LIT 212R Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Gothic Fiction
27 Apr 2018
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• Historical Novels:
➢ Longing for simpler eras no longer associated w/ weight of Classical world.
o Madame de Lafayette’s La Princess de Clèves (1678):
▪ First historical novel.
o Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832):
▪ Most successful practitioner.
▪ Generally considered to have developed the form we know today.
❖ The Bride of Lammermoor &Ivanhoe inspired writers, painters, &
composers in Germany, France, Italy, Russia, etc.
• Rousseau:
➢ Moody, over-sensitive, & paranoid man.
➢ Like Englishman Samuel Richardson, he explored agonies of frustrated love.
o The New Heloise:
▪ Sensationally, successful novel.
▪ Celebrated the feeling of sensitivity.
• Emotion:
➢ Horror:
o An influential characteristic of the Gothic romance.
o Gothic writers evoked all manner of irrational scenes designed to horrify
& amaze.
o Romantic writers prized more tender sentiments of affection, sorrow, &
romantic longing.
▪ Inspired by certain currents contemporaneous w/ Enlightenment.
❖ Writings of Voltaire's archrival, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
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