CFP: 'Ill met by moonlight': Gothic encounters with enchantment and the Faerie realm in literature and culture University of Hertfordshire, 8‒10 April 2021 (original) (raw)
Related papers
University of Hertfordshire, 8‒10 April 2021 As Prof. Dale Townsend has observed, the concept of the Gothic has had an association with fairies from its inception; even before Walpole’s 1764 Castle of Otranto (considered the first Gothic novel), eighteenth-century poetics talked of ‘the fairy kind of writing’ which, for Addison, ‘raise a pleasing kind of Horrour in the Mind of the Reader’ and ‘and favour those secret Terrours and Apprehensions to which the Mind of Man is naturally subject’. Johnson, in his Preface to Shakespeare (1765), talks of ‘the loves of Theseus and Hippolyta combined with the Gothic mythology of fairies’. ‘Horror’ and ‘terror’ are key terms of affect in Gothic criticism; Townsend urges us, however, to move away from this dichotomy. While we are certainly interested in the darker aspects of fairies and the fear they may induce, this conference also welcomes attention to that aspect of Gothic that invokes wonder and enchantment.
Gothic Literature as Fairy Tale: The Twilight Phenomenon
The aim of this project is to analyze to what extent contemporary best-seller Twilight (2005) by Stephenie Meyer complies with the characteristics of a work of Gothic fiction and can be considered a Gothic text, or could be better described as a contemporary fairy tale with similar traits to Beauty and the Beast. In order to do so, this thesis will start with background information about the definition of Gothic fiction and its characteristics, putting Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto as its most significant example. With regard to this, it will highlight which Gothic attributes are present in Twilight. Likewise, it will show those features which resonate with an updated version of a traditional fairytale in which a vampire, considered hideous monster, becomes a handsome hero who falls in love with a damsel in distress. Finally, it will conclude by defining Twilight according to its Gothic and fairy tale characteristics, trying to explain why this book has reached such a success both among teenage and adult readers. Key words: Gothic fiction, romance novel, fairytale, young-adult literature
The Cambridge companion to gothic fiction
2002
Cambridge companion to gothic fiction / edited by Jerrold E. Hogle. p. cm.-(Cambridge companions to literature) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0 521 79124 3 (hardback)isbn 0 521 79466 8 (paperback) 1. Horror tales, English-History and criticism. 2. Horror tales, American-History and criticism. 3. Gothic revival (Literature)-United States. 4. Gothic revival (Literature)-Great Britain. i. Hogle, Jerrold E. ii. Series. pr830.T3 C36 2002 823 .0872909-dc21 2002020172 isbn 0 521 79124 3 hardback isbn 0 521 79466 8 paperback
The Taming of the Fae: Literary and Folkloric Fairies in Modern Paganisms - prepublication copy
Shai Feraro and Ethan Doyle White, eds., Magic and Witchery in the Modern West. Palgrave MacMillan., 2019
Prepublication copy of chapter in Shai Feraro and Ethan Doyle White, eds., Magic and Witchery in the Modern West (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019). Traces the development of contemporary representations of fairies as helpers and protectors of the environment through literature and film in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and explores how fairy narratives among contemporary Pagans reflect these themes. I argue that environmental narratives about fairies among contemporary Pagans reflect literary and popular culture rather than oral tradition.
The Paradox of Horror: The Dark Side of Gothic Aesthetics
The Gothic: Probing the Boundaries, 2012
TellTale Deaths and Monstrous Quests: Being Human and 179 Visions of Death in Millennial Gothic Fictions Jacqueline de Giacomo 'Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!'-Bram Stoker In May of 2010, a group of scholars with various academic backgrounds from all corners of the world met in Prague to discuss the Gothic, including its sub-genres and expanding definitions. It was the first global conference of its kind and it brought about a number of interesting submissions which have consequently added to the body of knowledge and understanding perceived to be 'Gothic.' Within this eBook you will find a representative sample of the work that was presented then. Since the 1960's 'the Gothic' has increasingly interested academics. As a genre, it remains difficult to define, since the term is constantly expanding to include areas of film, music, fashion and other factions of popular culture. Both Gothic's history and its current status show the flexibility of applying the term in a variety of media. Gothic literature developed as a branch of Romanticism in the 18 th century, coinciding with both the social dislocations caused by industrial revolution and an increasing emphasis on science and reason that questioned the role of God in the world. This shifting of the ground beneath society led to an ontological questioning that gave rise to a general unease and in doing so, the first defining feature of the Gothic was born, it being that the Gothic arises at times of societal upheaval or threat. Walpole's Castle of Otranto, Lewis's The Monk, and Ann Radcliffe's The Italian are early examples of the Gothic novel. One could say, that from this point onwards, the Gothic crystallised into a form that, at its heart, was an expression of fear or anxiety at man's place in the world. Of course fear can be expressed in many ways; as the Gothic novel grew in popularity, so did many of the ways in which it expressed human fears and anxieties. Very quickly these expressions became common place within Gothic literature and changed into what can be described as recognisable conventions-a brooding atmosphere of fear, female oppression, corrupt aristocrats, family decay, immurement, journeys in weird and exotic locations, old buildings, graveyards, deviant clergy (particularly Catholic clergy)-all of these expressions of anxiety within the human psyche. Today 'the Gothic' is much more than a set of the late eighteenth-century tropes. It has expanded into all aspects of popular culture, cinema, fashion, music, and even since the 1980s, as the manifestation of the new and at times maligned 'Goth' culture. These essays demonstrate the sheer diversity of subject matter on which the Gothic now touches. In addition to the prerequisite musings on Vampires, Demons and the Supernatural, you will find more exotic examples of the Gothic, which range from the fashion of Gothic Lolitas in Hong Kong, to insightful comments on cult classics like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, to comparisons of Gothic music of the 1980s with classic Gothic literature and film. Introduction __________________________________________________________________ viii Part one of this volume sets the stage for the conference with an exploration of the different features within Gothic literature. Maria Lima examines Gothic aesthetics in their darker forms. Lima's paper argues that Gothic aesthetics may mask more perverse influences which each one of us can, at times, possess. Jean-Baptiste Dussert examines different articulations of the Gothic tradition through the lens of the American Gothic. Starting with the novel Wieland (1798) by Charles B. Brown, Dussert traces the transposition of the Gothic aesthetic into the American wilderness. Dussert argues that this transposition is one of the contributing factors to the growth of the transcendentalist movement. Cornelia Lippert explores Gothic themes such as liminality, moral choice and rites of passage in Stephen King's post-apocalyptic novel, The Stand (1978). In particular, Lippert compares King's villain, Randall Flagg, to the traditional Gothic villain of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Eoghain Hamilton explores Gothic features in a Gaelic context in the short story and minor vampire classic 'Ken's Mystery' (1887). Hamilton's paper also examines the Gothic features of 'Ken's Mystery' through a post-colonial lens. In this respect, his paper identifies a new and interesting portrayal of Irish identity that is a refreshing antidote to nineteenth century stereotypical depictions of the Irish. Finally, in part one, Angela Fodale explores the gothic elements in Haendel's opera Ariodante (1735). Fodale argues that Ariodante written and performed almost 30 years before Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), can be read as an earlier example of gothic novel. Part two examines representations of the Gothic in cinema. Niall O'Donnell compares representations of NorthWestern European identity as contrasted with Southern and Eastern European identities (as well as nationalities from further afield) in the Gothic literature of the late 18th century and classic Hollywood horror cinema of the 1930s. His comparison is notable for its interpretation of early 1930s horror cinema including such works as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932). Armando Rotondi looks at the effect of classic Gothic cinema on the highly entertaining and humorous Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Rotondi particularly investigates the influence of James Whale's The Old Dark House (1932) on the creation of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Gord Barentsen explores the shattering tension of adolescent sexuality in William Friedkin's film The Exorcist (1973). In his paper, Barentsen focuses his attention on the demon 'Pazuzu' and his role in the character Regan's possession in an attempt to shed light on the shattering nature of demonic sexuality constituting the hermeneutic core of The Exorcist. Dagmara Zając continues the examination of Gothic cinema when she investigates the perils of over interpretation of onscreen horrors. Zając argues that the films which primarily should be considered and analysed as Gothic are the early Hollywood horror classics. Accordingly, Zając's paper attempts at identifying the parallels and connections between early Gothic literature and the Gothic cinema of 1930s.
The Taming of the Fae: Literary and Folkloric Fairies in Modern Paganisms
Magic and Witchery in the Modern West, 2019
This chapter examines the influence of literary and folkloric notions of fairies, elves, and related spiritual beings on the folklore of modern Pagan religions. It presents the argument that although modern Pagan conceptions of these beings are deeply rooted in both literature and folklore, the fairies have undergone a significant shift in perception in modern Paganisms, becoming friendlier, less dangerous, and altogether tamer. While this is in part due to their transformation in Victorian children’s literature and twentieth-century animated films, it is also a consequence of the unique Pagan ethos that identifies with alien others. The transformation of the fae from dangerous spirits to companions, protectors, and allies allows many Pagans to cultivate relationships with them through a variety of practices, some traditional, others innovative. Nonetheless, it argues, the phenomenological nature of fairy experiences keeps the fae from becoming too tame: they remain in a liminal cat...
IJCIRAS, 2019
Gothic as a literary form became the most popular kind of literature developed in England in the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century with the works such as The Castle of Otranto, The Monk, and Melmoth the Wanderer. Horace Walpole started this genre of gothic fiction with The Castle Of Otranto (1764). Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus (1818), has very boldly and majestically described a giant or monster Frankenstein, who became the root cause of troubles in the novel. Likewise, Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga, which also comes under the gothic genre, has full contents of gothic settings and various supernatural bloodthirsty demonic vampire-themed characters. The motive of this research paper attempts to explore the gothic elements in the select works of Mary Shelley and Stephenie Meyer. It will deal with the full range of themes related to the gothic genre in the famous excellent works, as mentioned earlier. As both, the novelists attempt to make the world aware of the undead existing in this earthly sphere through their imagination. The work will explore not only the aberrant aspect of gothic literature but also the beast-human relationship, with the association of psychological and physiological circumstances creating the creepy, frightening, and shuddersome settings in these gothic narratives.