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Individualism:. The Dark Side. Gothic. From MerriamWebster.com . Definitions. Macabre: gruesome, dealing with personalized death Gothic novels often deal with the supernatural and sometimes repulsive creatures . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macabre. Gothic architecture .
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Individualism: The Dark Side
Gothic From MerriamWebster.com
Definitions • Macabre: gruesome, dealing with personalized death • Gothic novels often deal with the supernatural and sometimes repulsive creatures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macabre
Gothic architecture http://www.thecelticcroft.com/Celtic_Decor/Image_Links/gargoyle_crouching_wings_6313_lg.html Gargoyles – small, deformed, look like the evil spirits they are supposed to ward off
http://changing-genre.blogspot.com/2010/11/huge-arches-creepy-castles-beautiful.htmlhttp://changing-genre.blogspot.com/2010/11/huge-arches-creepy-castles-beautiful.html
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/164/d/d/Gothic_Castle_Reworked_by_dashinvaine.jpghttp://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/164/d/d/Gothic_Castle_Reworked_by_dashinvaine.jpg
Light to Dark Romanticism • The idea of following the imagination lead to the exploration of fear and horror. • Romantics look at individuals and see hope (Think “Psalm of Life”) • Gothic writers look at individuals and see the possibility of evil (Think Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter)
European Gothic tradition: • Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1765) • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) • Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) • American Gothic Tradition: 19th century • Edgar Allen Poe • Nathaniel Hawthorne • some works of Washington Irving and Herman Melville
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe • Settings: dark medieval castles, decaying ancient estates • Weird and terrifying events • Male narrators: insane • Female characters: beautiful, dead or dying • Looked inside the mind and its dysfunction • Plot involves extremes beyond murder: live burials, physical and mental torture, retribution from beyond the grave • Poe believed that in extreme situations, people revealed their true characters
The Works of Hawthorne • Examined the human heart under various conditions of fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal • Often dealt with the supernatural • Hawthorne wrote to express what he felt were important truths Artist rendering of Roger Chillingworth
Modern Literature: Southern Gothic • Gothic writing decreased in popularity following the real horrors Civil War (1861-1865) • realism replaced romanticism in American Literature • 20th century: Gothic writing revived in the south • Gloom and pessimism • Carson McCullers, Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner, Anne Rice • Decaying castles become decaying plantations • Ghosts of the past stalking not-so-noble characters • Idea that pressures of life make grotesques of us all • Characters can be stalked by criminals, con artists, and fools – not just ghosts and goblins
Reading Guide: Complete reading before class the day it is due For Monday 1/14 • Poe Background (450) • “Masque of the Red Death” (454) • “Fall of the House of Usher” pages 473-482 For Wednesday 1/16 • “Danse Macabre” • “The Raven” For Thursday 1/17 “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” For Tuesday 1/22 “A Rose for Emily” Thursday 1/24: Unit Project due, begin essay Discussion Monday 1/28: Typed Outline due in class Wednesday 1/30:Typed rough draft due in class Friday 2/1 : final essay due on turnitin.com and at the beginning of class. Begin project presentations.