; this subgenre of films was dubbed the " psycho-biddy " genre.

Many modern writers of horror or indeed other types of fiction exhibit considerable Gothic sensibilities—examples include the works of Anne Rice , Stella Coulson , Susan Hill , Poppy Z. Brite, Stephen King and particularly Clive Barker have focused on the surface of the body and the visuality of blood. Du Maurier's work inspired a substantial body of "female Gothics", concerning heroines alternately swooning over or being terrified by scowling Byronic men in possession of acres of prime real estate and the appertaining droit du seigneur.

Educators in literary, cultural, and architectural studies appreciate the Gothic as an area that facilitates the investigation of the beginnings of scientific certainty. As Carol Senf has stated, "the Gothic was The themes of the literary Gothic have been translated into other media. There was a notable revival in 20th-century Gothic horror films such the classic Universal monsters films of the s, Hammer Horror films, and Roger Corman 's Poe cycle. The s Gothic television series Dark Shadows borrowed liberally from the Gothic tradition and featured elements such as haunted mansions, vampires, witches, doomed romances, werewolves, obsession, and madness.

The Showtime TV series Penny Dreadful brings many classic gothic characters together in a psychological thriller that takes place in the dark corners of Victorian London debut. Black Sabbath 's debut album created a dark sound different from other bands at the time and has been called the first ever "Goth-rock" record. Lovecraft were also used among gothic rock and heavy metal bands, especially in black metal , thrash metal Metallica 's The Call of Ktulu , death metal , and gothic metal. For example, heavy metal musician King Diamond delights in telling stories full of horror, theatricality, satanism and anti-Catholicism in his compositions.

Various video games feature Gothic horror themes and plots. For example, the Castlevania series typically involves a hero of the Belmont lineage exploring a dark, old castle, fighting vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein's monster, and other Gothic monster staples, culminating in a battle against Dracula himself. Others, such as Ghosts'n Goblins feature a campier parody of Gothic fiction. It has been acclaimed as one of the best role-playing adventures of all time, and even inspired an entire fictional world of the same name.

It contains sub-games, allowing you to play as a human, or as one of the inhuman creatures in the setting. Gothic literature is intimately associated with the Gothic Revival architecture of the same era. In a way similar to the Gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment, the literary Gothic embodies an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrills of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime , and a quest for atmosphere.

The ruins of Gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by representing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations—thus the urge to add fake ruins as eyecatchers in English landscape parks. English Gothic writers often associated medieval buildings with what they saw as a dark and terrifying period, characterized by harsh laws enforced by torture, and with mysterious, fantastic, and superstitious rituals.

In literature such Anti-Catholicism had a European dimension featuring Roman Catholic institutions such as the Inquisition in southern European countries such as Italy and Spain. Just as elements of Gothic architecture were borrowed during the Gothic Revival period in architecture, ideas about the Gothic period and Gothic period architecture were often used by Gothic novelists. Architecture itself played a role in the naming of Gothic novels, with many titles referring to castles or other common Gothic buildings.

This naming was followed up with many Gothic novels often set in Gothic buildings, with the action taking place in castles, abbeys, convents and monasteries, many of them in ruins, evoking "feelings of fear, surprise, confinement". This setting of the novel, a castle or religious building, often one fallen into disrepair, was an essential element of the Gothic novel. Placing a story in a Gothic building served several purposes.

It drew on feelings of awe, it implied the story was set in the past, it gave an impression of isolation or being cut off from the rest of the world and it drew on the religious associations of the Gothic style. This trend of using Gothic architecture began with The Castle of Otranto and was to become a major element of the genre from that point forward.

Besides using Gothic architecture as a setting, with the aim of eliciting certain associations from the reader, there was an equally close association between the use of setting and the storylines of Gothic novels, with the architecture often serving as a mirror for the characters and the plot lines of the story. This secret movement mirrors one of the plots of the story, specifically the secrets surrounding Manfred's possession of the castle and how it came into his family.

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In William Thomas Beckford 's The History of the Caliph Vathek , architecture was used to both illustrate certain elements of Vathek's character and also warn about the dangers of over-reaching. Vathek's hedonism and devotion to the pursuit of pleasure are reflected in the pleasure wings he adds on to his castle, each with the express purpose of satisfying a different sense. He also builds a tall tower in order to further his quest for knowledge.

This tower represents Vathek's pride and his desire for a power that is beyond the reach of humans. He is later warned that he must destroy the tower and return to Islam or else risk dire consequences. Vathek's pride wins out and, in the end, his quest for power and knowledge ends with him confined to Hell. In the Castle of Wolfenbach the castle that Matilda seeks refuge at while on the run is believed to be haunted. Matilda discovers it is not ghosts but the Countess of Wolfenbach who lives on the upper floors and who has been forced into hiding by her husband, the Count. Matilda's discovery of the Countess and her subsequent informing others of the Countess's presence destroys the Count's secret.

Shortly after Matilda meets the Countess the Castle of Wolfenbach itself is destroyed in a fire, mirroring the destruction of the Count's attempts to keep his wife a secret and how his plots throughout the story eventually lead to his own destruction. The major part of the action in the Romance of the Forest is set in an abandoned and ruined abbey and the building itself served as a moral lesson, as well as a major setting for and mirror of the action in the novel.

The setting of the action in a ruined abbey, drawing on Burke's aesthetic theory of the sublime and the beautiful established the location as a place of terror and of safety. Burke argued the sublime was a source of awe or fear brought about by strong emotions such as terror or mental pain.

On the other end of the spectrum was the beautiful, which were those things that brought pleasure and safety. Burke argued that the sublime was the more preferred to the two. Related to the concepts of the sublime and the beautiful is the idea of the picturesque , introduced by William Gilpin, which was thought to exist between the two other extremes.

The picturesque was that which continued elements of both the sublime and the beautiful and can be thought of as a natural or uncultivated beauty, such as a beautiful ruin or a partially overgrown building. It should come with a trigger warning for sexual abuse but otherwise it is an amazing, absorbing story with ups and downs that keep you invested. Absolutely loved this book. I did not want it to end. The characters were so rich yet vulnerable. Nothing like reading about classic Vegas! The research and real ness of the relationships, good and bad, are well done.

Many things made this book difficult to finish. Difficulties began with the somewhat detailed and ongoing sexual abuse of the main character as a child. When she made the choice to go to Las Vegas as an eighteen-year-old to be a dancer, I knew the story wouldn't get any better. I basically skimmed that entire section of the story because I couldn't get into it. Ultimately, I started fully reading again during the last two parts of the book: As someone who supposedly possessed a very high IQ, the end of the story was a disappointment.

I found the book depressing. Church has a real talent for developing memorable female protagonists, whose personal journeys of transformation and self-discovery play out against vivid historical backgrounds. This time, however, the backdrop is not the isolated canyons and secret labs of Los Alamos, but the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas in its heyday.

At first, Lily is entranced by Vegas, but she soon grows disillusioned when her first two auditions result in a quick dismissal. One producer pulls her aside for some advice: Lily soon overcomes her reluctance to dance topless, especially when she starts collecting her generous paychecks, not to mention the gifts from admirers. The rift between fantasy and reality and how that divide affects Ruby is one underlying theme, as is the complicated relationship of women to their bodies and the tendency of abuse to resurface and recapitulate in various ways.

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