tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8289555011051065271.post9050062608171670924..comments2024-03-24T00:12:18.171-07:00Comments on Gothic Literature in Britain: 1760-1900: Close Reading Questions for Stevens’s The Gothic Tradition (pp.1-31)Joshua Grassohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18044499439462324420noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8289555011051065271.post-1086708438598161402010-01-14T07:43:15.683-08:002010-01-14T07:43:15.683-08:00Christopher W. Clark
1. The Gothic movement can ...Christopher W. Clark<br /><br />1. The Gothic movement can (in part) be seen as a reaction to two major, world-shaping forces in the 18th century: on the one hand, the very tangible and bloody French Revolution, and the concomitant 'revolutionary spirit' which seemed to permeate the rest of Europe (as it did earlier in America.) In addition to this, there was the more ideological (but just as present) spirit of the Enlightenment, which valued reason, order, empiricism, and the 'external.' The Gothic movement, with its interpenetration of the quotidian and the fantastical, can be seen as a way to temper the Enlightenment spirit, to reintroduce wonders into a discourse dominated by reason. The Gothic movement's emphasis on foreboding, terror, and psychological unease can be seen as-- if not a direct result of, at least a natural outgrowth of the uncertainties (felt particularly among the middle class) created by the looming specter of Revolution. In the light of France, previous social structures suddenly seemed unstable, impermanent, and as prone to dissolution as anything else.<br /><br />2. Women played a large part in perpetuating the Gothic tradition because the Gothic was very much an outgrowth of the novel (although it did have antecedents in poetry by Gray, etc.), and women were predominantly readers of novels (men were more likely to read "worthier" philosophy or classic poetry.) The popularity of the Gothic novel owes a lot to a voracious readership of women.<br /><br />The novel, as it came to be separated from the Romance, was a vehicle for writing about social realism. It was better-suited than poetry or drama for presenting the lives of 'ordinary' men and women. For this reason, it could also be a perfect tool for subversion. By couching the fantastic and horrific in terms of social realism by means of the novel, Gothic writers were able to create a tension that could not so easily be expressed in other forms. The fantastic in the Gothic was made (paradoxically) both more believable and more fantastic by placing it within a context of ordinary reality as experienced by ordinary people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8289555011051065271.post-84402885183295944032010-01-13T13:14:16.846-08:002010-01-13T13:14:16.846-08:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com