The Fantastic: A Structural Approach To A Literary Genre
In order to examine how postmodern women novelists manage to revise the figure of the female monster, it is worthy to point to the shift in the perception of the supernatural. In his seminal study The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, Tzvetan Todorov defines uses the word “fantastic” both to define the supernatural and to denote a specific form of it. He writes:
In a world which is indeed our world, the one, we know, a world without devils, sylphides, or vampires, there occurs an event which cannot be explained by the laws of this same familiar world. The person who experiences the event must opt for one of two solutions: either he is victim of an illusion of the senses, of a product of the imagination--and laws of the
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Thus it can be divided into two different subgenres: when the reader decides that the laws of reality remain intact and permit an explanation of the phenomena described, we say that the work belongs to another genre: the uncanny (41, emphasis is mine). In other words, the ‘uncanny’ supernatural which can be rationally explained in relation to the natural laws of nature and it includes, for example, weird instances of madness or occurrences of feverish delirium. On the contrary, when the reader “decides that the new laws of nature must be entertained to account for the phenomena, we enter the genre of the marvellous” (41, emphasis is mine). In other words, the ‘marvellous’ supernatural which is inexplicable and just accepted as supernatural because it goes beyond the boundaries of the explainable and it contains, for instance, fairytales and science-fiction narratives. Yet as the reader makes a distinction between the real/unreal, familiar/unfamiliar, natural/supernatural the text is no longer perceived as a fantastic one. The gothic creates moments of uncertainty while trying to identify the real nature of the …show more content…
Female Gothic creates supernatural monsters that embody their real fears and mirror their sense of unease at the life-options offered to them by the patriarchal society. Therefore, the supernatural in Female Gothic turns out to be the uncanny because it is explainable revealing thus “the mechanism of evasion or repression, by the conscious mind, of the instinctual drives of the unconscious” (Sage, Gothick Novel 22-3). Its writers, in other words, were fascinated by the depiction of the heroine’s psychological status while exploring her different fears which are usually associated with cultural, social perception of women and construction of
The Vampyre By John William Polidori
806 Words | 4 PagesGothic fiction has been around for centuries and many great works were created with gothic fiction being the main role. “The Vampyre” by John William Polidori is amongst one of the most famous works under the gothic fiction genre. In “The Vampyre” reflects several themes which also reflect current real life problems and issues of the 19th century. Those themes that are going to be discussed are time and place, power, sexual power, the uncanny, the sublime, crisis, and the supernatural and the real.
Mrs. Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children
634 Words | 3 PagesGothic Literature is known to incorporate many gothic elements into it’s stories. Authors such as Ransom Riggs, Horacio Quiroga, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edward Poe have done a great job by proving this using elements like monsters, grotesqueness, and fascination with the past. In both the novel Mrs. Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Riggs and the short story “Feather Pillow” by Quiroga two main characters died suddenly by a monster. In Mrs. Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children Jacob finds his Grandpa Abe dead by a “tentacle-mouth horror in the woods” (Riggs 39).
Sheela-Na-Gig Analysis
2015 Words | 9 PagesMonsters that resemble familial bodies receive our attention through appearing as a construct of both, the understood and unthinkable, commanding to be seen. This existence demands the participation of the audience to define and categorise what it is to be normal, suggesting that the image of the monster is never fixed; constantly evolving through interpretation. When considering the monstrous within the Middle Ages, this is best represented in the depiction of the Sheela-na-gig that exist today often eroded or decayed due to the excess of human touch. The utmost importance of this source is that it reveals an audience desired contact and domestication of the obscene which may or may not have occurred in the medieval period. When scholars interpret the Sheela-na-gig to be representative of the offensive, analysis is thus partly superficial as it deals with investing their own narrative within an imperfect material.
Grotesque Body Analysis
1259 Words | 6 PagesShe points to the deficiency of the Bakhtinian theory that fails to establish dialogism between the grotesque body and the female one. While explaining that although he relates the grotesque body to the images of womb, pregnancy and childbirth, he fails to recognize their close affinity to “to social relations of gender” (The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess and Modernity 63). She condemns the Bakhtinian contradictory treatment of the female body, which simultaneously celebrates its generative and subversively debasing potential and abbreviates it to be a mere vessel to give new birth (RW 240). While trying to explain what “remains repressed and undeveloped” in her male counterpart, Russo points to the subversive potential of the female grotesque to overthrow the normative constraints on female actand look (Russo 63). “[D]efined […] in relation to the ideal, standard, or normative form” of the twentieth century, this work tends to argue that the female grotesque in contemporary age still has the power to create horror as it plays a fundamental role “to identity formation for both men and women as a space of risk and abjection” (Russo 12, Miles
The Homeric Myth Of Demeter And Persephone
1893 Words | 8 PagesThe majority of Horror film and books are suffused with female monsters, with many of these female monsters developing from ancient myths. Yet literary criticism has tended to focus more on the woman as the victim of the monster, rather than the woman-as-monster. The majority of monsters in classical mythology are female and the Homeric myth of Demeter and Persephone is a primary archetype for the classical myths that have informed the horror genre’s construction of the feminine. The myth recounts the abduction and rape of the maiden Goddess Persephone by Hades the King of the underworlds. As David Greven states that the grief of Demeter, Persephone’s mother presents a crucial precedent for the recurrent theme of the return to origins in horror and provides a basis for the representation of the maternal figure in modern horror.
The Controversy On Lo And Humbert
763 Words | 4 PagesThe reading of this book offers insight into the mind of a crazed man, but really symbolizes an alternate, mythic reality in which art and beauty reign king. But on the other hand, we can never be too sure if this is in fact, what he wanted us to think all
Analysis Of Matthew Lewis The Monk And Ann Radcliffe's The Italian
1270 Words | 6 PagesMatthew Lewis’ The Monk and Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian are two of the most iconic Gothic novels of the Eighteenth Century, both written only a year apart and one in response to other. It is of no surprise that both novels have various subjects in common—one of these, the Supernatural. Ghostlike forces, specters, demons and locations are approached differently in The Monk and The Italian, one uses the supernatural deliberately—and in a much larger role—while the other uses the supernatural to heighten certain scenes of terror. Certainly, both novels use it as a shock factor, but furthermore both use it for different reasons in their novels.
Comparing Minister's Black Veil By Nathaniel Hawthorne And Edgar Allan Poe
442 Words | 2 PagesIn the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe were known for their use of gothic elements in their types of writing. The plot of gothic literature novels typically involves people who become involved in complex and oftentimes evil paranormal schemes, usually against an innocent and helpless heroine. Poe used gothic dimensions to explore the human mind in extreme situations. Hawthorne examined the human heart under conditions of fear, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal. Even though Hawthorne and Poe used the gothic elements, they still used different types of darkness to portray their writing to the reader.
How Supernatural Is Revolutionary In TV History
572 Words | 3 PagesThe genre has captivated audiences and created a new standard for television. In this essay, I will argue that the supernatural genre is revolutionary in TV history. Firstly, the supernatural genre has provided a unique way to explore societal issues. By using supernatural creatures and powers, the genre has been able to address issues such as discrimination, mental health, and addiction in a creative and effective manner.
Use Of Ambiguity In Gothic Literature
66 Words | 1 PagesIn Gothic literature, authors use ambiguity to create suspense and add scary details to their stories. Ambiguity defines the Gothic genre by developing questions and have the audience wanting more. The author of “Where is Here?” uses ambiguity more effectively than other Gothic authors like Edgar Alan Poe and Josie Couterez because of the use of fear of the unknown and the frustration of unanswered questions.
Romanticism In The Masque Of The Red Death
934 Words | 4 PagesThe gothic period in American history was full of dark themes that reflected the response that romanticism had on individualist literature. Instead of viewing individuals with hope, gothic’s looked at individuals with the potential of evil. This was the source of the macabre styles like fear, greed, and betrayal that came to define the gothic era. One of the defining authors of the era was Edgar Allan Poe who wrote the story Masque of the Red Death with many of the themes of the gothic era in mind. In particular, the story is primarily centered around death and our inability to escape it.
Udolpho Frankenstein Analysis
1118 Words | 5 PagesHave you ever read a story that causes chills or your emotionally invested in a character. The story’s Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The mysteries of udolpho by Ann Radcliffe are literature that are centered in fear. These story’s cause suspense or has ghost or some type of monster. A gothic is a great example of fear in literature. The settings, characters, and story line has a way of making the reader invested by hooking to their emotions.
The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World Analysis
1130 Words | 5 PagesWith the purpose of understanding why writers write, this essay offers an analysis of the short stories of Shirley Jackson and Gabriel Marquez: “The Lottery” and “The handsomest drowned man in the world” respectively. Both writers perpetuate a contemporary literary genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy. Jackson and Garcia Marquez use symbolism in “the Lottery and “The handsomest drowned man in the world” to explore and communicate their perspective on magical realism through the main themes of the stories, the response to change and the importance of rituals. Jackson uses the black box and the stones to symbolise disapproval of change and the acceptance of traditions
Sexual Anxieties In Bram Stoker's Dracula
650 Words | 3 PagesThis unsettling evokes some of the key features of the Gothic, such as the use of phantasmagoria, transgression, and excesses, all of which disturbed the reader by surrounding them with dark reflections of a reality portrayed through fiction. Pacts with the devil to obtain one’s desires, monks and aristocrats who revel in luxury — even if this means they must stain their hands with blood —, vampires and mad scientists: all corrupt one’s morals, all corrupt the false appearance of serenity. Likewise, the female vampires who torment Jonathan Harker disturb the harmony of the domestic sphere and unsettle the delicate balance between the private and the public domain. These vampiric women are marked by heightened sensuality and tacked to other fatal women that permeate art and European literature at the end of the nineteenth century. In this novel, fear and desire are often confused, a clue modern anxieties surrounding desire toward sensuous but degrading bodies.
Elements Of Gothic Elements In The Tell-Tale Heart
1056 Words | 5 PagesA classic element of gothic fiction typically involves a threatening atmosphere and it is very important that this is not just part of the background, but forms a crucial part
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