Gothic novel

The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. It is the predecessor to modern horror fiction and it above all has led to the common definition of gothic as being connected to the dark and horrific.

Origins of the gothic novel

The term 'gothic' was originally a disparaging term applied to a style of medieval architecture (Gothic architecture) and art (Gothic art). The opprobrious term "Gothick" was embraced by the 18th-century proponents of the Gothic revival, a forerunner of the Romantic genres. The Gothic in architecture was a reaction to the classical architecture that was a hallmark of the Age of Reason. The revived Gothic architectural style enjoyed popularity in the nineteenth century.

Related Topics:
Gothic architecture - Gothic art - Gothic revival - Romantic - Age of Reason - Nineteenth century

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In a way similar to the Gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment, the Gothic became linked with an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrill of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime and a quest for atmosphere. The ruins of gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by instancing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations, thus the urge to add fake ruins as eyecatchers in English landscape parks. Good English Protestants were inclined to associate medieval buildings with a dark and terrifying period, envisioning the Catholic Church oppressing people with harsh laws, torture and superstitious rituals.

Related Topics:
Neoclassical - Enlightened - Establishment - Sublime - Catholic Church - Superstitious

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