notes

Gothic literature is characterized by grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent events.
Originating in Europe, but becoming popular in the US during the 19th century
Edgar Allan Poe, Nthaniel Hawthorne
Romanticism
1.Writters saw limitation of reason
2. Celebrated idividual spirit
3. Emotions
4. Imagiination- these are the basics of human nature
5. splenders of nature
6. Super natural
7. Atmosphere
8. Sentiment
9. Optimism
Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Transceadentalists
The philosophy of transcendentalism derived in part of Germany romanticism was based on a belief that transcendent forms of truth exist beyond reason and experience.
Waldo Emerson- every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own through intuition
American Gothic
cavernous Gothic cathedrals
irregularly placed towers
high stained glass windows
gargoyles- small deformed creaturs
squatting on corners of cathedrals that wards off evil spirits
Gargoyle- grotesque creature
imaginative distortion of reality
Threshold of the unknown- that shadowy region where the fantastic the demonic and the insane reside
Dark side of individualism
When romatics looked at the individual they saw hope while the gothic saw the potential of evil
(Poe)dark medieval castles
decaying ancient estates
male narrators are insane
female- beautiful and dead(or dying)
extreme situations not just murder but live burials, physical, and mental torture, retribution from beyond the grave.
in such situations people reveal their true natures
-- fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal