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.

In February 1997, the concept of the clone, previously confined to the pages of fiction, became reality when Dolly the sheep was introduced to the world. The response to this was unprecedented, initiating a discourse on cloning that permeated a range of cultural forms, including literature, film and television. My thesis examines and evaluates this discourse through analysis of contemporary fiction, including Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (2005), Stefan Brijs's The Angel Maker (2008), Duncan Jones's Moon (2009), and BBC America's current television series Orphan Black, which first aired in 2013. Such texts are placed in their cultural and historical setting, drawing comparisons between pre- and post-Dolly texts. The thesis traces the progression of the clone from an inhuman science fiction monster, to more of a tragic "human" creature. The clone has, however, retained its fictional portrayal as "other," be that double, copy or manufactured being, and the thesis argues that the clone is a Gothic trope for our times. The roots of the cloning discourse often lie in Gothic narratives, particularly Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), which is analysed as a canonical cloning text. Each chapter focuses on a source of fascination and fear within the cloning discourse: the influence of Gothic paternity on the figure of scientist; the notion of the clone as manufactured product, victim and monster; and the ethical and social implications of cloning. There is a dearth of critical analysis on the contemporary literary clone, with the most comprehensive study to date neither acknowledging the alignment of cloning and the Gothic nor demonstrating the impact of Dolly on fictional portrayals. My thesis addresses this, interweaving fiction, science and culture to present a monster which simultaneously embodies difference and sameness: a new monster for the twenty-first century.

In My Gothic Dissertation, I perform an intertextual analysis of Gothic fiction and modern-day graduate education in the humanities. First, looking particularly at the Female Gothic, I argue that the genre contains overlooked educational themes. I read the student-teacher relationships in Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818, 1831), and Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853) as critiques of the insidious relationship between knowledge and power. Part literary critic and part literary journalist, I weave through these readings reports of real-life ‘horror stories’ of graduate school, arguing that the power imbalance between Ph.D. advisors and their students can be unexpectedly ‘Gothic’ as well. Drawing on research from the science of learning—developmental psychology, sociology, and pedagogical theory—I advocate for more a student-centered pedagogy in humanities Ph.D. training. Following in the footsteps of A.D. Carson and Nick Sousanis, I have produced My Gothic Dissertation in a nontraditional format—the podcast. Mixing voice, music, and sound, I dramatize scenes from the novels and incorporate analysis through my narration. The real-life “Grad School Gothic” stories are drawn from personal interviews. Much of the science of learning is drawn from personal interviews with researchers as well, though some material comes from recorded presentations that have been posted to public, online venues such as YouTube. The creative/journalistic style of reporting is heavily influenced by programs such as This American Life, Invisibilia, and Serial, with the dual aims of engaging a broad audience and expanding our modes of scholarly communication beyond the page.

Orientador: Aparecido Donizete Rossi / Banca: Karin Volobuef / Banca: Fernanda Aquino Sylvestre / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de promover relações teórico-críticas entre o conceito de palimpsesto cunhado por Gérard Genette, a definição de Texto desenvolvida por Roland Barthes e o gótico. Por meio da análise das releituras da história de Branca de Neve, "Snow, Glass, Apples", de Neil Gaiman, e "Branca dos Mortos e os Sete Zumbis", de Fábio Yabu, buscamos dar um novo olhar ao processo de revisitação de contos de fadas: pelo viés do gótico. Assim como o palimpsesto mostra sombras dos textos anteriores, a releitura possui sombras das obras que revisitam. Essas sombras são profundas, indo além das personagens, cenários e enredo que nos são familiares. A leitura analítica de uma releitura percebe as sombras das lacunas deixadas pelos contos de fadas. Entendemos que assim como uma releitura possui sombras de textos anteriores, algo unheimlich (FREUD, 2010) na temática ou estilo, o processo revisionista pode ser estruturalmente unheimlich. A leitura do processo revisionista como algo unheimlich, estruturalmente gótico, permite uma reflexão sobre as sombras que levaram os autores a reinterpretarem o conto da Branca de Neve da maneira que fizeram, além de ajudar a estabelecer as similaridades entre o conto de fadas e o gótico. Essas relações entre gêneros permitem discutir o teor gótico amplamente presente nas releituras de contos de fadas estudadas, possibilitando o entrelaçamento dos dois universos. Com base em teorias de Fred Botting, Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes, Gerárd... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research aims to promote theoretical-critical relations among the concept of palimpsest coined by Gérard Genette, the definition of Text developed by Roland Barthes, and the Gothic. By analyzing Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples", and "Branca dos Mortos e os Sete Zumbis" by Fábio Yabu, which are retellings of "Snow White", it is intent to give a new perspective to the process of retelling fairy tales: through the notion of gothic. Just as it is possible to discern shadows of previous texts in a palimpsest, the retellings carry shadows of the works it revisits. These shadows are deep, and go beyond familiar characters, scenarios and plot. The analytical reading of a retelling notices the shadows inside the fissures left by the fairy tales. It is believed that just as a retelling contains shadows of earlier texts that causes an unheimlich (FREUD, 2010) sensation in terms of theme or style, the retelling process structure can be unheimlich. Considering the retelling process as something unheimlich, or structurally Gothic, allows researchers to better understand the shadows that led the authors to retell Snow White tale in the way they did. In addition, it helps to establish the similarities between fairy tale and gothic. The relation between these genres promotes a wider discussion about the use of Gothic content in the fairy-tale retellings studied in this work, promoting the interweaving of both universes. Based on theories of Fred Botting, Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes,... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Abstract This study examines the connection between power and identity in three Gothic novels, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams, and Charles Robert Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer. Following the identity theories of Erik Erikson, I argue that identity has biological, psychological, and social aspects that are subject to change over time. As individual agency—the ability to function as a person—depends on a relatively certain and stable sense of personal identity, Gothic villains—both individuals and institutions—gain and maintain their power by disempowering their victims. In order to do so, they work to compromise these victims’ sense of personal identity, causing them to suffer identity crises that greatly reduce their ability to function. Employing various means—including threats of rape, destruction of reputation, imprisonment, forced exile, denial of freedom of thought, torture, and others—Gothic villains attempt to weaken their victims by placing them in situations that cause the fears that Erikson argues all people share to become paralyzing and debilitating states of anxiety, states in which the victims suffer from a temporary, or, in extreme cases, permanent loss of agency. These Gothic victims’ paranoia, identity crises, and subsequent loss of agency underscore the importance of individuals’ identity and constitute the horror that is at the heart of Gothic fiction.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1988. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [266]-277).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. Malinda Snow, committee chair; Murray Brown, Tanya Caldwell, committee members. Electronic text (223 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed July 11, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-223).

This thesis aims to analyse the specific space of Anglo-American Gothic fiction in the 18th and 19th century. The first part of the thesis deals with various aspects of Gothic fiction from a theoretical viewpoint. It contains the two possible concepts of the "Gothic". It lists typical features of the Gothic fiction and gives a brief overview of its development. Then, a crucial typology of space according to Vseticka and Pavera is introduced, as well as Mikhail Bachtin's related term chronotope. The theoretical part concludes with the reflection of the subversive nature of the Gothic fiction and its relation to similarly unconventional approaches of psychoanalysis and gender studies. The practical part of the thesis applies the aforementioned space typology to ten works of English and American Gothic fiction from 1764-1897, with short profiles of the respective writers in each chapter.

This thesis examines the Gothic element in the novels of Charles Brockden Brown and his influence on future writers.

This thesis examines the forms and functions of self-consciousness in contemporary Gothic fiction. Though self-consciousness is an often-mentioned characteristic of Gothic writing, it has yet to be explored in sufficient depth. In particular, critics have failed to recognise the manner in which the myriad forms of textual and generic self-reflexivity at work contribute to the fiction’s fearful agenda: how self-consciousness in the Gothic is itself Gothicised. This thesis argues that, rather than being an ancillary quirk of generic coherence or an indication of creative exhaustion, self-consciousness has become an integral part of the genre’s terroristic project, a new source and representational mode of terror. In the wake of postmodern and post-structural theory, the genre’s longstanding interest in reading, writing and textuality has been renewed, re-contextualised and redeployed as a key feature of the Gothic ‘effect’. My original contribution to knowledge is a charting of the intersections between the Gothic and this critical perspective on the text. In particular I explore how the Barthesian reorientation of the text is redeployed in Gothic fiction as a source of terror. Rather than pursuing an author-centric division of chapters I have organised the thesis around types of self-conscious commentary that occur throughout the contemporary Gothic. These are: a focus on the process of writing and textual composition; the internalisation and Gothicised representation of critical theory; an acute awareness and meta-commentary on the critical and commercial contexts of Gothic; and intertextuality. Key texts include Stephen King’s Misery (1987), Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves (2000), Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted (2005), A.N. Wilson’s A Jealous Ghost (2005), R. M. Berry’s Frank (2005) and Peter Ackroyd’s The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008). This selection of texts is representative of a varied but coherent inward turn in the Gothic fiction of recent decades. It is, however, by no means exhaustive and supplementary evidence will be provided from additional texts. Equally, it is important to contextualise this contemporary turn in relation to an established vein of self-consciousness in the Gothic, present since its inception. As such, my approach is firstly to trace a lineage of reflexivity and to draw upon that tradition in demonstrating how contemporary Gothic writers have honed this technique to a uniquely terrifying purpose.