Vol. 13 No. 78 (2024)
Articles

From Mary Shelley to Stephen King: the transformation of gothic fiction in English literature

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  • Tetyana Chonka,
  • Oleksandr Kordonets,
  • Evelina Balla,
  • Volodymyr Banias,
  • Nataliya Banias
Tetyana Chonka
Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Berehovo, Ukraine.
Bio
Oleksandr Kordonets
Uzhhorod National University, Berehovo, Ukraine.
Bio
Evelina Balla
Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine.
Bio
Volodymyr Banias
Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Berehovo, Ukraine.
Bio
Nataliya Banias
Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education, Berehovo, Ukraine.
Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.78.06.17

Published 2024-06-30

Keywords

  • genre transformation, gothic novel, modern Neo-Gothic novel, postmodern aesthetics, Romanticism.

How to Cite

Chonka, T., Kordonets, O., Balla, E., Banias, V., & Banias, N. (2024). From Mary Shelley to Stephen King: the transformation of gothic fiction in English literature. Amazonia Investiga, 13(78), 209–217. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.78.06.17

Copyright (c) 2024 Amazonia Investiga

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article is dedicated to studying the evolution of the Gothic novel in English-language literature from the 18th century to the modern stage of development through the lens of genre transformations and stylistic modifications. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of the Gothic novel genre in English-language literature through the prism of genre transformations, the dialectic of tradition and innovation. The research was conducted on the basis of the complex application of the method of analysis and synthesis, comparative-typological, biographical, historical-genetic methods and the method of generalization. By conducting a typological comparison of the early Gothic novel, represented in the works of Horace Walpole, Mary Shelley, Ann Radcliffe, and the later Gothic novels of Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Stephen King, it was found that the peculiarity of mature Gothic novels compared to early ones is authorial subjectivity, vivid imagery, and picturesque quality, which eventually evolves into a fascination with supernatural phenomena and horrors. The figurative and symbolic system of the Gothic novel also evolves, as demons and the deceased are replaced by the innocent image of a child or woman, erasing the gender boundaries of the villain hero as the primary catalyst of the plot.

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