Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Irish Gothic literature is similar to standard Gothic genre in its regular themes of usurpation, unnatural happenings and the elements of terror; however, Irish Gothic literature seems to take on more readily political and religious colors. The author points out that a frequent motif is the abandoned and decaying "big house", which refers to the big houses of the Protestant upper classes of the ascendancy; the absentee landlord as a recurrent evil character such as Charles Maturin's "Melmoth the Wanderer" (1820) and Maria Edgeworth's "Castle Rackrent" (1800) and "The Absentee" (1812). The paper relates that critics do not agree on the relationship between Irish Gothic literature and politics because Irish authors diverge on the degree to which the political situation impacted the Irish writers of this period.

From the Paper:

"Maria Edgeworth's "Castle Rackrent" gave birth to the so called "regional novel" and attracted the attention of the English public essentially for its romantic vision. However, Edgeworth belongs to the more "realistic" tradition and differs somewhat from James MacPherson whose "Temora" (1763) had been very well-accepted too. Edgeworth's novel was the first one of its genre. An old steward relates the eccentricities of three generations of Rackrents (Irish landlords) whose original name was O'Shaughlin and is related to the kings of Ireland."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Fierobe, Claude. De Melmoth a Dracula. La Litterature fantastique Irlandaise au XIXe siecle, France: Terre de brume, 2000
• Glover, David. Vampires, Mummies and Liberals: Bram Stoker and the Politics of Popular Fiction, Duke University Press, 1996
• Jackson, Rosemary. Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion, Routledge, 1981

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