Gothic Wider Readibg Questions Flashcards
Define liminality
Occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold
What was the title of the first gothic novel?
The castle of Otranto
When was the first gothic novel written?
1764
What is the uncanny?
The psychological experience that something is ‘strangely familiar’, where a familiar thing or event from the past is encountered in an unsettling or taboo context
What is the abject?
An extension of the ‘uncanny’, referring to something that is neither ‘self’ nor ‘other’ but the straddles the boundary between human and monstrous, when we can no longer determine the difference between self and other
What is the grotesque?
Something, normally a character, which is monstrous and repellent but also inspires sympathy
Define pathetic fallacy
A literary device when natural features are given human characteristics or are used to reflect a mood
Define symbolism
An image that represents an idea or a theme
Define phallic
Images that resemble a phallus/ erect penis
Define yonic
Images that resemble the vagina or vulva
What characterises Enlightenment thinking?
A belief that rational, logical, and scientific thought is superior to imagination or emotive experience
What is the distinction between terror and horror?
Terror is the dread before a gruesome encounter; horror is revulsion experienced when confronted with something gruesome
Who first distinguished terror from horror?
Ann Radcliffe
Define the sublime
A term that refers to a vast and powerful natural setting that inspires feelings of awe, fear, and a realisation of human insignificance
Who first introduced the concept of the sublime?
Edmund Burke
