Gothic Novel | Novel of Terror
Gothic Novel | Novel of Terror
The Gothic novel is a striking type of novel in literature. The Gothic Novel is a novel of horror based on the supernatural. The gothic novel is away from the white realism of life and society. The main theme of the Gothic novel is generally based on something unreal things or objects in which the skeleton walks, the picture moves, and terrible murders happen. It shows physical violence and mental anguish. It is melodramatic in character. The atmosphere of a Gothic novel is wild and dissolute nature, dark and secret passages and other horrifying and unseasonal landscapes. The Gothic type of novel is the product of the later 18th century something inspired by classical epic and medieval chivalrous romances and adventures. A somber restless villain is the central hero and heroine often beautiful, innocent and full of sensibility that waits to be rescued by a chivalrous lover.
The credit of being the first Gothic novelist in literature goes to Horace Walpole (1717-1779). The Castle of Otranto by him is a well-known Gothic novel. There is all the paraphernalia of terror and villainy. Mrs. Anne Radcliffe after Walpole is a more perfect Gothic novelist in English literature. Her ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’ is a novel teeming with mysterious passages, disappearing wall, shrouded figures, unexplained groans and clanking chains. Monk Lewis is another novelist of the Gothic or Horror school. His novel entitled The Monk is replete with all the characteristics of a Gothic novel. Besides them, Clara Reeve, Robert, Maturin, Mrs. Shelly, and Beckford are some famous English horror novelists.
The Gothic novel of the 18th century had a considerable influence on later novelists. Lytton, Collins, and Stevenson experimented with new themes in quest of ingenious sources of mystery and terror. These novels of mystery excite awe and fear. Thus there is an element of Gothic in the scientific fantasies of H.G. Wells and in some novels of C.S. Lewis. This type of novel also provided and influenced a pattern in detective novels and writers of crime thrillers. The Gothic novels appeal to non-rational human nature, so their popularity has not gone down in the age of realism and science also. 0 0 0.
N. B. The article originally belongs to the book entitled ‘ The Laws of Literature‘ by Menonim Menonimus
Books on Literary Criticism by M. Menonimus:
- World Short Story Criticism
- World Poetry Criticism
- World Drama Criticism
- World Novel Criticism
- World Essay Criticism
- Indian English Poetry Criticism
- Indian English Poets and Poetry Chief Features
- Emily Dickinson’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Walt Whitman’s Poetry-A Thematic Study
- Critical Essays on English Poetry
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: Return of the Spirit-An Analytical Study
- Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel: ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Arayaf’-An Analytical Study
- Analytical Studies of Some Arabic Short Stories
- A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Pre-Islamic Period (500 AD-622 AD)
- A Brief History of Arabic Literature: Early Islamic Period (622 AD-661 AD) …
Related Search:
