Gothic literature

1. Gothic literature

2. The History • Traced to early folklore • 17th century works—like Macbeth—served as precursors to the 18th and 19th century Gothic novel and drama • Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) • Gothic literature reflects the social and political climate of the time

3. It’s called “Gothic” because gothic-style settings—like castles, mansions, and monasteries—served well as backdrops for such dark literature.

4. Genre deals with emotional extremes and very dark themes; it examines our deepest, darkest fears—both real and imaginary. Gothic lit often incorporates supernatural elements, demons, and apparitions. Meant to terrorize the reader—but also draw them in The run-down…

5. Common characteristics • Victim is helpless against his torturer • Torturer has immense power, sometimes supernatural • Victim is often trapped by impenetrable walls—physical or psychological • Atmosphere of mystery, darkness, oppressiveness • Mysterious disappearances and reappearances • Melodramatically violent and psychologically abnormal

6. Famous (to some)Authors • Horace Walpole's novel The Castle of Otranto (1764) is considered to be the first gothic novel • Perce Bysshe Shelley • Mary Shelley—Frankenstein • Edgar Allen Poe • Bram Stoker—Dracula

7. Tyrants Maniacs Persecuted Maidens Vampires Werewolves Monsters Ghosts Femmes Fatale Magicians Gothic Character Archetypes

8. So…To Kill a Mockingbird?

9. Southern Gothic • Developed out of the 19th Century Gothic novel • Gothic lit examines a world different than our own + the South held values and attributes not necessarily welcome in the rest of the country = Southern Gothic • It uses supernatural and unusual events not to terrorize, but to address social and class issues

10. Characteristics • Issues of race, alienation, and otherness are central to Southern Gothic • Freakishness: character is set aside by disability or viewpoint of the world • Uses a spin on gothic archetypes • Archetypes become American Southerners • Monster becomes an uneducated drunk • Use of the grotesque • Character’s negative qualities allows author to examine unsavory aspects of society • Something in the town, house, or farm is bizarre and often falling apart

11. Violence • often the result of racial or social tension • Sense of place • Southern Gothic settings feel “Southern” • Old, run-down towns; porches with rocking chairs, etc. • Broken bodies and broken souls • Problems created by social norm • Questions establishment’s ethics and justification • Morality is in question; what is the innocent’s place in the world? • Often asked to be the redeemer • Purity of heart rarely overpowers desperation

12. Famous Authors • William Faulkner • Tennessee Williams • Flannery O’Connor • Eudora Welty • Carson McCullers • Truman Capote • Harper Lee

13. Sources • http://www.enotes.com/gothic-literature/gothic-literature-an-overview • http://www.scepticthomas.com/gothic/gothic.htm • http://www.sfu.ca/english/Gillies/Engl20701/mockingbird1.htm