Journal 1-7 What do you associate with “Gothic”? Make a list of all the people, places, things, ideas, authors, films, music, etc. that comes to your mind. As a group, select 3-5 items to write on the board. Also, answer the following questions: Why did you take this class? What do you hope to learn from this class?

And the Works of Edgar Allan Poe Gothic Literature And the Works of Edgar Allan Poe

The Gothic

The Gothic Tradition The words Goth and Gothic describe the Germanic tribes (e.g., Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths) which sacked Rome and also ravaged the rest of Europe in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. By the eighteenth century in England, Gothic had become synonymous with the Middle Ages, a period which was in disfavor because it was perceived as chaotic, unenlightened, and superstitious.

Horace Walpole 24 September 1717 - 2 March 1797 Walpole wrote what is considered the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (very melodramatic) Published in 1764 Inspired by his reconstruction of his home and a nightmare he’d had

Frankenstein’s Monster

Gothic Architecture The Gothic tradition was also reflected in architecture: vaulted ceilings, arches, stained glass windows, gargoyles

Gothic architecture 12th~16th century Gothic architecture used pointed arches and vaults, flying buttresses, narrow spires, stained glass windows, intricate traceries, and varied details; its upward movement was meant to suggest heavenward aspiration.

Gargoyles—carvings of small deformed creatures squatting at the corners and crevices of Gothic cathedrals—were supposed to ward off evil spirits, but they often look more like demonic spirits themselves. Think of the gargoyle as a mascot of Gothic, and you will get an idea of the kind of imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents.

Notre Dame

Gothic vs. Romanticism Gothic writers were peering into the darkness at the supernatural. Romantic writers celebrated the beauties of nature. Romanticism developed as a reaction against the rationalism of the Age of Reason. The romantics freed the imagination from the hold of reason, so they could follow their imagination wherever it might lead. For some Romantics, when they looked at the individual, they saw hope For some Romantic writers, the imagination led to the threshold of the unknown—the shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic and the insane reside. When the Gothic's saw the individual, they saw the potential of evil.

Gothic Movement in America The Gothic Tradition was firmly established in Europe before American writers had made names for themselves. By the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathanial Hawthorne, and to a lesser extent Washington Irving and Herman Melville were using the Gothic elements in their writing. Edgar Allan Poe was the master of the Gothic form in the United States.

from “The Philosophy of Composition” “The death…of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world – and equally is it beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.” Edgar Allan Poe from “The Philosophy of Composition”

Edgar Allan Poe His biography is often distorted His life was filled with personal tragedy and professional failure Poe drank to escape this failure but had a low tolerance for alcohol Numerous women whom he loved died, most from tuberculosis His true love, his wife Virginia died from tuberculosis; Poe watched her slowly die for five years

The death of a beautiful woman was a common topic of his works because he had experienced such loss himself, including his stepmother, his childhood love, and his wife

Poe’s professional life was full of failure His greatest success was “The Raven,” which brought him fame, but earned him only $14.00 Poe wrote many short stories simply for the money; ironically he is most famous for these stories He saw himself as a poet, but could not make a living from writing poetry

Poe Poe can be considered the father of the modern horror story, influencing writers such as Stephen King and Anne Rice

Poe explored the dark and often irrational side of the human mind (Hawthorne explored the dark side of the human heart) His stories often are filled with a sense of anxiety & have a dreamlike quality

Master of the Short Story Along with Nathaniel Hawthorne, Poe perfected the modern short story Poe stressed a single dominant effect in his short stories The Premature Burial

Poe After the death of his wife, Poe went insane, desperately trying to find someone to take her place His death remains a mystery; his final words were, “God help my poor soul.”

“Six years ago, a wife whom I loved as no man ever loved before, ruptured a blood-vessel in singing. Her life was despaired of. I took leave of her forever, and underwent all the agonies of her death. She recovered partially, and again I hoped. At the end of a year, the vessel broke again. I went through precisely the same scene. Again, in about a year afterward. Then again—again—again—and even once again, at varying intervals. Each time I felt all the agonies of her death—and at each accession of the disorder I loved her more dearly and clung to her life with more desperate pertinacity…I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank, God only knows how often or how much. ” - Edgar Allan Poe, 1848

Poe’s characters are often tortured by guilt Poe saw women as angelic figures: “Women have been angels of mercy to me.” Poe’s characters are often tortured by guilt Poe’s stories are quite modern in their psychoanalytical components Like many of his characters, Poe was caught between Rationality & irrationality Order & chaos

Nathanial Hawthorne He also used Gothic elements in his work to express what he felt were essential truths Instead of looking at the mind for its dysfunction, Hawthorne examined the human heart under conditions of fear, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal.

Southern Gothic After the real horrors of the Civil War, the Gothic tradition lost its popularity. During the 20th century, it made a comeback in the American South. Authors like William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Truman Capote, and Flannery O’Connor are grouped together because of the gloom and pessimism of their fiction.

Archetypal Characters The Gothic hero becomes a sort of archetype as we find that there is a pattern to his characterization. There is always the protagonist, usually isolated either voluntarily or involuntarily. Then there is the villain, who is the epitome of evil, either by his (usually a man) own fall from grace, or by some implicit malevolence. The Wanderer, found in many Gothic tales, is the epitome of isolation as he wanders the earth in perpetual exile, usually a form of divine punishment.

Basic Plot Structure for a Gothic Novel Action in the Gothic novel tends to take place at night, or at least in a claustrophobic, sunless environment. ascent (up a mountain high staircase); descent (into a dungeon, cave, underground chambers or labyrinth) or falling off a precipice; secret passage; hidden doors; the pursued maiden and the threat or rape or abduction; physical decay, skulls, cemeteries, and other images of death; ghosts; revenge; family curse; blood and gore; torture; the Doppelganger (evil twin or double); demonic possession; masking/shape-changing; black magic; madness; incest and other broken sexual taboos.

Other Gothic Novels 1765: Horace Walpole. The Castle of Otranto 1794: Ann Radcliffe. The Mysteries of Udolpho 1794: William Godwin. Caleb Williams 1796: Mathew Lewis. The Monk 1798: Regina Maria Roche. Clermont 1806: Ann Mary Hamilton. Montalva or Annals of Guilt 1807: Charlotte Dacre. The Libertine 1818: Mary Shelly. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus 1820: Charles Robert Maturin. Melmonth the Wanderer 1826: Ann Radcliff: Gaston de Blondeville 1826: William Child Green. The Abbot of Montserrat or The Pool of Blood

Modern Gothic Novels Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronté Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronté

Other Gothic Writers Anne Rice Edgar Allan Poe Joyce Carol Oates Stephen King Stephenie Meyer