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1. Overview of European Gothic 4. Conclusion
It is admitted that the English Gothic genre wasnt the only example of a popular aesthetic of horror in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Europe. Indeed, Gothic literature existed in France and was equally (to Britain) popular there. The vogue for Gothic also reached Germany: a great amount of novels and tales featuring knights, robbers, and ghosts were translated and written there. These developments of the Gothic couldnt be neglected. Just like all literary genres, the French and German Gothic novel didnt arise in cultural isolation. From the very beginning, it borrowed freely from a wide range of sources, both foreign and domestic; literary, scientific and aesthetic (showing a highly developed sense of beauty, esp. in art). The Gothic movement in Europe underwent several initial periods: gestation, development and decline. Broadly speaking, its believed that this genre appeared at the moment of the publication of Walpoles The castle of Ontario in 1764 and existed some time after Charles Maturins Melmoth the Wanderer of 1820. To sum it up, the Gothic was a broad European phenomenon and became even more widespread because its early features were transformed in several continental variations in the nineteenth century. The link between the French sentimental adventure story and the English Gothic novel became apparent in the late eighteenth century. Significantly, many of French writers engaged in the Gothic experiment began their literary careers as translators. They produced some successful adaptations and so provided the substantial input into the development of the sentimental Gothic novel in Europe. At some point in the late nineteenth century under the impact of translated English and German Gothic works the French sentimental adventure story (which existed since the 1730's) transmuted itself into yet another distinct genre, termed the roman noir. This new form underwent further modifications as a result of political and social changes. A classic example of the French roman noir could be The Recess by Sophia Lee (1783-85). The amount of borrowings and changes she made is striking. She was likely to be writing for a female audience and this fact greatly influenced her style. The whole story could be seen as an enduring pursuit during which the hero and heroine, though they may move from one location to another, can never escape their destiny. The horrifying effect is achieved by deathly descriptions. Some significant innovations occurred in comparison with original Gothic text (Prévost Cleveland): - the emotional and psychological portrait of the heroine is greatly augmented;
- the
criminal behavior of the hero is moderated;
The local features of this masterpiece
were easier to trace back than the evidence of some
influences from abroad. But still some common for all Gothic novels forms
remained, for example:
The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 permitted British and German fiction to develop along new lines and to suddenly liberate from the Francophone interference, and allowed the expanse of literary exchanges between these two countries which occurred in the mid-1790s. This tradition of the author-translator as cultural innovator was continued and a similar process of assimilation still took place.
The tradition of the German
Gothic writing itself has to be divided into three distinct subgenres:
die Räuberromane (or novel
of Banditry)
die Ritterromane (or novel
of Chivalry)
die Schauerromane (or
novel of Terror)
The Gothic novel represents a
complex network of borrowings, misappropriations and innovations. After
translation and adaptation each genre took on an increasingly distinctive local
character.
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