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Literary TermsIn this introduction, you will learn some of the basic terms used to discuss literature: genre, theme, character, plot, setting, and context. We will be applying these terms specifically to gothic texts, but they are applicable to other literature.Generally speaking, genre is a type of literature. Broad genres include fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Fiction is literature that has been made up, imagined, or invented. Although the story might have some basis in fact, the literary work is generally the product of the writer's imagination. In contrast, nonfiction is literature based on real events and facts. Poetry is literature that makes use of various formal structures, such as meter (which is a set series of rhythms), and an economy of language.These three broad genres can be broken down into various subgenres. Therefore, fiction includes novels, short stories, and plays. Poetry can entail everything from a sonnet to a lyric. Nonfiction generally includes short essays, histories, memoirs, and literary criticism. For this course, we will be discussing a particular subgenre of fiction, gothic novels. The specific characteristics that define this subgenre are discussed in this lesson. At this point, it is important to realize that we are talking about a particular kind of literature, one with distinctive characteristics that make it different from, for example, a realist novel or a romance novel.Throughout the course, we will explore various themes in gothic texts. A theme is an idea or a subject considered consistently throughout a work. For example, in gothic texts, we will often encounter themes of marriage and courtship, the supernatural and unexplainable, and the persecuted woman.The people or personalities in a literary work are its characters. Terms such as round or flat and dynamic or static are used to describe characters. Round characters are well developed; they have complex personalities, often exhibiting both positive and negative characteristics. Flat characters are one-sided; often, they are symbolic characters and may be stereotypes. Dynamic characters have personalities that change over the course of a text, whereas static characters' personalities stay the same.The plot is what happens in the story, the main events and actions. Often (but not always), plots are described as triadic: there is a rise of action, a climax, and then a dénouement. The rising of the action is the buildup; it leads up to and sets the climax, the "big event" in the text. The dénouement happens after the climax. Sometimes, it is called "falling action."Setting refers to the location or locations in a text. When reading literature—especially gothic literature—pay special attention to where events take place. Do they take place outdoors or indoors or in a private household or in a public space? How does the setting affect the mood and themes of the work? How does the location affect the action in the text? Sometimes, especially in gothic texts, the setting can act like a character itself.Context refers to the social or political events that surround the composition and publication of a literary work. For example, an American literary novel written during the 1960s would be read in the context of the Vietnam War, Woodstock, the rise of suburbia, the Civil Rights movement, and so on. Sometimes, works are also considered in the context of their authors' lives. So when reading a novel about divorce, one might look to see if the author or the author's parents are divorced. Generally speaking, however, most people agree that the author's personal experiences are not reliable indicators of the source of the text's characters and plot elements. More often, the social context (such as the climate of divorce in the 1990s) is a better avenue inside to the text's meaning. In this course, we will examine the social and political changes in the mid- and late-eighteenth century (1750–1800) and how gothic texts reflected and responded to these changes.Elements of Gothic LiteratureAs you will learn, gothic literature violates many of the mainstream values and norms of the eighteenth century. As such, it exists as a commentary on the ways eighteenth-century society was structured. Gothic texts critiqued everything from the standards of art and literature to the roles of women in society. In this section, we will look at some specific elements of gothic literature and the characteristics of the eighteenth century that it challenged.Gothic ArchitectureGothic literature takes its themes of terror, darkness, sublimity, and confusion from Gothic architecture—hence, its name. Gothic architecture is a style of building that was popular in the Middle Ages, from about the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Most gothic buildings are religious buildings: abbeys, cathedrals, monasteries. Pointed arches, intricate stonework and sculptures (like gargoyles), tall spires, high vaulted ceilings, and stained-glass windows are characteristics of Gothic architecture. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France, is a famous example of a Gothic-style building.The term gothic was not applied to this style of architecture until the sixteenth century. The term was used pejoratively, intended to demean the architecture as crude and barbaric, like the Goths (a Germanic tribe known for attacking Rome). At the same time, the word Goth was a stereotype for rude and primitive.By the time of the eighteenth century, Gothic buildings in England were almost entirely in ruins. Three primary factors aided in their downfall. Gothic buildings first became threatened under the reign of Henry VIII, who ruled England from 1509 to 1547. During his reign, Henry VIII dissolved England's monasteries, disentangled England from the Roman Catholic Church, and instituted Anglicanism. These actions against the church were motivated by his personal desire to divorce one of his wives, an action which the Catholic Church forbade. (As you may know, Henry VIII was famous for marrying six wives.) He instituted Anglicanism in England and, as a result, had England's religious buildings turned over to the state. Many of these buildings were dismantled and rebuilt so as to no longer symbolize the power of the Catholic Church.More Gothic-style buildings were dismantled during the English civil wars in the seventeenth century. These conflicts, which arose over who could ascend to England's throne, resulted in a brief period of history wherein England was governed by a prime minister, not by a king or queen. Oliver Cromwell, the first prime minister, was renowned for his Puritanism. The battles he engaged in often resulted in the destruction of Gothic castles and any remaining religious buildings. These destructions were symbolic; they reflected both Puritanical iconoclasm and antiroyalist sentiment. Gothic buildings were destroyed because they represented either an unacceptable visual glorification of God or the wealth and power of kings and queens. Many prints from this time show Gothic buildings in ruins.Finally, many Gothic buildings remained in ruins during the eighteenth century for aesthetic reasons. Their pointed arches, gloomy stonework, and vaulted ceilings were not considered beautiful or even moral. Eighteenth-century men and women "of taste" preferred classical (i.e., Greek or Roman) architecture. These buildings are sometimes called Palladian, a term that refers to the re-imagining of the classical-style architecture during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In contrast to Gothic architecture, classical or Palladian architecture was round, open, and proportional.This appreciation for "all-things classic" carried over into literature. Eighteenth-century polite society appreciated literature that, like classical buildings, conjured the models set up by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Epic poetry, philosophical treatises, and literature that emphasized education, rationality, morality, and balance were valued.Gothic literature thus arose in marked contrast to longstanding political, religious, and literary ideals. For gothic writers, Gothic architecture symbolized political turmoil and the unknown, forgotten, and disregarded past. Ruined Gothic buildings, with their intricate architecture, hidden passageways, and unexplored rooms, embodied for both writers and readers a desire to confront the unknown and the unknowable of history and of the individual's psychology.The Unexplainable and the UnknownGothic literature attempts to explore the innermost recesses of ourselves and our society. Gothic novels attempt to create for their readers "pleasing terror" by considering elements of human psychology and social acts that were often suppressed in the polite culture of the eighteenth century. These elements are the supernatural, the past, and the exotic.Ghosts, dreams, mysterious storms, bumps in the night, and other unexplainable supernatural events populate gothic literature. For many readers, the Catholicism that took place in the Gothic buildings that serve as the setting for the literature appeared superstitious and spooky and seemed akin to stereotypes about ancient and medieval witchery and magic. Most gothic novels contain elements of the supernatural—ghosts, hauntings, premonitions—and other unexplainable events.Gothic novels are often set in the historical past. The use of an historical setting is, in part, a response to Gothic architecture; many writers tried to imagine what it would have been like to live in Gothic buildings. The setting of the historical past also gives writers the freedom to invent characters and actions that would seem impossible in contemporary settings. In addition, many gothic novels begin (as Horace Walpole's first edition of The Castle of Otranto did) with the claim that the story was "found," rather than written; the author pretends to be merely an editor or a translator of an ancient manuscript. This literary device both lets the writer "off the hook" for writing about scandalous or salacious topics, as well as creates an aura of believability. By setting the events and characters in the past, gothic authors were attempting to convince readers that the unbelievable events in the story were true, even if untenable in contemporary times.Many gothic works are also set in distant, exotic locations. Many works we will read in this course are set in Europe, specifically Italy and France. By setting their works in locations other than England, gothic authors were able to create a more believable storyline (it's as if they were telling their readers, "well, that could never happen in your hometown, but maybe in someplace you've never seen") and to take more liberties in their critiques of society. As you will find, the national setting of a gothic text often is perfunctory; although the events may take place in France, for example, most of the characters act like English characters and the Gothic buildings and natural settings could as easily be in England as in France. Through such a literary device, the author can critique all things English, all the while claiming that his or her work is, on its surface, about French characters. Choices of exotic settings also reflect England's increased imperial activity and global presence. England's economy, at the time, was becoming increasingly based on the exportation of natural resources from other parts of the world. This change in economy entailed sending more English people to newly discovered lands to colonize them. When gothic novels include exotic locations and faraway places as their settings, they are responding, in part, to an increased awareness in English culture of the world beyond the boundaries of the English isle.Gothic literature's desire to explore the unknown is also a response to the eighteenth century's emphasis on scientific rationalism. The eighteenth century is often described as the Age of Reason, the Age of Science, or the Enlightenment. The latter term primarily denotes the period's philosophical emphasis on the use of science and deductive logic as ways of knowing. Many eighteenth-century thinkers saw themselves as breaking free of medieval understandings of the world. People in the "Dark Ages," many Enlightenment thinkers argued, were superstitious and believed what people in authority—specifically, religious leaders and kings—told them about the world. Eighteenth-century thinkers felt that they could more accurately perceive and understand the world around them with the aid of science, which was based on reason, deductive logic, and observation; thus, they were "enlightened." The Enlightenment emphasized polite culture, rational conversation and literature, and scientific investigation into everything from the laws of nature to human relationships and emotions. Gothic writers' interest in the unexplained, the unknown, and the terrifying can be seen then as a reaction to the Enlightenment's emphasis on the rational and knowable.Heroines in DistressCentral to almost all gothic texts are images of heroines in distress. Often, these heroines are described as attractive and well educated (or, if not well educated, having an inherent sense of good taste and morality). Many gothic heroines are orphaned. The gothic heroine—alone and without parental guidance—is usually beset by an evil male suitor intent on possessing her fortune or her body or both. Gothic texts frequently contain images of women who have gone insane, have been kept captive by tyrannical men, or have been murdered. Generally speaking, the theme of a persecuted woman can be found in almost every gothic text. This feature of gothic literature likely arises from a number of characteristics of eighteenth-century culture.Prior to the industrial revolution, English society had been divided into two primary classes—the aristocracy and everyone else. Movement into the aristocratic class was limited since it was based on inherited wealth. By the middle of the century, England saw an increase in a new group of people—a middle class. Many men, newly wealthy from trade with other countries and a new urban economy, aspired to be like (or even better, be a part of) the aristocracy; namely, to have an education, access to polite society, and, most importantly, to own land and wield political power. For these men, marriage to the daughter of an aristocratic family was one of the easiest and fastest ways to acquire social power and prestige. Women in the eighteenth century were not legally allowed to own property, and, once a woman was married, any money she had became her husband's. Often, a marriage was far more about a business relationship and protecting or acquiring property and social clout than it was about love.But this is certainly a complicated situation. Eighteenth-century culture valued women for their ability to impart moral and social virtues onto society, to "civilize" men in a way. Women were increasingly inculcated into a "cult of sensibility;" they were encouraged to hone their emotions and feelings in order to make themselves morally and physically attractive to men. Additionally, because inheritance procedures were strict, a woman's chastity before and her loyalty during marriage were emphasized to ensure that the children she bore were undoubtedly those of her husband. So although a marriage might be about business, it was always best if your wife loved you. It would be deeply problematic (on both a political and moral level) if a wife loved someone other than her husband and produced illegitimate heirs. Many gothic works exhibit this eighteenth-century anxiety about women's feelings and about who has the right to choose a woman's husband—her father, her potential husband, or the woman herself.Finally, the rise of a middle class also meant more people had access to education and thus England saw a rise in its literate population. Consequently, the eighteenth century witnessed a significant surge in the production and consumption of reading for purposes of entertainment. Women were a very visible presence in the literary marketplace, both as readers and as writers. A lot of literature at the time either expressed anxieties about women's behavior, or instructed them how to behave appropriately.Historical Background: The Dark Side of Individualism—American GothicInfluences of the Gothic Movement?Spirit and imagery is inspired by Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages?“Cavernous Gothic cathedrals with their irregularly placed tower s and their high stained –glass windows were intended to inspire fear and awe in religious workers”?Gargoyle as mascot—imaginative distortion?Romantic movement?“reaction against rationalism of the Age of Reason”?“Imagination led to the threshold of the unknown—that shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic, and the insane reside.”?Concept of potential evil?Darkness of the supernaturalMaster of American Gothic Form: Edgar Allan Poe?Dark, decaying settings—weird and terrifying events?Male narrators—insane?Female characters—beautiful and dead (or dying)?Extreme situations—murder, live burials, physical and mental torture and retribution from beyond the grave?Only in extreme situations do people reveal their true nature.?Explore human mind in extreme situations to find essential truth?Explore mind and its functionsHawthorne:?Human heart under various conditions of fear, greed, vanity, mistrust and betrayalShort Run because of Civil War—which ushers in Realism—returns in 20th centurySouthern Gothic:?gloom and pessimism of fiction?Faulkner—decaying plantation, fallen aristocracy family isolated in time and place—ghost of the past hounding this not-so-noble characters to madness and death?O’Connor—pressures of modern life making grotesques of us all—interesting in “the human heart and its potential for evil.”?Mourning the old South—“the old moral and religious order was crumbling?Ghosts/Goblinsà Criminals/Conmen/Fools ................
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