Gothic Literature in Britain and America
Gothic literature has been a fascination of mine since boyhood, so it was inevitable that I should jot down some thoughts upon the subject sooner or later. Since those thoughts are both nebulous and extensive, I doubt I can make a definitive statement of them at this time in my life, when I am distracted by many things. For that reason, I should like to reshape some simple pedagogical materials I have previously prepared for the classroom and hope that this may provide an outline of the subject matter that is not entirely redundant and that contains something of my feeling for the genre.
First of all, my relationship with the Gothic is that of both insider and outsider. When I discovered Gothicism I recognised some deep part of myself within it, but at the same time, recognised its remoteness and exoticism. I never really attempted to study the subject until relatively late in thirty two years of my existence so far. Instead, being the dreamer that I am, I merely allowed my imagination to play with the associations that the literature, and the word ‘Gothic’ itself provided me. For some reason the word ‘Gothic’ seems particularly resonant with association. To a degree, it is almost preferable for me simply to daydream on the word itself rather than to sample the often flawed productions of the genre; such is the dense power of association the word possesses. When we look at that word’s history we may find that some of it corresponds with those associations in a way that almost seems to argue for the reality of race memory. Some of it, however, is strange and counterintuitive. This phenomenon corresponds with my feeling of being at once an insider and an outsider to the genre. In any case, it is the history of the word and its associations that I wish to explore briefly here.
The word ‘Goth’ derives originally from certain Germanic tribes who made attacks on the Roman Empire between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. Since Rome and Greece were the seat of civilisation, the people of Northern Europe were considered barbarians. Indeed, the words ‘Goth’ and ‘Gothic’ have become synonymous with barbarism.
You may also be familiar with the word ‘Gothic’ as an architectural term. Gothic architecture was prevalent in Western Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries. The style is best known for the pointed-arch that was a feature of Gothic churches.
Gothic literature, however, has little to do with Gothic architecture. In literature, the word ‘Gothic’ refers to a mode of fiction dealing with supernatural or horrifying events. At least, that is the dictionary definition. However, if we look more closely we will find that not all Gothic literature is concerned with the supernatural, and not all Gothic literature is horrifying. Rather, the term ‘Gothic’ as applied to literature refers to a kind of atmosphere or aesthetic that, while it is hard to define, may be understood at an instinctive level, in a way similar to that in which Japanese terms such as ‘wabi’ and ‘sabi’ are also hard to define, but are immediately evocative to someone with the right cultural background.
Gothic literature is generally believed to have begun in the year 1765 with the publication of The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole. It should be noted that this novel was published in the 18th century, after the philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment had attempted to bring reason to the world, and to banish superstition. The Castle of Otranto, therefore, was consciously written, in an almost post-modern manner, as a means of recapturing the atmosphere of a barbaric past; Horace Walpole made use of the superstitions of the past, without believing in them, as a means of freeing the imagination. Walpole himself, again using a literary device that to our eyes may appear post-modern, presented the novel as a manuscript he had merely discovered and translated, writing of it in his introduction as follows:
…[this] work can only be laid before the public at present as a matter of entertainment. Even as such, some apology for it is necessary. Miracles, visions, necromancy, dreams, and other preternatural events, are exploded now even from romances. That was not the case when our author wrote; much less when the story itself is supposed to have happened. Belief in every kind of prodigy was so established in those dark ages, that an author would not be faithful to the manners of the time who should omit mention of them. He is not bound to believe them himself, but he must represent his actors as believing them.
The title of the novel also gives us a clue to some of the essential elements of Gothic literature. The key word here is ‘castle’. For Gothic literature often focuses on huge and ancient buildings such as castles. Those ancient buildings may be viewed as symbolic of the unique atmosphere of Gothic literature; the writing style of Gothic novels is as heavy as castle masonry, and as gloomy as the maze-like corridors of such a mediaeval building.
Chris Baldick, in his introduction to The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, has suggested that Edgar Allan Poe marks a turning point in the Gothic genre; before ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, he says, the keynote of Gothic fiction was cruelty, after, it was decay. In both cases the atmosphere is one of oppression and anxiety. Cruelty was part of the Gothic castle because of the dungeons where kidnapped damsels were imprisoned by evil monks or scheming Italian counts. In these dungeons all manner of unspeakable tortures were carried out. Decay was part of the castle because of its terrible age. I would add here that, although when I first read Baldick’s theory, it seemed to make intuitive sense to me – since I associated Gothicism with decay rather than the violence that one usually finds in what is simply called ‘horror’, and since I was surprised to discover the extent of the actual violence in early Gothic tales – I have come to wonder whether his theory is not based purely on personal impression. That is, both violence and decay seem to play a large part in Gothic literature before and after Poe. If this is true, then why does Baldick’s theory seem so intuitively correct? This is an interesting question that I feel is worth exploring further, but I lack the time and resources to do such at present. This, no doubt, is an area to be expanded upon if I live to write the extended version of this essay.
Although the original barbarian tribes known by the name ‘Goth’ were associated with Northern Europe, it is interesting to note that many Gothic writers set their tales in Southern Europe. In The Castle of Otranto, for instance, it is an Italian prince who schemes to avert the curse brought on his family when his grandfather usurped the principality of Otranto. For the writers of these early Gothic tales, Southern Europe is now the source of barbarism. One reason for this is probably the fact that most Gothic writers were Protestant. Catholicism was seen as a superstitious form of Christianity, and therefore closer to barbarism. In fact, in his introduction, Walpole fictitiously claims of the manuscript that:
[it] was found in the library of an ancient catholic family in the north of England… The principal incidents are such as were believed in the darkest ages of christianity…
This distrust of Catholicism can be seen in later Gothic works, such as The Monk, by Matthew Lewis, and Melmoth the Wanderer, by Charles Maturin, both of which feature evil Catholic monks who imprison innocent maidens in the darkest cells of their monasteries. Although some people (professor Edith Birkhead being one of them) believe Gothic fiction to have ended with Melmoth the Wanderer, the same anti-Catholic theme may even be seen in Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’, which depicts the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition. In fact, Poe, who came after Charles Maturin – the latter of whom professor Birkhead named "the greatest as well as the last of the Goths" – is quite possibly the writer whom most readers today would first associate with the term ‘Gothic’.
After Matthew Lewis and Charles Maturin, other famous writers in the Gothic tradition are Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights, H. P. Lovecraft and Mervyn Peake.
Looking at the list of writers above, we may begin to see how inadequate the dictionary definition of Gothic literature is. The supernatural plays no part in Shelley’s Frankenstein, for instance. In fact, Frankenstein may also be considered an early work of science fiction. In that sense it represents a development in the Gothic genre. H. P. Lovecraft brought about another such shift in the genre by abandoning all notions of a Christian god and the battle between good and evil; he represented the universe as being ruled by forces entirely alien to mankind. Often decayed Gothic buildings appear in his stories, but it is the atmosphere and use of language that are Gothic, rather than the technical details of the content. Lovecraft’s brand of fiction has also been called ‘cosmic horror’.
Mervyn Peake is another writer whose work is Gothic without adhering to the dictionary definition of that term. For there are no supernatural events in the Gormenghast trilogy that form Peake’s most famous work, and though some of the episodes in the three books are horrifying, horror is not an outstanding feature of the stories. Gormenghast, in true Gothic tradition, does have a vast decaying castle – the Gormenghast of the title – but this fact aside, it is only really the inherited aesthetic, the oppressive atmosphere and the writing style that makes Peake’s work Gothic.
Of course, whether or not such writers fall technically within the confines of the Gothic genre is a matter of debate, and since some declare the Gothic genre to have finished with Melmoth the Wanderer, presumably they would also deny that the works of Lovecraft or Peake are Gothic. Yet who today can read ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ or Titus Groan and not be tempted to attach the epithet ‘Gothic’ to these works? As I stated at the outset, the word ‘Gothic’ works by way of deep instinctive associations that are hard to define. Perhaps a study could be devised whereby new readers were asked to classify a variety of writers with single words. In such a case, my guess is that readers’ subjective responses could be found to be empirically consistent, for whatever reason, on the matter of the Gothic nature of certain works not recognised by many scholars as Gothic.
As to whether the Gothic tradition still exists today, I would say that it does. The most obvious heir to the throne in the crumbling castle of the Gothic is the American writer Thomas Ligotti. He follows H. P. Lovecraft in depicting a universe that is, from the point of view of humanity, entirely evil. He deals in the supernatural with a writing style that is heavy and oppressive, and he has a fascination with decay.
In one of his most recent tales, My Work is Not Yet Done, the hero, who spends much time in photographing derelict, decaying buildings, states that:
…I was seeking… the sabi of things utterly dejected and destitute, alone and forgotten – whatever was submitting to its essential impermanence, its transitory nature, whatever was teetering on the brink of non-existence…
Although I am not aware that Ligotti has described himself as Gothic, I do know that he has placed Edgar Allan Poe squarely within the Gothic tradition, and placed himself squarely within the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft.
It seems that The Castle of Otranto has cast a long shadow, which extends to the present day. The Gothic genre has shifted from an emphasis on superstition and cruelty, to an emphasis on decay, to an emphasis on cosmic horror. I await future developments with keen interest.
Anonymous writes:id just like to say that this page has actually helped me a lot with my work and you guys who are littering this site should be quiet and shush. just because you are not clever enough to think of stuff yourself, and if this sites so bad,why did you search for it in the first place and bother to leave a comment?my point proventhankyouxx
Snake writes:HelloAt first I want to say that it’s a really helpfull essay. But I have a question can you give me a definition as you would find it in a dictionary?
carla writes:this site was awesome. thanks so much
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Tally writes:By the way i agree with the anonymous before me. Just because you dont have the mental capacity to comprehend actual information, doesnt give you the right to say anyhting. if tis so bad why were you reading it in the first place.
Anonymous writes:i completely agree with Tally and anonymous. if you think this is so bad why would you even leave a comment. what losers
Hello everyone.Sorry I haven’t been responding much recently. A mixture of eye trouble and being horribly busy. Thanks for dropping by and reading. I’ll try and write some responses when I have a bit more time and my eyes are feeling a bit better.
I keep meaning to answer some of the questions here. I’m afraid my life’s been a bit unsettled. I hope I’ll get round to it, though.
Derek writes:
Very useful, entertaining and informative.Thanks
“fucktards”One of my favourite insults. Thank you, and good luck with your school work.
schollie writes:this is a fab webbie, im doin it in school and it is full of cool bits of info. cheers for taking time out of your day to write this. i ve got to say to all those stupid people being mean, no one forced to read it did thay! fucktards. 😛
Anonymous writes:Year 11 english. i need to write a short speech thing. good info helped me decide on the setting =]
LewisC. writes:
Dear writer,
I was so inspired by your lucid, yet un-grandiloquistic essay I decided to write my disseration on it. I was simply looking for some advice. If I had to provide, and discuss, say 5 prevalent elements of gothic literature, what, in your opinion, would those be? That would be so much help.
Yours gratefully,
Lewis.
Hello Lewis.Just about to put dinner on, so I’ll be brief, and get back to you if I have any better ideas.I think one very strong element is that of an old, decaying building. There’s a strong sense of the tyranny of history, so imprisonment in an old decaying building is very Gothic.The supernatural, of course, though I don’t think this is abosuletly essential. Nonetheless, what is important is an atmosphere that’s not mundane, that stirs up a kind of awe mixed with dread, often created with supernatural elements.Thanatophilia. This is maybe vague, and a point that could be argued about, but a love of, or longing for death, is also, I think, part of the Gothic atmosphere, where it is not so much part of ‘horror’ generally. By which I mean, whereas much horror might be intended to incite fear through confrontation with the forms of death, Gothic literature is also likely to express what might be called a morbid even a sensual infatutation with death.Madness and the irrational. The Gothic tradition grew up in a kind of reaction against the European Enlghtenment (although it could also partly be seen as supporting the Enlgihtenment, by depicting the past as barbarous and ruled by superstition). Fundamentally, however, the Gothic allows the writer/artist to explore ‘primal’ themese that might not be taken seriously by more ‘rational’ artists, because they are considered morbid or, well, irrational.I hope that helps.
LewisC. writes:
That is great, thanks a lot. Any more information would be much appreciated.
Lewis.
Dave writes:Screw anyone bitching above. I needed precisely something as concise as this. Thanks!
Thank you, Dave.
yo writes:time to eat da cheeseburgars
Anonymous writes:
Hello there. My friend and I were reading your essay and found it coherent, informative and “downright wonderful”. We are now hereby a couple of fangirls. We’re studying the Gothic genre as part of our English Literature course, and it was useful to have something like this at our disposal. Lock the trolls in a cage. Vive l’intelligence.
Thank you very much. That’s veyr kind of you. I keep meaning to answer some of the questions that people have posed here (and I’ve answered one or two), but I get distracted. Anyway, all the best with your studies!
Anonymous writes:Might want to include a reference to the work of Ann Radcliffe.
Needless to say, the essay is not comprehensive – it’s not long enough. Radcliffe, I think, is another example of the early and original gothic (and what many or most literary scholars understand as gothic), being quite different to modern popular conceptions of the word. If people with no idea of what Ann Radicliffe was all about were to ask for a very quick explanation, I’d have to say something like Penelope Pitstop. I’m not sure if her influence survives in popular culture in undiluted form otherwise – but lots of mustachioed villains imprisoning fair damsels and stuff like that.The sublime – yes, I think there’s a link with the Romantics there in terms of the sublime in nature and so on, and the horrific as a source of the sublime.
Anonymous writes:(cont.) and also the use of the sublime.
Anonymous writes:
woops that didn’t show up.You could also include some info. about the sublime.Quite crucial to the movement.
Hello Joss. Yes, that’s a good question. Though I have quite a strong interest in Gothic literature and have read most of the major Gothic texts and a good many of the minor ones, I wouldn’t really call myself an expert, so any opinion I venture here is really just that, but it seems to me that, if you want to go back that far, you can trace something of the tone of Gothic literature to the tale of Beowulf. Note that the first transcription of the original manuscript was made in 1786, some time after Walpole wrote The Castle of Otranto. In other words, I don’t think that Beowulf was a direct influence on what is now called Gothic literature, since it had long been forgotten when Otranto was written. However, it is representative of the tradition of myth and story-telling that existed from the ‘Dark Ages’, at least. I believe Tolkien was heavily involved in the scholarship related to the Beowulf manuscript, so that probably Beowulf’s influence comes back into literature more directly through The Lord of the Rings. Walpole was a student of mediaeval antiquities, which is what prompted him to write Otranto. I’m afraid I don’t know the precise nature of the antiquities over which he enthused, but if you know that then you’ll certainly be able to trace more direct influences on Gothic literature. Incidentally, Beowulf is believed to have been written by a Christian monk. This combination of a Christian monk recording a story of rather brooding and misty pagan legendry appeals to me as very Gothic. Just to reiterate, I’m speaking as an enthusiastic amateur here. My specialist subjects in teaching have been linguistic rather than literary. In any case, I hope that this is helpful and/or of interest. I’d also like to note that, since I seem to be getting a lot of hits and comments on this particular entry, I might try to add something to this essay at a later date.Good luck with your studies!
Joss writes:Well, I know many others have said the same, but I too am studying gothic literature for my english coursework(in my case, Mary Shelleys Frankenstein). I was just wondering what you thought about that idea that Gothic literature may have, in some form, begun much earlier than the 18th century, and there is literature with Gothic characteristics significantly predating the Castle of Otranto. I think there are clear parallels between Frankenstein, for instance, and The Tempest – not to mention several Gothic themes in King Lear. I think there are also several seemingly Gothic ideas in Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno and the Ancient Mariner (I know this is within the Gothic time period, but it is not normally recognised as Gothic). Essentially I was wondering if you’re definition of Gothic hinged on setting (bleak castles, blasted heaths etc.) or character, and the actions and mental processes of that character and other less tangible ideas, like a character’s loneliness or isolation, or, well, I’m not really being clear but I hope ou understand what I mean, I’m quite tired.
Hello again Joss.Just to add to what I wrote there, if it’s not too late, although The Castle of Otranto is generally held to be the beginning of the Gothic genre, there is room for argument here. For instance, although I haven’t, I’m afraid, read the work in question, I believe it could also be argued that the Gothic genre began in 1753 (some eleven or twelve years earlier than Otranto, with the third novel of Tobias Smollett, namely, Ferdinand Count Fathom:http://www.nndb.com/people/980/000084728/“I think there are clear parallels between Frankenstein, for instance, and The Tempest – not to mention several Gothic themes in King Lear.”If you buy a copy of Matthew Lewis’s The Monk with footnotes, you’ll probably find that some of the more gruesome descriptions are echoes of the descriptions (if I remember correctly) of the catacombs in Romeo and Juliet. In any case, good annotated copies of The Monk by Matthew Lewis and Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin are invaluable in any study of the Gothic.
Questions I have yet to deal with adequately, but intend to:What do I think of The Wasp Factory?What about Ann Radcliffe?What about the use of the sublime in the Gothic?This might take me some time.
Anonymous writes:
Quintin,I love the site. I’m taking a Gothic Fiction class also, and the informationn is helpful. I need examples of barbarism from “Casle of Otranto” for a paper. Can you help me?Chyna
Examples of barbarism? I’ll have to have another look at the text and get back to you. I think it can largely be divided into the supernatural and tyrannical customs, though. For instance, one of the characters is crushed by a giant helmet that falls from the sky – this kind of element is seen as susperstitious, belonging to a barbarous world. I wonder exactly what Walpole’s attitude was to the suspension of disbelief here. He wrote in the introduction that he did not really expect his readers to believe these things, but did he mean, not even for the sake of imaginatively entering the story? That’s hard to say, but it seems unlikely. Or is it? In any case, such things were, I believe, explicitly seen as belonging to a barbarous world.Then there were the customs surrounding forced marriage, the secret usurpation of the pricipality of Otranto, and so on.I hope that helps a little. I’ll see if I can take another look at the text, too.
Anonymous writes::lol: This is quite boring if youu ask me haha!
“This is quite boring if youu ask me haha!”Yeah, thanks for that scintillating and fascinating contribution. You’ve really helped make things less boring round here. Wow, you must be exciting company if you’re full of these kind of acute observations and such wild humour and derring-do.
Hmmm. The anonymous trolls are returning. I’ve just deleted one. Anonymous trolls confront me with the following dilemma – if I answer them I sink to their level and encourage them; if I don’t answer them and leave them, they are an eyesore; if I delete them I feel some obscure compunction, or maybe I’m just bothered that they might think I’m bothered. Ho hum. Basically, I don’t see any reason I should indulge anonymous trolls in their trolling, since this is my blog, not theirs, and they clearly haven’t even bothered to familiarise themselves with the rules, which I have already outlined here:http://my.opera.com/quentinscrisp/blog/no-commentAnd here:http://my.opera.com/quentinscrisp/blog/available-for-commentnot-available-forSo, if you’re a troll about to leave yet another moronic comment that you think I’m obliged to treasure, let it be known that if I don’t delete it, and if I sink to your level and point out how stupid you are, I only do so out of the goodness of my heart. Now kindly fuck off and die.
Neolanseth writes:
P.S. I think I am a real person, Mr. Crisp…ans i was convinced by your evidence that you are real too…big fan of your blog…(sorry about the mistakes if any)またね*matane*Neolanseth’s evidence:neolanseth.spaces.live.com
Neolanseth writes:
Beautiful entry, Mr. Crisp!I’m so sorry that it was tarnished with such horrible comments, not even fit to mention.”Now kindly fuck off and die.”…I agree…A very interesting and enlightening entry, it actually help me decide on the theme of a paper I have to write. Decided on H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Tomb” (“cosmic horror”, love it) and…well actually one of your short stories, Mr. Crisp. “Zugzwang”, which I found intriguing and wonderful. I look forward to start work on that paper, and think it is an excellent excuse to read some Gothic fiction (I would consider Lovecraft a Gothic writer, i mean, a tomb is the symbol of decay and decadence itself),and to get to read your blog again, after so much time without it.Wabi Sabi?”Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.It is the beauty of things modest and humble.It is the beauty of things unconventional.”sound interesting…”Gormenghast”?sounds scary…I’ll have to look in on that…Thank you for writing that essay, I look forward to reading the extended version…
Hello Neolanseth!It’s very good to hear from you. I’m flattered that you should choose one of my stories for your paper. If you need to ask me any questions about that story, I’d be happy to answer them. I can’t remember now what evidence I submitted to prove that I’m a real person. It can’t have been conclusive, but it’s kind of you to give my existence the benefit of the doubt. Please come back and write any time. Incidentally, I’m planning (hoping) to start posting links on my blog, with commentary, to short stories that I recommend, and some of them will very likely be gothic. In fact, I have one in mind. “またね.”Indeed. I don’t have Japanese software on this computer, but genki de ne.
Anonymous writes:
WOW! this siht sucks ass!!!…………JOKE!!! (‘shit’ spelt wrong on purpose)This essay was great! like many of the comments I’ve read on here,(ignoring the ‘idiot, annoying, narrow-minded, scum of the earth comments with nothing better to do’), I’m also doing a project -for A level English- although this essay didn’t help much in answering my question I still found it a great read and very interesting. Not only the content, but your passion for the topic…and the evolution of the trolls over approx. two years! It’s good fun to skim through the comments, it’s fantastic how you just blow them away with your comebacks! (although it is quite easy to do, considering the fact that they have no more than 9 and a half brain cells) Great work! Sam
Hello Sam.You had me going there for a second. All the trolls seem to leave very short messages, though. I don’t think they can sustain the effort of stringing words together over a period longer than about an hour, which translates to maybe one or two ‘sentences’. It’s funny, when I did A-level English, we never did anything as interesting as Gothic literature, but if it’s a project I suppose that’s your own choice, is it?Looking back over some of the comments, I see there are questions I still haven’t got round to answering. Having left it this long, I feel I shouldn’t destroy my credibility further by making promises, but I do occasionally remind myself to get round to this sort of thing.Anyway, I hope your project goes well. Thanks for commenting.
Anonymous writes:
It’s a well written essay, which is a great help to anyone studying the gothic genre, or indeed trying to understand it.Any trolls obviously don’t understandNice essay.Thanks
“It’s a well written essay, which is a great help to anyone studying the gothic genre, or indeed trying to understand it.Any trolls obviously don’t understandNice essay.Thanks”Thank you. That reminds me, I forgot to delete the troll who posted the message before yours, which I cunningly re-wrote as, “Ugh, my brain hurts.” I think I’ll do that now.
I Eat Animeals writes:
This was a good essay.Even though I have yet to read it…Still, I feel that it will help me in my report.So thanks 😀
Hopefully it will be even better once you’ve read it. Although I can’t guarantee it. Anyway, good luck with the report.
Anonymous writes:You people are insane and obviously have WAY WAY WAY too much time on your hands, go get laid losers.
“You people are insane and obviously have WAY WAY WAY too much time on your hands, go get laid losers.”Why do you even care?Additional:If you’re out there, I hope you enjoy reading this:http://my.opera.com/quentinscrisp/blog/2008/11/02/the-young-and-the-old-they-get-everything-when
Thank you. I think some of the roots of the tradition can be surprising when people only know the term in a very general sense.
Anonymous writes:this is an awsome post good work ive always wanted to know bout the gothic traditions.
Quentin: From one of the oldest living college juniors on earth (presently doing an analysis and comparative study of early Romantic and Southern gothic literature styles)I found your writing to be far more than simply interesting. You have a good spare writing style. Not too wordy, tight structure of thought and you do not seem to be too overly full of yourself. I like that.One thought, however: When you said “This distrust of Catholicism can be seen in later Gothic works, (such as Monk)” have you ever given any thought to the modern Southern Gothic work of O’Connor and the impact of Catholicism on it? I’ve written a number of pieces on her work and find her fascinating, especially her fixation on her faith. I wonder, did she move to Gothic as a means of rebelling against that “distrust of Catholicism”?I’m especially fond of Southern Gothic and would love to know if you have done any work on that particular genre.And PLEASE! Get those effing idiot comments off of your blog. I see no reason not to immediately purge foul, nasty and stupid comments from mental morons who simply type with one hand while masturbating with the other. Perhaps some of these children could borrow a brain someday and become useful members of the human race. I dread what my generation did to the school systems in this country in the 70s. I am now in school with 20 somethings who can not read a simple declarative sentence and tell you what it meant. They can not spell, do not know proper grammar and could give a shit less about anything that doesn’t buzz, ring or talk back to them. God, how we have damaged this country by allowing ignorance to become acceptable.Sad to be 60 plus and in school but still hanging in there.
Hello Old Student.Perhaps my allowing some of these trolls to remain (believe me, a great many more have been deleted, according to mood), is part of the ‘liberal’ education under which I grew up, which, I’m afraid, also ruined – or greatly hindered – my growth in language. I am another victim of the reforms that brought about comprehensive schools. I am fortunate in that, unlike many, I had interests outside school that encouraged me to do my own studying. I do remember having one ‘old school’ teacher at my comprehesive, who taught me English for a year before he retired. I remember him as consummately professional, humorous, kind and not over-indulgent. I also remember that I actually learnt things in his lessons – something I don’t remember happening to me ever at that school after he retired.I don’t know how such a thing is possible, but it seems that education has got even worse in this country since then. I don’t despise people for lacking literacy. What I despise is the now common attitude that it doesn’t matter. What I despise, in fact, is the fact that it has become common to despise literacy. That is the mark of true barbarism in any society, and it seems to form the general tenor of our own current society.Anyway, with that out of the way, thank you very much for your comments, which I read with interest. I’m afraid that I can’t reply at length now. Anyone who cares to, and this includes yourself, of course, is free to message me through Opera. Of O’Connor, I am afraid I only know the name and a little of the reputation, but as it happens, the Southern Gothic is something in which I am recently increasingly interested. I know little, but intend to learn more, and your questions give me a good prompt as to one avenue of exploration.I’m not sure how far she qualifies (as Southern Gothic) – though there is surely an influence or affinity – but I am recently especially taken with the work of Carson McCullers.Well, I was stimulated to answer at this length by your comment, which I found refreshing, but the truth is, for various reasons, I can’t spend very long with the computer at present. I hope to return to this, however, and I may well take your advice and remove the trolls.
OldStudent writes:Quentin – are you ever coming back on? I’d love to have you review my comparative analysis of the Victorian and Southern Gothic genres. Let me know if you’re still keeping this blog active. Thanks.
I am keeping it active. I’ve had a few things on, and I tend to forget about this blog entry, even though it gets more hits than any other entry on my blog, because I wrote about three years back.I wonder, did she move to Gothic as a means of rebelling against that “distrust of Catholicism”?Not having read O’Connor, I can’t answer this at the moment. If you message me through Opera, I’ll give you my e-mail address. I’d be interested to read your analysis. Naturally, I don’t want to give my e-mail address in a place where so many hostile readers seem to gather.