SUPERNATURAL GENRE

Historical Underpinnings (18 th – 19 th century) ■Esotericism –Consists of alchemy, folk magic, astrology, etc. –Colonists brought beliefs with them from Europe –As science developed explanations, 18 th c. beliefs waned

History (cont'd.) ■Rise of science, technology, and industrialization responsible for disappearance of beliefs by the 18 th century –“Americanization” added to disappearance—each generation got down to business of succeeding in business and no longer had time for traditional folklore (science offered easy explanations and processes) –Whereas industrialization objectifies the cosmos, esotericism connects us to the cosmos ■Alchemy becomes medicine, thereby making the herb a commodity rather than a magical connection to nature, e.g., William Withering: publishes the first definitive account of the use of foxglove (digitalis) for treating dropsy (heart related condition). ■Themes of practical esotericism picked up by literature and moved from daily life into the literary consciousness

Romantic Movement Evolution ■Began 2 nd half of 18 th century, giving way to realism in 2 nd half of 19 th century ■Reaction to science and neo-classicism; returned to medievalism (can be defined as the intersection between popular fantasy and medieval history) ■More interested in imagination and emotion than reason ■More interested in the strange than in the orderly and clear ■Interested in the individual and his psyche

Elements of Romanticism ■Mysticism, pantheism (nature worship), transcendentalism (becoming one with the cosmos—transcending earthly ties) ■Sentimental, sensibility, melancholy ■Predominance of imagination over reason and formal rules ■Humanitarianism and democracy ■Love of nature (plants, animals, scenery) and primitivism (living a simple, rural life) ■Idealization of rural life ■ Enthusiasm for the wild, irregular, or grotesque in nature ■ Interest in the Gothic

Gothic Genre ■“Gothic" derives from "Goth," the name of one of the barbaric Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire ■Gothic literature derives its name from its similarities to the Gothic medieval cathedrals

Architectural Features  Majestic, unrestrained style -Often savage or grotesque ornamentation -Vaulting arches and spires of Gothic cathedrals reach wildly to the sky as if the builders were trying to grasp the heavens

The Gothic Genre ■Earliest work: Horace Walpole The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (1764) ■Uses middle age settings, either timewise or visually –gloomy castles with dungeons, passages, sliding panels –often set in other countries –older works deal with a suffering heroine at the hands of a villain –supernatural abounds: ghosts, disappearances, etc. –purpose: evoke fear/terror by exploring the mysterious and horrific –looks at the perverse that lies below the orderly, public psyche –exhibit gloomy atmospheres and nightmarish, macabre, and uncanny occurrences; aberrant psychological states

Gothic Genre Focus ■Like Gothic architecture, –Gothic literature focuses on humanity’s fascination with ■the grotesque, the unknown, and the frightening, inexplicable aspects of the universe and the human soul, and ■the individual’s relationship to the infinite universe"(Varma 16) and creates horror by portraying human individuals in confrontation with the overwhelming, mysterious, terrifying forces found in the cosmos and within themselves. –Pictures the human condition as an ambiguous mixture of good and evil powers that cannot be understood completely by human reason. –The Gothic perspective conceives of the human condition as a paradox, a dilemma of duality—humans are divided in the conflict between opposing forces in the world and in themselves.

Dark Romanticism ■Conflation of the Gothic and the romantic ■Called American romanticism: a literary subgenre centered on Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe ■Emphasizes human fallibility and a predisposition for sin and self-destruction, along with the intrinsic complexities of social reform ■Features societal outcasts and internal struggle and questions whether human nature will ultimately result in self destruction ■For Poe, settings are unfamiliar or unrecognizable to his contemporaries, and few of his characters or narrators have full names, so as to focus on the emotions exhorted through horrors and frightening experiences we could never imagine

Supernatural Belief in the 19 th century ■Developed through a reaction to science and organized religion –Could explain what science and religion couldn’t –Séances a portal to new revelations –Leap from religious fear and redemption to fascination with the dying and dead ■Later a reaction to Darwinism--Spriritualism vs. Naturalism ■Rejection of archaic belief that spirits are dangerous; Contact with the dead became desirable