sh.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Gothic Horror and The Folktale: A Formalist Approach to Horace Walpole’’s The Castle of Otranto
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education.
2013 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Gotisk skräck och Folksagan : Ett formanlistiskt perspektiv på Horace Walkpoles The Castle of Otranto (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

This essay examines the structural relationship between the folktale and the gothic novel with focus on characterization. This study will present a clearer definition of the now problematized gothic genre and show how newer genres are influenced by the older ones. This examination is done by doing a close-reading of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, which is generally known as the first gothic novel, and comparing it to formalist Vladimir Propp’s findings on the functions of the Russian folktale. Walpole’s novel is used as primary source of data and the key works by Propp is utilized as the theoretical framework. In addition, a couple of critical essays have been looked upon in relation to the previous works. This study finds that there are apparent similarities in structure and narrative in the gothic novel in relation to the folktale such as the presence of the same essential characters and functions. This proves the overlap between the two genres and it would be reasonable to conclude that the gothic genre consists of a part folktale. By the revelation of this previously unknown relationship between the folktale and the gothic genre this essay opens up for further research on the origin and influences of gothic fiction.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2013. , p. 19
Keywords [en]
Formalism, Horace Walpole, the Castle of Otranto, Vladimir Propp, Gothic Horror
National Category
Specific Literatures
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-28206OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-28206DiVA, id: diva2:851531
Subject / course
English
Uppsok
Humanities, Theology
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2015-09-07 Created: 2015-09-06 Last updated: 2015-09-07Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(108 kB)1251 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 108 kBChecksum SHA-512
326afb71519d70afa733c912e548245cf7c6c9900a76b8022310d7830853c7131c0fa817649d9eb241e84669e3347c12286dd5c4e856598e6f59b70cea195875
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

By organisation
School of Culture and Education
Specific Literatures

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 1251 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 1646 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf