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The eighteenth-century Gothic novel is a genre of Gothic fiction published between 1764 and roughly 1820, which had the greatest period of popularity in the 1790s. These works originated the term "Gothic" to refer to stories which evoked the sentimental and supernatural qualities of medieval romance with the new genre of the novel. After 1820, the eighteenth-century Gothic novel receded in popularity, largely overtaken by the related genre of historical fiction as pioneered by Walter Scott. [1] The eighteenth-century Gothic was also followed by new genres of Gothic fiction like the Victorian penny dreadful. [2]
The first work to call itself "Gothic" was Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). [2] Walpole's declared aim was to combine elements of the medieval romance, which he deemed too fanciful, and the modern novel, which he considered to be too confined to strict realism. [3] Walpole's novel was popular but did not initially prompt many imitators. Beginning with Clara Reeve's The Old English Baron (1778), the 1780s saw more writers attempting the Gothic combination of supernatural plots with emotionally realistic characters. [4]
At the height of the Gothic's popularity in the 1790s, in England the genre was almost synonymous with Ann Radcliffe, whose works were highly anticipated and widely imitated. [4] She has been called both "the Great Enchantress" and "Mother Radcliffe" due to her influence. [5] She combined aspects of Walpole's Gothic romance with the traditions of the earlier sentimental novel. [6] Radcliffe's defining narrative technique was the "explained supernatural," or, seemingly-magical events which turn out to have mundane explanations. [7] Radcliffe's success attracted many imitators, and the 1790s were characterized by a boom in Gothic publications, especially through the Minerva Press publishing house. [8] Radcliffe's works were often seen as the feminine and rational opposite of a more violently horrifying male Gothic associated with Matthew Lewis. Lewis's The Monk (1796) contrasted strongly with Radcliffe's bestselling The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and Radcliffe responded to Lewis in her final novel The Italian (1797). [9] Lewis's The Monk was also seen as bringing the continental horror mode to England, drawing on the German Schauerroman. [10]
The term Schauerroman is sometimes equated with the term "Gothic novel", but 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. All those elements are the basis for Friedrich Schiller's unfinished novel The Ghost-Seer (1786–1789). The motive of secret societies is also present in Carl Grosse's Horrid Mysteries (1791–1794) and Christian August Vulpius's Rinaldo Rinaldini, the Robber Captain (1797). [11] Genres of Gespensterroman/Geisterroman ("ghost novel"), Räuberroman ("robber novel"), and Ritterroman (chivalric romance) also frequently share plot and motifs with the British "gothic novel". As its name suggests, the Räuberroman focuses on the life and deeds of outlaws, influenced by Friedrich Schiller's drama The Robbers (1781). Heinrich Zschokke's Abällino, der grosse Bandit (1793) was translated into English by M. G. Lewis as The Bravo of Venice in 1804. 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 (1788) is seen as being very close to the Schauerroman genre. [11]
Other early authors and works included Christian Heinrich Spiess, with his works Das Petermännchen (1793), Der alte Überall und Nirgends (1792), Die Löwenritter (1794), and Hans Heiling, vierter und letzter Regent der Erd- Luft- Feuer- und Wasser-Geister (1798); Heinrich von Kleist's short story "Das Bettelweib von Locarno" (1797); and Ludwig Tieck's Der blonde Eckbert (1797) and Der Runenberg (1804). [12] Early examples of female-authored Gothic include Sophie Albrecht's Das höfliche Gespenst (The Polite Ghost) (1797) and Graumännchen oder die Burg Rabenbühl: eine Geistergeschichte altteutschen Ursprungs (Graumännchen, or Castle Rabenbühl: A Ghost Story) (1799). [13]
The roman noir ("black novel") appeared in France, by such writers as François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil, Baculard d'Arnaud and Madame de Genlis. The Marquis de Sade used a subgothic framework for some of his fiction, notably The Misfortunes of Virtue (1791) and Eugenie de Franval, though the Marquis himself never thought of his work like this. Sade critiqued the genre in the preface of his Reflections on the novel (1800) 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. [14]
In 1799 the philosopher William Godwin wrote St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century , which influenced St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian (1811) by Godwin's future son-in-law Percy Bysshe Shelley and Frankenstein (1818), which was dedicated to Godwin, and written by his daughter Mary Shelley. [15] Female Anglo-Irish authors also wrote Gothic fiction in the 19th century, including Regina Maria Roche, whose novel Clermont (1798) went through several editions, and Sydney Owenson, most famous for The Wild Irish Girl (1806). Gothic tales started to appear also in women's magazines like The Lady's Monthly Museum (1798-1832). Further contributions to the Gothic genre were seen in the work of the first generation of Romantic poets: Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) and Christabel (1816).
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name refers to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of early Gothic novels.
Horror is a genre of fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten or scare. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which are in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society.
Ann Radcliffe was an English novelist and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining respectability for Gothic fiction in the 1790s. Radcliffe was the most popular writer of her day and almost universally admired; contemporary critics called her the mighty enchantress and the Shakespeare of romance-writers, and her popularity continued through the 19th century. Interest in Radcliffe and her work has revived in the early 21st century, with the publication of three biographies.
Charles Brockden Brown was an American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period.
The Castle of Otranto is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – A Gothic Story. Set in a haunted castle, the novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetic of the book has shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music, and the goth subculture.
Matthew Gregory Lewis was an English novelist and dramatist, whose writings are often classified as "Gothic horror". He was frequently referred to as "Monk" Lewis, because of the success of his 1796 Gothic novel The Monk. He also worked as a diplomat, politician and an estate owner in Jamaica.
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults.
Clara Reeve was an English novelist best known for the Gothic novel The Old English Baron (1777). She also wrote an innovative history of prose fiction, The Progress of Romance (1785). Her first work was a translation from Latin, then an unusual language for a woman to learn. She was a near-contemporary of the bluestockings ladies of Elizabeth Montague's circle.
Christian Heinrich Spiess was a German writer of romances and later pulp fiction, horror stories.
Sophia Lee was an English novelist, dramatist and educator. She was a formative writer of Gothic fiction.
Dark Romanticism is a literary sub-genre of Romanticism, reflecting popular fascination with the irrational, the demonic and the grotesque. Often conflated with Gothic fiction, it has shadowed the euphoric Romantic movement ever since its 18th-century beginnings. Edgar Allan Poe is often celebrated as one of the supreme exponents of the tradition. Dark Romanticism focuses on human fallibility, self-destruction, judgement, punishment, as well as the psychological effects of guilt and sin.
Francis Lathom was a British gothic novelist and playwright.
Rookwood is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth published in 1834. It is a historical and gothic romance that describes a dispute over the legitimate claim for the inheritance of Rookwood Place and the Rookwood family name.
Johanne Sophie Dorothea Albrecht was a German actress and writer. She played leading roles in plays by Friedrich Schiller, who was a good friend of hers. She wrote poetry, novels, and prose, and was married to the doctor and writer Johann Friedrich Ernst Albrecht.
A Gothic film is a film that is based on Gothic fiction or contains Gothic elements. Since various definite film genres—including science fiction, film noir, thriller, and comedy—have used Gothic elements, the Gothic film is challenging to define clearly as a genre. Gothic elements have also infused the horror film genre, contributing supernatural and nightmarish elements. To create a Gothic atmosphere, filmmakers have sought to create new camera tricks that challenge audiences' perceptions. Gothic films also reflected contemporary issues. A New Companion to The Gothic's Heidi Kaye said "strong visuals, a focus on sexuality and an emphasis on audience response" characterize Gothic films like they did the literary works. The Encyclopedia of the Gothic said the foundation of Gothic film was the combination of Gothic literature, stage melodrama, and German expressionism.
Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. Scholars regard the publishing of William Wordsworth's and Samuel Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads in 1798 as probably the beginning of the movement in England, and the crowning of Queen Victoria in 1837 as its end. Romanticism arrived in other parts of the English-speaking world later; in the United States, about 1820.
Romance, is a "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents". This genre contrasted with the main tradition of the novel, which realistically depict life. These works frequently, but not exclusively, take the form of the historical novel. Walter Scott describes romance as a "kindred term", and many European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel: "a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo".
Karl Friedrich Kahlert also known by the pen names Lawrence Flammenberg or Lorenz Flammenberg and Bernhard Stein was a German author of gothic fiction. He is best known for The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest, an English translation by Peter Teuthold of his Der Geisterbanner: Eine Wundergeschichte aus mündlichen und schriftlichen Traditionen, which is one of the seven 'horrid novels' referenced by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. Through this work, he was a major influence on gothic literature in England, including Matthew Lewis's The Monk.
Cajetan Tschink was an Austrian writer, philosopher, and professor whose literary work primarily focused on skepticism of the supernatural. His most prominent work was the Gothic novel Geschichte eines Geistersehers. Aus den Papieren des Mannes mit der eisernen Larve, translated into English by Peter Will as The Victim of Magical Delusion.