ITALIAN R5B Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Chinese Script Styles, Tyrant
21 May 2018
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#5 1/29 Monday
What does “Gothic” mean in the context of the title page?
● Supernaturally-influenced
● This is often called the first gothic novel, so perhaps gothic does not refer to a genre
here
● Eerie and suspenseful
● Disorder and irregularity
● Gothic architecture and script — styles that shared a time period
● Originally, “Gothic” means “Medieval”
● Soon after Otranto’s publication, though, “Gothic” will become a literary genre with its
own set of genre conventions and tropes
1043-1243 Otranto [part of the Kingdom of Sicily for most of this period]:
● Middle Ages / “Dark” Ages
● Era of the Crusades
● Otranto was a strategic position during the Crusades so has a history of violence
● The time during which the story takes place
1529 Naples:
● Italian Renaissance
● Also a period of religious conflict throughout Europe stemming from the beginning of the
Protestant Reformation
● “Printed around this time”
[This is almost as large of a gap as 1764 to 2018]
1764 England:
● Age of Enlightenment, sometimes also referred to as the “Age of Reason”
● Published during this time
What space of possibility or ambiguity might such geographical, temporal, and cultural distance
open up in early Gothic texts?
● Allows for the fanciful elements of the stories to be less absurd and more valid, so it
doesn’t completely confound the reader
● There is a psychological realism, events are posed as reality, which makes sense for the
time period
● The distance allows us to identify with these beliefs while protecting our rationality
● Criticisms of the present contemporary ideas in a coded way, the author is protected
from censure, coded political commentary
● Enables authors like Walpole to use the supernatural to create plot that would otherwise
be impossible
● We suspense our beliefs more readily and accepts the rules of the fictional world
● Later gothic texts would be set in the present tense, e.g. Dracula
Discussion about Chapters 1 & 2
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
This is often called the first gothic novel, so perhaps gothic does not refer to a genre here. Gothic architecture and script styles that shared a time period. Soon after otranto"s publication, though, gothic will become a literary genre with its own set of genre conventions and tropes. 1043-1243 otranto [part of the kingdom of sicily for most of this period]: Otranto was a strategic position during the crusades so has a history of violence. The time during which the story takes place. Also a period of religious conflict throughout europe stemming from the beginning of the. [this is almost as large of a gap as 1764 to 2018] Age of enlightenment, sometimes also referred to as the age of reason . Allows for the fanciful elements of the stories to be less absurd and more valid, so it doesn"t completely confound the reader.
