The analysis provided in chapter 2 proves that “horrid” novels cannot be regarded as mere automatic copies of The Mysteries of Udolpho. However, since it is mentioned in the novel several times, most scholars acknowledge the largest influence of The Mysteries of Udolpho on Northanger Abbey. Nevertheless, I agree with Nowak’s statement that “by arbitrarily assigning responsibility for all Gothic aspects to Udolpho, the complete appreciation of its true depth and relationship with the Gothic is limited.” Therefore, Nowak is interested in the comparison of Northanger Abbey and The Orphan of the Rhine and demonstrates on several examples that this selection was not random at all. For example, the part when Henry talks about the possible mysteries which Catherine will experience at the Abbey and he mentions Dorothy. Nowak emphasizes that the main female servant in Sleath’s novel was called
According to Modern Fantasy Writers, symbolism describes the author, Tolkien, and the creativity of his writing (1). Overall, if Tolkien had not used symbols in The Hobbit, the book wouldn’t have been as appealing to the
Book Journal One Prompt: What is happening with the plot of your story? Has the author used foreshadowing so you were able to predict the next events or have you been surprised? The Once and Future King takes place in the medieval ages, with knights and kings and so forth. The two main characters are Wart (Wart is his nickname) and Kay. Kay is training to be a knight and Wart will be his squire.
The concept of the Hero’s journey is arguable a popular storyline for many stories ranging from Epic of Gilgamesh to modern day Harry Potter and is frequently seen in other literature and media illustrating that the concept of hero and a hero’s journey is not a new one however is still very prominent today. According the Campbell, "The first work of the hero is to retreat from the world scene of secondary effects to those causal zones of the psyche where the difficulties really reside, and there to clarify the difficulties, eradicate them in his own case”. While Gilgamesh does not have the proper morals to be a hero, his story does follow the hero’s journey and is still being told because the values are still relatable and compelling
The Beowulf poem and the Poetic Edda A comparison between Norse and Anglo-Saxon literature There are some texts that have changed and formed our view on literary history, and two of the more notable pieces are The Beowulf poem and the Poetic Edda. The two have redefined our view on the literary past of both England and Scandinavia and have laid the foundation for what we acknowledge as literature. J.R.R Tolkien wrote in his Essay Beowulf: The monsters and the critics ”Barely all the censure, and most of the praise, that has been bestowed on The Beowulf has been due either to the belief that it was something that it was not — for example, primitive, pagan, Teutonic, an allegory (political or mythical), or most often, an epic; or to disappointment at the discovery that is was itself not something that the scholar would have liked better — for example, a heathen heroic lay, a history of Sweden, a manual of German antiquities, or a Nordic Summa Theologica.” He continues to debate for the poems importance as literature, instead of as a historical document. It is evident that the Beowulf poem should not be viewed as a historical document, but it is hard to deny its connections to its context and its time. In this essay I will explore and compare the Norton critical edition of The Beowulf poem and the revised edition of the Poetic Edda.
Would you want to read an entire piece of literature without any description? The most common answer would be “no,” which shows how relevant descriptive language is to any text. Descriptive language is a very influential craft tool that is used throughout many pieces of literature. The effect it has on those texts is so essential that if used consistently and purposefully, it allows the readers to visualize the scene that is created by the author. This essay will compare and contrast the descriptive language used within the short story, “A Sound of Thunder,” by author Ray Bradbury, and the novel, Pendragon, by D.J.
Tim O’Brien never lies. While we realise at the end of the book that Kiowa, Mitchell Sanders and Rat Kiley are all fictional characters, O’Brien is actually trying to tell us that there is a lot more truth hidden in these imagined characters than we think. This suggests that the experiences he went through were so traumatic, the only way to describe it was through the projection of fictional characters. O’Brien explores the relationship between war experiences and storytelling by blurring the lines between truth and fiction. While storytelling can change and shape a reader’s opinions and perspective, it might also be the closest in helping O’Brien cope with the complexity of war experiences, where the concepts like moral and immorality are being distorted.
When reading The Hobbit, being able to step out of your comfort zone is a major key. J. R. R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit is a novel that is not only showing a heroic quest, but is a fantasy and satire. It is written in the third person, almost exclusively from Bilbo, the protagonist's
To begin, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Poet Pearl defines the knights code. Soon to become the knight has to break the code for his survival. Next The Canterbury Tails, Geoffrey Chaucer presents the characters in the poem, starting off with their profession. Chaucer puts a twist on the characters,
He saw one’s identity to be completely determined by one’s memory andsomeone who did not remember anything of his or her past had in fact no identity, orno sense of self. Mary Carruthers’ The Book of Memory (1990), offers fresh insights into the function of memory in the medieval world by drawing on instances relating to the role of memory in the works of Dante, Chaucer, and Aquinas to the symbolism of illuminated manuscripts. In the words of Carruthers: The difference is that whereas now geniuses are said to have creative imagination which they express in intricate reasoning and original discovery, in earlier times they were said to have richly retentive memories, which they expressed in intricate reasoning and original discovery.