14. Q3. Q&A for Module 3

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, Elly answers a couple of questions that arose in the course of Module 3: 'To what extent did the ideas of the Enlightenment influence Gothic literature in this period?', 'Why does Gothic literature so often make use of multiple narrators, many of whom are unreliable?', and 'Does the unreliable narrator have any other functions, apart from creating an atmosphere of unease?'

Course

For many, the genre of gothic horror is epitomised by the novels Frankenstein and Dracula. In this course, we explore the origins of the genre through lesser-known, but no less influential works, the Castle of Otranto (1764) and The Monk (1796): the former is generally regarded as the first gothic novel, and the latter (which was described by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as “the offspring of no common genius”) one of the most important gothic novels of its time - decades before Frankenstein, and over a century before Dracula.

Lecturer

Elly is a second-year DPhil student at the University of York. While her thesis is on the reception of Arthurian legend in children's literature, she is au fait with all Victorian literature. In her spare time, she writes a food blog called 'Nutmegs, seven'