Gothic!

“Gothic” is a word that instantly conjures up images of pointed arched windows and doors, dark ruins, gargoyles, ghosts and terror.  But in literature it’s so much more and an exhibition recently on at the British Library shows how the genre of gothic fiction has evolved from the very first example, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, written in 1764 – 250 years ago!

This novel featured medieval castles, ghostly apparitions, mistaken identities, knights, shadows and doom.  It was based on a dream Walpole had, but at the same time it has its roots in medieval stories of chivalry and romance which Walpole felt were so much better than the novels of his time.  It wasn’t until the second edition, however, that the phrase “a Gothic story” was added to the title page and so a genre was born.

He also invented the literary device of pretending to have found an old manuscript, the “discovered document” then being published as if it were an old story rather than just written.  He didn’t officially let on that he was the author until the second edition.

A gothic novel usually has plenty of terror, wonder, mystery and darkness.  Castles, old abbeys and ruins often feature, or at the very least a creepy house of some sort.  The heroines seem to be predominantly virgins (or naive young ladies) who need to be rescued by dashing, courageous heroes.  And the villains are bad, very bad.

The landscape and/or weather can play a huge part in these novels, as for example in Wuthering Heights.  Ann Radcliffe, author of The Mysteries of Udolpho among other novels, was apparently a master at creating a terrifying atmosphere using descriptions of the landscape.  I confess that although I own a copy of that book, I have yet to read it.

Gothic novels were extremely popular and Northanger Abbey, mentioned by Elizabeth in a previous post, was Jane Austen’s wonderful satire of what happens when you read too many of these types of stories.  The exhibition I went to featured first edition copies of all the books the heroine of Northanger Abbey reads, which was interesting to see.  I love seeing old books, especially first editions!

My first encounter with the genre was when reading Victoria Holt’s books during my teens. On the Night of the Seventh Moon, Mistress of Mellyn and Kirkland Revels for example all featured an innocent young heroine who walked right into danger, finding herself in a scary castle or some such place with a brooding hero and something dark and threatening happening.  The reader was never sure whether he was actually a hero or a villain until he saved the heroine from some dire peril.  I loved those books, but I’m not sure I would like them as much now (haven’t tried reading one since).

Then there was Edgar Allan Poe – I avidly read all his stories and adored the poem The Raven.  It’s just so wonderfully evocative!  I also happen to love Thomas Grey’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, although I never thought about it as a gothic poem before going to this exhibition.  I just liked the way it sounded when read out loud.

The gothic genre is definitely still alive and well, with all the paranormal books and horror stories that abound.  For me though, I think I prefer the old kind – although scary, it wasn’t quite as graphic.  What do you think?

Christina x

www.christinacourtenay.com 

Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination

I can feel diffident posting about exhibitions that some of you might not be able to visit like Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination, which has just opened at the British Library. Fortunately, the British Library, in partnership with BBC 2 and BBC 4, will be celebrating all things Gothic this autumn with a series of exciting programmes exploring the literature, art, architecture and music – not to mention the famous people associated with the Gothic over the last 250 years. So, dear reader, you won’t be losing out.

At the preview, the curator Tim Pye defined the essentials for a Gothic novel: a dark medieval castle, terrifying spectres, mistaken identities, battling knights and a general air of doom. One could also add moonlight seen through clouds, bats, ivy and owls.

1. Tintern Abbey

The above picture of Tintern Abbey from 1812, shows a gentleman and a lady visiting the ruined abbey at night. Naturally, there is ivy, a full moon (and clouds) to add to the frisson of terror. Note the servants holding up flares to cast shadows and enhance the Gothic experience.

The exhibition opens with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), the first Gothic novel. I enjoyed the lively Czech cartoon film of the novel, done as a magic lantern show – very atmospheric, and full of what Walpole called ‘gloomth’. And there are a couple of painted prints of ruined abbeys, designed to be back lit by candles flickering behind the Gothic windows.

 2.  Castle of Otranto

A spate of Gothic novels followed in the 1780-90s, the most famous of which was Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho. Mrs Radcliffe was a skilled writer and the book gave the genre literary respectability. The exhibition also has a case containing all seven of the ‘Northanger Horrids’ which Isabella Thorpe recommended to Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey, published by the Minerva Press with creepy titles like The Castle of Wolfenbach (1794) by Eliza Parsons, and The Necromancer (1794) by Carl Friedrich  Kahlert.  

3. Nathaniel Grogan The Mysteries of Udolpho

Interestingly, perhaps as a result of the French Revolution, the genre began to change, the first of many transformations in its 250 year history. Tim Pye suggested that the French Revolution was so frightening in its own right that the Gothic novel had to up its game: you can’t have reality being more blood-curdling than the Gothic novels specifically written to terrify.

The genre moved from spectres in ruined castles to monsters in human form; for example, Frankenstein’s monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), and later, Dr Polidori’s The Vampyre, inspired by Lord Byron’s fragment written whilst they were all staying at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Leman in the Alps. Now the monstrous came in human form and, worse, the vampire could be someone one knew – in disguise.

4. Frankenstein

There is also a terrific clip from the 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester. Her screams (at about three minute intervals) pierce the air as you go round the exhibition.

The exhibit which probably attracted the most press attention was the mid-Victorian Vampire Hunting Kit borrowed from the Royal Armouries. One can only speculate as to why they own such a thing – unholy disturbances in the Bloody Tower, perhaps?

The handsome box contains everything a respectable vampire-hunter could possibly want: wooden mallet and stakes, crucifix, rosary, Book of Common Prayer, bottles of Holy Water, crushed garlic, a pistol, an iron mould for making bullets, and some bullets.

5: Vampire Hunting Kit. 

I cannot resist ending with a splendid poster from 1890 of the decidedly Gothic melodrama Manhood. It has all the elements of a Gothic play: noble hero with clinging heroine, Gothic ruins, moonlight, ivy, bats, an owl, a graveyard, and a man with a gun, loaded one presumes with a silver bullet, who has just shot another man – probably a vampire in disguise.

6: Manhood poster.

I’m looking forward to the BBC programmes.

Elizabeth Hawksley

The British Library exhibition, Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination runs from 3 October, 2014 to 20 January, 2015. www.bl.uk/gothic

Images:

1.  Tintern Abbey, 1812, courtesy of the British Library Board
2.  Watercolour of The Castle of Otranto from Walpole’s personal copy of the book, courtesy of the British Library
3.  'Lady Blanche crosses the ravine’ from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Nathaniel Grogan, late 1790s, courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland
4.  Frankenstein’s monster from the first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, courtesy of the British Library
5.  Vampire Hunting Kit, courtesy of the Royal Armouries
6.  1890 theatre poster for Manhood, performed at the Elephant and Castle Theatre, courtesy of the British Library Board