Novels are stories that entertain and instruct. The Gothic novel specializes in entertainment. That is one reason why the art form is popular with film makers. Once a book has been written the film maker can turn it into a film, following the original plot and developing the entertainments aspects created by the novelist.
But before the first film made its appearance novels took over from drama as a popular form of entertainment. Jane Austen wrote a satire on the ways in which young people might be misled by some narratives into seeing spooks and dangers that did not exist. Her satire illustrates the power that literature can exert on the mind.
In 1764 Horace Walpole initiated and defined the genre. The fact that Austen wrote another work satirizing the genre in 1799 is an indication of its immediate popularity and influence. More than two hundred years later the prominent features are followed still and translated into other genres such as film.
Without the fear instinct wild creatures go the way of the dodo. It may be a primordial survival instinct in human beings too, and an explanation for the success of a literary genre that exploits the fear instinct as much as possible. Very young children love to run screaming from old men pretending to be monsters and wicked witches feature strongly in the favorite tales. Adults and adolescents have terrorism and the Gothic novel.
Castles have always proved a useful metonym for fear. They are foreboding and constructed with features that were designed to strike fear into the hearts of potential attackers. Moats, parapets spy holes and secret passages are popular features often silhouetted against dark clouds drifting before the Moon. In a modern film like 'Psycho' the castle may become a gloomy house filmed from a low angle.
An important feature of the genre was a vulnerable female in distress. In the feminist age it is often preferred to have a kick-boxing heroine who can knock over any man with a flick of her foot. The durability of the Gothic novel easily copes with this shift in fashionable gender roles. The female victim is simply replaced with a man who is horribly distressed. Gothic Novel
But before the first film made its appearance novels took over from drama as a popular form of entertainment. Jane Austen wrote a satire on the ways in which young people might be misled by some narratives into seeing spooks and dangers that did not exist. Her satire illustrates the power that literature can exert on the mind.
In 1764 Horace Walpole initiated and defined the genre. The fact that Austen wrote another work satirizing the genre in 1799 is an indication of its immediate popularity and influence. More than two hundred years later the prominent features are followed still and translated into other genres such as film.
Without the fear instinct wild creatures go the way of the dodo. It may be a primordial survival instinct in human beings too, and an explanation for the success of a literary genre that exploits the fear instinct as much as possible. Very young children love to run screaming from old men pretending to be monsters and wicked witches feature strongly in the favorite tales. Adults and adolescents have terrorism and the Gothic novel.
Castles have always proved a useful metonym for fear. They are foreboding and constructed with features that were designed to strike fear into the hearts of potential attackers. Moats, parapets spy holes and secret passages are popular features often silhouetted against dark clouds drifting before the Moon. In a modern film like 'Psycho' the castle may become a gloomy house filmed from a low angle.
An important feature of the genre was a vulnerable female in distress. In the feminist age it is often preferred to have a kick-boxing heroine who can knock over any man with a flick of her foot. The durability of the Gothic novel easily copes with this shift in fashionable gender roles. The female victim is simply replaced with a man who is horribly distressed. Gothic Novel
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