The gothic Flashcards
Critics
Greg Buzwell “Gothic novels are full of…”
“Gothic novels are full of uncanny effects-simultaneously frightening and yet also strangely familiar”
Alex Ross “Lord Henry …”
“Lord Henry, a Mephistophelian aesthete who seems to become Wilde’s mouthpiece”
Helen Simpson “The young bride in TBC sacrificial …”
“The young bride in TBC, sacrificial virgin in a white dress, routinely destined for immolation; however, she changes during the narrative, and finishes by escaping her inheritance”
Barbara Gates “Wilde’s reveals …”
“Wilde’s reveals a fractured place where everyone is doomed to an untimely death”
Greg Buzwell “Gothic fiction has always possessed …”
“Gothic fiction has always possessed the ability to adapt to its environment. It mutates to reflect the times in which it lives”
Ann Radcliff “Terror and Horror are so far opposite that …”
“terror and horror are so far opposite that the first expands the soul, and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes and nearly annihilates them”
John Bowen “full of strange families, irrigated with …”
“full of strange families, irrigated with scenes of rape and incest, and surrounded by marginal, uncertain and illegitimate members”
Greg Buzwell “any moral …”
“Any moral disgust or vicarious pleasure derived from the book reflects more upon us as readers than it does on the novel itself”
Angela Carter “you know, sometimes when I read my back pages, …”
“you know, sometimes when I read my back pages, I’m quite appalled at the violence of my own imagination”
Helen Simpson “The heroines of these stories …”
“the heroines of these stories are struggling out of the straightjackets of history and ideology of biological essentialism”
John Bowen “Gothic is thus a world of …”
“Gothic is thus a world of doubt, particularly doubt about the supernatural and the spiritual. it seeks to create in our minds the possibility that there may be things beyond human power, reason and knowledge”
Margaret Atwood “the nature of men …”
“the nature of men is not fixed by Carter as inevitably predatory”
Helen Simpson “The Bloody chamber is …”
“the bloody chamber is as shocking today as when the collection first appeared un 1979”
John Bowen “Gothic fiction has a …”
“Gothic fiction has a freedom that much realistic fiction does not. to speak about the erotic, particularly illegitimate or transgressive sexuality, and is full of same sex desire, perversion, obsession, voyeurism and sexual violence”
Helen Simpson “Carter was later to come …”
“Carter was later to come under attack for not busting more taboos than she did”
Helen Simpson “The collection elicits furious …”
“the collection elicits furious hostility from a significant number of students, who are outraged when they recognise the bedtime stories of their childhood newly configured as tales of sex and violence”
Merja Makinen “women …”
Women troubled by and even empowered by their own violence”
Mary Snodwell “violence…”
"”violence surpassed mere threat in gothic fiction”
Roger Luckhurst “the transgressive …”
“the transgressive supernatural elements of the genre provided a frame for speaking unspeakable things”
The better scotts observer “Mr Wilde has brains, and art and style;…”
“Mr Wilde has brains and art and style; but, if he can write for none but outlawed noblemen and perverted telegraph boys, the sooner he takes to tailoring… “
Leslie Fielder “the whole tradition of the gothic is a …”
“the whole tradition of the gothic is a … reversion to the childish game of scaring oneself in the dark or a plunge into sadist fantasy”
Greg Buzwell “the balance between …”
“The balance between faith and doubt had tipped disturbingly in favour of the latter” and questions about the origins, nature and destiny of humankind had become matters for science, rather than theology to address”
Roger Luckhurst “Victorians trained in moral physiognomy, believed that …”
“Victorians, trained in moral physiognomy believed that sin was written on the body, so despite the ugly rumours, no-one can believe anything ill of the unageing beauty of Dorian”
Helen Simpson “she shows that passivity …”
“she shows that passivity is never a virtue […] especially not in women”
