Lejla Mulalić The English Novel 31.3.2017.

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Gothic Novel
Horace Walpole – Castle of Otranto (1764)

The novel – kind of writing when it first appeared was seen as trivial, noneducated, unliterary, so the
author of the 1st gothic novel, Horace Walpole when he published his first novel – he did it
anonymously and he lied about the origins of the novel in the first preface because he wasn't sure
about the reaction and then when the reactions was fairily favourable, in the second edition he
decided to acknowledge his own identity. So, he wasn't sure how people would take it – people who
were intelectual, young people, women or to say the wide mases reacted much more possitively to
these novels.

Before we look at the novel as such, Castle of Otranto, we need to look at the genre – to undestand
how come that this kind of writing appeared in the 18th century along with Robinson Crusoe, Tom
Jones and other novels.

The Ghotic – What Does it mean?

- Goths
- Gothic novel – an oxymoron bringing together the past and the present
- Reactionary and Revolutionary

The best place to begin with will be where the name comes from?
One of the first associations is the name of Goths – barbaric tribes that attacked and vandalized
Rome in the beginning of the middle ages. So the first reaction, it's smething primitive, barbaric and
something that is dark; but of course there are other meanings of the word gothic.

Gothic novel as the phrase, as two words that go together is definitely contradictionary – because
gothic symbolises something old, something from the past and novel as a genre which is new. The
word novel as an adjective means new – so you have new and old in the same phrase. It is an
oxymoron because it brings these two opposite notions together.
Even the name itself is full of contradictions and controversy; the name doesn't suggest anything
stable.

Gothic novel as a genre is both, reactionary and revolutionary – this is an idea which is controversial
and intereseting about the gothic novel.
On the one hand it is reactionary which means that it's backward, conservative because it goes
back to the past. We as human beings should look forward not backward because if you look to the
past you're likely to be stuck in the past, you're likely to be conservative and somehow slave to what
used to be part of humanity. So we should look frward, to the future. That's why gothic novel might
seem as a rectionary genre because it goes back to the medieval period, another periods in even
more remote past.
But on the other hand it's also revolutionary – because gothic novel as a genre breaks and challanges
rules. It chalenges authority, all kinds of newly established cannons in the 18th century novel. So it
goes back to the past but it's also rebelious – so it's revolutionary, it breaks ,chalenges and

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undermiens all kinds of authority. And that's what it's so interesting about it, that's both old and
new, both somehow backward and revolutionary and new. As you can see, this idea will come up
quite again as we go to discussion of gothic novel.

- The Rise of the Gothic Novel by Maggie Kilgour

- The Rise of the Novel by Ian Watt

The Rise of the Gothic Novel – a story of 50 or 60 pgs long.

This study by Maggie Kilgour is interesting because of its title – obviously Maggie had Watt’s book in
her mind when she composed the title for her own book. Because The Rise of the Novel is a standard
textbook, critical work of a genre which has been now acknowledge and accepted.
The Gothic Novel is not accepted genre but an experiment in writing so she intentionally uses the
same kind of title to give certain credibility to the gothic novel. Why the gothic novel shouldn’t have
the same kind of book – which is good critical account of its features, major works. So it’s kind of a
pun, there’s a lot of irony in her particular formulation of the title because she believed that even
these sporadic, experimental forms of writing should be standardized, accepted as something to be
part of university’s syllabi and that’s exactly what has happened.
There is a lot of people who have specialized in the gothic novel, who write very good critical
accounts of it, many courses of the gothic novel worldwide which can take all those who love this
kind of genre.
So, it has become part of mainstream although in the beginning it was far, far from standardized
genre.

Rise of the Gothic/Historical and Cultural Contexts

- 18th century – The Age of Reason/Enlightenment AND the French Revolution

- Reason and reality were strictly limited to what could be experienced by the senses
- Emergence of the Gothic as a rebellion of the imagination against the tyranny if reason
- Protestantism promoted visual ascetism and restraint which created a void in collective
imagination

The first gothic novel appeared in the second half of 18th century.
18th century – known as the age of reason, enlightenment – the period of human history in which
reason was really placed on the pedestal. Reason was seen as the most important superior part of
human personality. It was the path to understanding, to life, progress and these were the ideas
which permeated the whole of 18th century. So progress, development, celebrating of your ability to
think, ability to change the world by means of reason. These were typically accepted and discussed
ideas of the 18th century.
Long with them Enlightenment – which literally means getting out of dark where things are clearly
visible.
However, along with all these celebrations of reason towards the end of 18th century, French
Revolution takes place – which is an event which defies definition, it defies any kind of rational
thinking. It all began as a revolt of the people against their king, there were mass executions, mass

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killings, complete lost of track and it ended in bloody massacre. And a lot of people who initially
supported French Revolution, who saw it as way of freedom not just in France but elsewhere in
world, towards the end abandoned this ideas and became very conservative, turned their back on
revolution. As every revolution, it’s very difficult to explain it rationally – it begins peacefully as kind
of organised attempt to achieve your goals which usually ends as kind of anarchy.
These two events when you put together are so far apart, The Age of Reason and French Revolution
– they’re mutually exclusive, because revolution is not explainable by means of reason and out of
this contradiction the gothic novel actually grew and developed as a genre which combined,
challenged and questioned these different contexts

The Age of Reason insisted explaining the world, understanding the world by means of senses – to
hear, touch, and smell things which are testable by means of experience.
However, a lot of people at the time, writer and philosopher believed that not everything about us as
human beings can be explained by means of senses. There are parts of our personality which can’t be
“discovered” by those means; there are parts of our personality which are dark, even morbid, and
bizarre and which are not liable to these kinds of tests.

A lot of people believed that we as human beings are more complex and, it was believed at the time,
that some parts of our life cannot be explained by means of reason because there are irrational,
unreasonable aspects of our personality and these people decided to express these ideas in writing,
write fiction or nonfiction and that’s how the gothic novel became momentum in the 18th century.

We can say that gothic is kind of a rebellion of the imagination against the theory of reason. – How
Maggie Kilgour wrote in her critical account of the gothic novel. So it’s a rebellion against the theory
of reason. You can say – how there can be a thing such as theory of reason, isn’t reason a good thing,
something positive?
Well, there can be a theory of reason if you take things too far, if you insist on only that the reason is
the only way of understanding and approaching human beings and life in general.
It’s a very monolithic understanding of reason as reason being the only parameter, and then it’s a
tyranny. So the gothic novel is an attempt to challenge this worldview that the reason is the only way
of understanding the world, changing the world and living your life trying to introduce other way
which celebrates imagination, fancy emotions, passions, things that are not always rationally
explicable.

The last entry mentions religious context which is important and help us explain why this period of
history is the time when the gothic novel appeared.
It has to do with the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism.
Protestantism began as kind of reaction to Catholicism which was seen as too superstitious, too
oriented towards images and objects, even “pagan” in its outlook because they put too much
emphasis on pictures, paintings, talismans, candles, confessions – things which are not seen by
Protestants as obligatory parts of the church service.
When Protestants gained power in Britain, the first thing they would do is to remove all these visible
objects of Catholicism and painted walls to look more serious so that all believers are focused on God
rather than on any kind of external distractions.
In doing that, Protestantism promoted visual ascetism – meaning that visually these churches now
became very blank, very unimaginative, and empty. It was kind of restraint which was frustrating to

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people, who need things to occupy their minds, to stir their imagination – So, a kind of restraint was
created in collective imagination.

People in general, Protestants in Britain missed although they would never openly admit it, this kind
of imaginative appeal Catholicism. It may be a “wrong religion” to Protestants, but it offered them
something which they were now lacking – something to stir their imagination, senses, to make and
feel delight of religion. – Important aspect which you should not overlook and this is why almost all
gothic novels take place in Catholic countries and their stories are always related to Catholicism
because that’s how they established this missing link with Catholicism.

- Gothic and the claims of passion and emotion

- Gothic, Romanticism and the French Revolution
- Nostalgia for the past (the Middle Ages)

The claims of passion and emotion – exactly what went missing in the Age of Reason which placed
emphasis on rational and empirical ways of thinking.

Apart from the French Revolution there was also Industrial Revolution which wasn’t about politics
but it changed a life. It promoted values such as progress, prosperity, financial stability, scientific
thinking – again all things which were completely opposite to gothic novel. Things which focused on
rationality of an individual because it was believed that only if you are financially successful, bent on
scientific development and technological improvement – only then you can live your life fully. Well,
gothic novelists say there are other ways of living your life fully, expressing yourself and feeling good
about yourself.

Age of Reason promotes stability and Industrial revolution as well, now French Revolution undercuts
all those developments and challenges any kind of order.

Romanticism is another literary movement which appeared alongside the gothic novel, it was more
focused on poetry rather than novel writing. But Romantics were people essentially who were
fascinated by the French Revolution. All these changes in society which challenged authority, which
opened these new possibilities of living your life fully and in the way undermining all things that were
an obstacle to your full development as a person.
Lot of Romantics, young poets that belonged to this movement, would go to France when these
conflicts, massive executions were taking placing and virtually tried to understand what was it that
was happening; whether these ideas could come to England, whether the same kind of Revolution
would take place in England which is something that never happened in England, because England
was strong resistant to these changes. England is known as a country that is strongly opposed to any
kind of overthrow social order and they built the tradition with Parliament and the king that makes it
impossible for any kind of radical overthrow. So, these ideas were very carefully policed and all these
people who would return from France to England and bring these ideas – pamphlets or books – will
be carefully monitored, followed all the time. If you say something that resembles a political
comment on Revolution and say you in park or in the street and someone hear you, you may get you
found with the authorities in prison. It was dangerous to bring these French revolution ideas to
England because England was the country that wanted to make sure revolution like that never
happens there. That kind of mass bloodshed and complete anarchy was unthinkable in England.

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The Gothic novel belongs to these contexts, Romantics and their ideas of a different life which is
different from Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution which celebrates anarchy, change,
and profound social change. – Gothic is part of these contexts.

As mentioned, the gothic novel by definition goes back to the past, taking inspiration, good stories
from the past – most often is the Middle ages. – The period of history which is more appealing than
any other to the Gothic novels.
First of all, the medieval period belongs to kind of tradition which was brought to an end with
Renaissance. Tradition which doesn’t recognize individualism, any kind of proactive initiative in
human beings.
In the middle Ages you were part of a system, parish, a church, a state, always obedient to your king,
bishop, priest, mother and father – always strongly dependent on hierarchy. Never encouraged to
speak out your mind, to question things especially the religion or the king. Taking things for granted
and living your life anonymously rather than trying to make a change – more or less the medieval
concept of living.
However, with all those disadvantages there was an advantage – you felt very much part of a
community, you felt protected where you had shelter. You actually felt that the state and the church
are kind of a mother who took care of you, you didn’t really need to do any thinking for yourself and
some people preferred that – because thinking for yourself and taking initiative is difficult and
challenge; it takes courage. So Medieval period is for Gothic novelists, a period when people felt
secured, sheltered, and protected from all these changes that came with Renaissance.

Why Does the Gothic Novel Revisit the Past?

- Gothic approach to the past VS. Fielding’s approach to the past

- What does this tell you about the novel as a genre?
- A cannibal? Or a survivor that constantly reinvents itself?

25:00 minuta

Novel Proper VS. Gothic Novel

- Middle class values: Individualism, self – determination, getting ahead, reason, autonomy
and progress
- The gothic is part of the reaction against the political, social, scientific, industrial and
epistemological revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries which enabled the rise of the
middle class

- Modern middle class society made up of atomistic possessive individuals who have no
essential relation to each other (cf. Robinson Crusoe) by Maggie K. (nadji u knjizi)

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- Gothic villain – an extreme example of modern materialistic individual