The remarkable elements of Gothic novels include horror, mystery, supernatural, bad luck, death, decadence, haunted old houses, madness, family curse and so on.
"Goth" is used in literary genre mainly because the theme of this genre discusses such extreme feelings and some black topics, while the background of Goth novels is usually Goth: abandoned crumbling castles and monasteries. They pay attention to Gothic architecture, art, poetry (see cemetery poets) and even gardening.
Walpole's novels originated from his fascination with the Middle Ages. This novel is no longer the first time he called it a fake building, but a real medieval legend. At first, Outland Castle was called a legend. The educated class thinks that the legendary story is a vulgar literary style, and even thinks that it is not suitable for children to read because it contains superstitious elements. However, walpole updated its elements and gave a new form to medieval legends. The basic plot is an essential element in other Gothic novels, a threatening secret, an ancient curse, and countless troubles: hidden corridors, heroines who often faint. But it was Ann Radcliffe who really established the standard style of Gothic novels. Radcliffe brought the unforgettable Gothic villain into the literary field, and this role later developed into a Byronic hero. Unlike walpole's novels, her novels are very popular bestsellers in Britain. Radcliffe set off a craze, with imitators behind him like clouds; Jane Austen's influence can also be seen in northanger abbey. Because a character in the book reads Gothic novels, the tiny voice in the middle of the night also brings her infinite fear. Mary shelley's Frankenstein is undoubtedly the pinnacle of Gothic novels in its classic era.
Sentimentalism literature is a literary trend of thought that occurred in Britain from 1960s to the end of 1980s. After the industrial revolution, the realistic contradiction intensified, and people began to doubt the rational society, but they could only rely on art and emotion to express their dissatisfaction and escape from reality. The trend of sentimentalism has brought Europe into a new stage in literary form. He is not only the pioneer of the huge romantic literary movement in Europe at the beginning of the19th century, but also the source of modernist literature. Traditional novels are mostly based on plots and reorganize real life according to the law of cause and effect, while sentimentalism has opened up a narrative way with psychology as the carrier and the projection of the external real world as the means. The appearance of this new way is of far-reaching significance to the development of literature. Sentimentalism is named after the novel A Sentimental Journey to France and Italy by British writer Stern.
Also known as emotionalism. It is also called pre-romanticism, because it rejects rationality and advocates emotion. Sentimentalism originated in Britain and then spread to France, Russia, Germany and other European countries. Representative figures are Stern, Goldsmith and Gray in Britain, Rousseau and Voltaire in France, karamzin in Russia, richter and Heine in Germany. Due to the accelerated development of British capitalism, social contradictions are becoming more and more serious. The middle and lower bourgeois literati deeply feel the inequality between the rich and the poor, the social status and material life are not guaranteed, and their sentimental feelings are getting stronger and stronger. Sentimentalism is the expression of this emotion in literature. It pays attention to inner feelings, exaggerates the role of feelings, emphasizes the natural expression of feelings, attaches importance to the description of natural scenery, and especially emphasizes the portrayal of personality and personal spiritual life. It is believed that the main task of literature is to describe in detail the psychological activities and unfortunate life experiences of characters in order to arouse readers' sympathy and admiration. It shows dissatisfaction with the contradictory social reality, and also reflects the resistance of the aristocratic class to rationalism and classicism. Some sentimental writers are divorced from reality, indulge in personal feelings, indulge in sentimentality, and even praise the past, darkness and death, with strong pessimism and despair. Most of the works are in the first person, mostly in the form of diaries, travel notes, letters and memoirs.
A novel written in the form of a letter. Taking the first person "I" as the protagonist, explaining stories, shaping images and writing narratives are all based on the personal experience of "I", which makes people feel cordial and adds realism. Famous epistolary novels include Young Werther by Goethe and New Ai Luo Silk by Rousseau.
Richardson is a master of epistolary novels. His first epistolary novel Pamela received a good response and was very dramatic. He wants to tell readers that they can't all fantasize about being like Pamela. Pamela's ending was accidental, not inevitable. The epistolary novel is indeed limited, because the plot is embodied in the characters' letters, so it is easy for the author to lose control of the novel. Different characters always say something that suits their identity, and the influence of these words may not be the author's original intention. However, one advantage of epistolary novels is that they can make novels vivid, thinking that they all bring the past to the present from the present perspective. Richardson's later famous epistolary novel Clarissa is the first tragic novel in England. Later epistolary novels are famous for Young Werther.