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Irish Gothic Literature

This paper is an overview of Irish Gothic literature, featuring many writers including Charles Maturin and Maria Edgeworth.
1,160 words (approx. 4.6 pages) | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 | France
Published on: May 13, 2007

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

Cite this paper

APA Citation:

Irish Gothic Literature (2012, April 01). Retrieved May 25, 2012, from http://www.academon.com/Comparison-Essay-Irish-Gothic-Literature/94957

MLA Citation:

"Irish Gothic Literature" 01 April 2012. Web. 25 May. 2012. <http://www.academon.com/Comparison-Essay-Irish-Gothic-Literature/94957>




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Published by:

mikkenzi FR
Publisher Since:
Nov 10, 2005
I am a student of English at the Universite de Nice Sophia - Antipolis in Nice, France. I am very much interested in 18th, 19th and 20th century British and American literature. My master's thesis was about the Golden Age of Science Fiction. I am currently doing postgraduate research on forgotten women writers of the 18th century and on the sentimental and Gothic novels of the second half of the 18th. In addition, I am very interested in children's studies and post-mortem photography.
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