The creatures known as vampires have inspired authors for several hundred years. These beings are stereotypically described as belonging to a “nocturnal species” who live “in shadows” and drink “our lives in secrecy” (Auerbach 1). However, they have by now appeared so often in literary works, and in so many different shapes and sizes, that they are much too nuanced to be called ‘stereotypes.’ This essay will make a historical comparison between two fictional vampires, one hundred years apart, in order to show that a change has taken place when it comes to how vampires as fictional characters have been portrayed in terms of their appearance, their psychology, and their roles in society. The first novel chosen is, for obvious reasons, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It was written at the turn of the nineteenth century by a male author and is probably the first novel that comes into mind when the word vampire is mentioned. The second novel, The Vampire Lestat, was written almost a century later, in 1986, by a female author, who, to readers of vampire fiction, is a worthy successor of Stoker. Her name is Anne Rice, best known for her debut novel Interview with the Vampire (1976). The two novels are naturally chosen because of their similarities, but perhaps even more so because of their differences. Dracula is a typically Victorian Gothic novel, which is set in the remote mountains of Transylvania, and in the modern capital London, contemporary to when the novel was published. It is written in epistolary form but never allows for the main character, Count Dracula, to defend or explain himself and his actions in a first-person narrative. The Vampire Lestat, on the other hand, is a Neo-Gothic novel that focus less on conventional Gothic elements, for example gloomy settings, and more on the psychological aspects of what it is like to actually be a vampire. Unlike Dracula, it is the main character’s fictional autobiography in which he recalls his life in France, his transformation into a vampire, and his current career in the United States as a famous rock star. Nina Auerbach calls it “a series of temporal regressions in which Lestat . . . embarks on a backward quest out of the knowable world” (172). Both novels used in this analysis are thus part of the Gothic genre, one being a Victorian Gothic and the other Neo-Gothic, but there are significant differences between the two. I will investigate how these differences reveal themselves when it comes to setting and plot. However, the novels are similar in that they present two male vampires who belong to the nobility and have lived on through the centuries. The vampires both want to be where the power is, which means, in the case of Stoker’s Dracula, that he tries to conquer nineteenth-century London and seduce a young intelligent woman named Mina. Lestat, on the other hand, wants to become a famous twentieth-century rock star in the United States and simply have a good time while being a vampire (Auerbach 6). The aim of this essay is to investigate what is typical of the genres that the two novels belong to and determine what has changed in the vampires’ physical appearance, their manners and their ability to adapt to modern society. In the first section of the essay I will give a description of the typical elements of the Gothic and the Neo-Gothic genres and then compare them in order to make a generic description of the two novels, Dracula and The Vampire Lestat. Vampire fiction will be treated as a sub-genre to the Gothic genre. In the succeeding two sections I will make comparative analyses of the two novels, particularly of the main characters, in order to describe the similarities and differences between the two and study how the vampire character has changed during the last century. Much of the discussion, especially regarding Dracula, will be based on Cesare Lombroso’s concept of the ‘criminal man,’ and various modern scholars’ opinion that the vampire is seen as an outcast and a threat to society.

Die Schwarze Szene oder Gothic-Kultur bezeichnet eine Jugend- und Musikkultur-Szene, deren Wurzeln in die 1980er Jahre zu­rückreichen. Neben Einflüssen von Independent und Dark Wave sind auch frühere jugendkulturelle Strömungen wie Punk, New Wave, New Romantic, Gothic u.a. festzustellen, wobei durch die Überlagerungen verschiedener Szenen und Musikstile und mehr­fache Generationswechsel eine subkulturelle Einordnung zuneh­mend schwierig wird. Dazu trägt auch bei, dass Indivi­dualität und Individualitätsausdruck für die Mitglieder der Szene von besonde­rer Bedeutung sind. Während die musikalische Eindeutigkeit der Szene inzwischen an Bedeutung verliert, gibt es doch einen Kern an Lebenseinstellungen und Werthaltungen sowie auf stilistischer Ebene einen Kanon an geteilten Symbolen, unter denen die Farbe Schwarz als überdeterminiertes Einheits­symbol herausragt, das gleichwohl sehr unterschiedlich mit Bedeutungen aufgefüllt sein kann. In dieser Ausgabe von Medienwelten werden zwei Studien vorgestellt, die sich dem Thema Gothics aus unter­schied­lichen Perspektiven nähern und damit dazu beitragen, ein viel­schichtigeres Bild der Selbst- und Fremdwahrnehmung der Schwarzen Szene zu zeichnen. Dabei geht es sowohl um mediale Berichterstattung als auch um Fantum und Aspekte der Identitäts­ent­wicklung in der Adoleszenz.

This essay is a contribution to literary history that explores Edgar Allan Poe’s criticism of the transcendentalist movement and its key figure Ralph Waldo Emerson through an analysis of the short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.” By using genre criticism to define aspects of the Gothic genre, Poe’s criticism through Gothic tropes is studied together with an intertextual reading of the short stories and historical literary objects such as letters, magazines and literary reviews that details his views on transcendentalism. The purpose of this is to see if Poe used his fictional work to criticize his contemporaries. The analysis finds that “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” includes satirical comments on transcendentalist beliefs, as well one instance of specific criticism that targets Ralph Waldo Emerson as a writer - all of which can be connected to Poe’s non-fictional correspondence with fellow literati. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” Poe utilizes aspects of the Gothic genre that function as opposites to common transcendental beliefs.

Furniture history is often considered a niche subject removed from the main discipline of art history, and one that has little to do with the output of painters, sculptors and architects. This thesis, however, connects the key intellectual, artistic and architectural debates surfacing in 'the arts' between 1740 and 1840 with the design of British furniture. Despite the expanding corpus of scholarly monographs and articles dealing with individual cabinet-makers, furniture making in geographic areas and periods of time, little attention has been paid to exploring Gothic furniture made between 1740 and 1840. Indeed, no body of research on 'mainstream' Gothic furniture made at this time has been published. No sustained attempt has been made to trace its stylistic evolution, establish stylistic phases, or to place this development within the context of contemporary architectural practice and historiography — except for the study of A.W.N. Pugin's 'Reformed Gothic'. Neither have furniture historians been willing to explore the aesthetic's connection with the intellectual and sentimental position of 'the Gothic' in the period. This thesis addresses these shortcomings and is the first to bridge the historiographic, cultural and architectural concerns of the time with the stylistic, constructional and material characteristics of Gothic furniture. It argues that it, like architecture, was charged with social and political meanings that included national identity in the eighteenth century — around a century before Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin designed the Palace of Westminster and prominently associated the Gothic legacy with Britishness.

8 Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická fakulta Katedra filmových studií Diplomová práce Jitka Kotrlová Stínová kinematografie: mytologie australského gotického filmu 70. let Shadow Cinematography: Mythology of the Australian Gothic Film of the 1970's Praha 2015 Vedoucí práce: PhDr. Petra Hanáková, Ph.D Abstract: The thesis focuses on the mythological aspects of films of the so-called Australia gothic in 1970's. In a detailed form of thematic analysis it discovers three fundamental myths within the gothic cycle which then examines the semiotic method of Roland Barthes. The first part is dedicated to the specific situation of the film industry and describes the principles of film funding. The second part is focused on the concept of national cinematography in relation to Australia. The third part is dedicated to the gothic imagination and definition of Australian gothic within the contemporary discourse. The fourth part focuses on the term "mythology". The main part of the thesis presents the three myths emerging from the cycle of Australian gothic films. The first one is the myth of the feeling of isolation that focuses on the meaning of an isolated man in the inland and on the alternation of this myth in the form of a person isolated in the society. On the examples of the films Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg,...

While the gothic in its various interpretations is well established in contemporary culture, the traditional form, rooted in its late eighteenth century literary conventions, would seem to have little relevance for theatre audiences today. A reappraisal of the convention's foundations, however, offers the playwright opportunities to explore new narratives in which the tradition can be re-inflected in the present. An analysis of the writing of my play Burn, which presents as a contemporary family drama, will demonstrate how the narrative can be structured with deliberate reference to the established tropes of the classic gothic mode. It will be shown that a re-engagement with the tradition in concert with new interpretations of the gothic can reinvigorate the form as a mode of playwriting practice.

This diploma thesis deals with the analysis of nine gothic tales by an English writer of the nineteenth century Elizabeth Gaskell. These gothic tales are compared with the first gothic novels and gothic literature in general. Their analysis is carried out on the basis of spaces, heroes and themes which appear in E. Gaskell´s gothic tales. The diploma thesis reveals in which aspects Gaskell´s tales are different from the first gothic novels and which new themes, heroes and spaces were introduced by E. Gaskell. An important part of the diploma thesis consists of a brief biography of Elizabeth Gaskell. The events which influenced Gaskell´s work are especially emphasized. The diploma thesis also mentions several other authors whose works inspired E. Gaskell in writing her gothic tales.

This study seeks to question old and common misconceptions concerning the american literary genre Southern Gothic. By using the carnival theory, the theory about the "grotesque" by Mikhail Bakhtin, this study seeks to explain and reach a better understanding of some works defined as Southern Gothic - so called because of the significance that is attributed in the genre to the geographical location in the southern United states. This study analyzes carnivalesque transgression in short story collections by Flannery O´Connor, Eudora Welty and Dorothy Allison, and the main purpose is to investigate if the genre really is as dark as it is often described by critics; pessimistic, absurdly shocking and without any affirmation regarding the beauty and strength of life.  Transgression is here defined as the transgression made by fictional characters when their bodies and their actions refuses to conform to the norms established by "the official world". By using Bachtins terminology my main thesis is to investigate positive and life-affirming transgression in A Good Man is Hard to Find, A Curtain of Green and Trash. The study further investigates the ways in which the bodies of the fictional characters become grotesque and in what way the characters through their behaviour become carnivalesque. The short stories are also compared with eachother from both a tematic and historic perspective: can changes through time be observed? Does the grotesque form or expression change in any way from Welty to Allison? The conclusion of the study is that both grotesque and carnivalesque forms can be found in the short stories, and it can be considered carnivalesue in a true Bakhtinian way, as both positive and affirming. The study also finds that the grotesque tends to become more positive and life-affirming through time.

Le cinéma de Tim Burton se reconnaît par des codes thématiques et des images si aisément identifiables que le nom du cinéaste a donné naissance à l’adjectif « burtonien ». Que signifie au juste ce qualificatif ? Cette thèse se propose de démontrer que si la signature de Tim Burton est reconnaissable entre toutes, c’est qu’elle porte l’héritage des gothiques littéraire et cinématographique. Burton s’en empare pour les transformer, adoptant une double stratégie d’adhésion et d’inversion des tropes du genre. Afin de définir ce gothique burtonien, nous étudions dans un premier temps le croisement entre l’humain et le monstrueux, un questionnement directement hérité du Frankenstein de Mary Shelley et de son adaptation éponyme par James Whale en 1931. Nous analysons ensuite la géographie de l’espace burtonien et sa représentation d’une société cruelle et machinique dont les personnages doivent s’extraire pour survivre. L’art émerge comme un moyen de survie ambivalent qui nous mène à considérer la création artistique du cinéaste lui-même, bâtie comme les grandes œuvres gothiques sur un brouillage des frontières, entre la vie et la mort, le passé et le présent, le rêve et la réalité. / The films of Tim Burton can easily be recognized by their thematic codes and identifiable images so much so that the director’s very name has given birth to the adjective “Burtonian”. But what does it qualify exactly? This dissertation proposes to demonstrate that Burton’s signature is particularly recognizable because it inherits from gothic literature and film. Burton tackles and transforms gothic tropes using a double strategy of adherence and reversal. To define what we call the “Burtonian gothic”, we first study the crossing between the humane and the monstrous, an issue directly inherited from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and its film adaptation by James Whale in 1931. We analyze then the geography of the Burtonian landscape and its representation of a cruel and mechanical society from which the characters must escape to survive. Art emerges as an ambivalent means of survival which leads us to consider the artistic creation of the filmmaker himself, built like great gothic works on blurred frontiers, between life and death, past and present, dream and reality.

O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar uma leitura de O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes (1847), de Emily Brontë, e de Jane Eyre (1847), de Charlotte Brontë, com foco nas convenções góticas contidas nas duas obras e observando as maneiras como tais convenções interferem nos movimentos das duas protagonistas, Catherine e Jane, cada uma lutando para se adaptar ao seu espaço e, ao mesmo tempo, para realizar seus anseios. Apesar de as duas obras serem estruturalmente diferentes uma da outra, ambas compartilham uma atmosfera gótica intensa, bem como uma consequente densidade psicológica que influencia a disposição mental das duas protagonistas. A leitura dos dois romances foi conduzida com a finalidade de explorar as relações encontradas entre os aspectos estruturais, sociais e psicológicos envolvidos, ressaltando os elementos góticos que representam os desafios que Catherine e Jane são forçadas a enfrentar. A obra The Coherence of Gothic Conventions (1986), da crítica literária Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, é utilizada para identificar e contextualizar a capacidade que as imagens góticas têm de traduzir o peso imposto pelas convenções sociais sobre o processo natural de crescimento das duas protagonistas. Considerando que esse peso é consideravelmente ampliado pelas práticas sociais ligadas a questões de gênero, foi explorado o conceito de Gótico Feminino, como apresentado pela Professora Carol Margaret Davison. Especial atenção é reservada para as imagens relacionadas com espaço – o espaço psicológico necessário para o crescimento emocional das protagonistas; e o espaço físico, que determina onde e como elas devem se movimentar. Aqui o suporte teórico é oferecido pelas poéticas dos elementos primitivos, de Gaston Bachelard, para análise do corpo de imagens apresentadas nos dois romances. A conclusão comenta as soluções encontradas por Catherine Earnshaw e Jane Eyre para abrir caminho e superar os obstáculos que se lhes apresentam; e também ressalta o quanto as convenções góticas conseguem revelar sobre a estrutura social que elas representam. / This thesis consists of a reading of Emily Brontë‘s Wuthering Heights (1847) and Charlotte Brontë‘s, Jane Eyre (1847), focusing on the body of Gothic conventions they hold, and the ways in which such conventions interfere with the movements of the two female protagonists, Catherine and Jane, each struggling to fit into their space, while trying to accomplish their desires. Although the two works are structurally different in several ways, they share an intense Gothic atmosphere and its consequent psychological density, which influences the mental frame of the two protagonists. In order to explore the relations among the structural, social and psychological aspects involved, a reading of the novels has been conducted, focusing on the presence of Gothic elements that stand for the challenges Catherine and Jane are bound to face. Literary critic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick‘s work The Coherence of Gothic Conventions (1986) is used to identify and contextualise the capacity of Gothic imagery to reveal the weight of social conventions upon the natural process of growth of the two protagonists. Inasmuch as the pressure becomes intensified by the rules of gender settlements, the concept of Female Gothic is explored, as presented by Professor Carol Margaret Davison. Particular attention is paid to the imagery related to space – psychological space for the protagonists to grow emotionally, and physical space, as determinant of where and how they must move. Here the theoretical support is offered by Gaston Bachelard‘s poetics of the primitive elements, unveiling the body of images presented in the two novels. The conclusion indicates the solutions found by Catherine Earnshaw and by Jane Eyre to find their way and overcome the obstacles they meet; with comments on how revealing Gothic imagery is of the social conventions it represents.