Characteristics of Gothic Literature
It originated in England in the late18th century, and its ancestor was Horace walpole. He created the model of early classical Gothic novels in the castle of Otranto. Gothic literature was very popular in Victorian era, and most of it was included in the ranks of horror literature and magic novels. Its contents are mainly death, ghosts, reasoning, bloody cases and ghosts, which have a strong horror color. Gothic literature has a natural and almost paranoid pursuit of dark depression, death aesthetics, religious complex and aestheticism, and he has always shown a withdrawn, alienated and gloomy spiritual temperament. This concept, which is incompatible with classical philosophy, has kept it out of mainstream culture and serious art for a long time. The remarkable elements of Gothic novels include horror, mystery, supernatural, bad luck, death, decadence, haunted old houses, epilepsy, madness, family curse and so on.
Characteristics of Gothic Literature
The background of the novel is wasteland, extreme weather, strange background, collapsed and broken castles, basements, underpasses, graves, attics, labyrinthine corridors, rotating stairs, dark shadows, moonlight, flickering candlelight, magic, supernatural forces and terrorist events (such as murder, murder). The plot pattern of a beautiful heroine (princess or beauty) is demonized in a foreign background. The hero (prince, knight, soldier or police officer, detective) overcame a series of difficulties with courage and wisdom in a dangerous and unfamiliar environment, finally defeated the devil, monster or villain, rescued the kidnapped or coerced beautiful heroine, achieved fame and won back beauty. The artistic effect is weird, mysterious, suspenseful, dramatic, exciting and enjoyable.
representative works
Typical works include: The Castle of Otranto, HoraceWalpole, recognized as the first Gothic novel in the West, Willand, and Shelter by Charles Brown; Or, Alonso and Melissa "(TheAsylum；; In fact, some famous novels can also be classified as Gothic style, such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and King Solomon's Treasure.