Abstract
The present paper is devoted to the question of the past in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in reference to the Gothic Novel and the way it approaches this subject. As an introduction I provide some background as to the definition and origins of both gothic and fantasy genres. I want to prove that they share many similarities and point out the connections between them. In the main part of my paper I present the creation of the past in the Gothic Novel and in The Lord of the Rings, showing that the past plays a very important role on both extratextual – as an inspiration for a writer – and intratextual levels – as a source of nostalgia, fascination and fear. This article was based on my bachelor’s thesis Elements of the Gothic convention in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Highlights
The eighteenth century in Europe was the era of the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement characterised by the rule of reason that stood in “opposition to sensation, feeling, desire”( Encyclopaedia Britannica)
The Gothic convention derives from literary genres developed in preceding centuries in which Gothic elements may be found, such as the violence of Elizabethan drama, the supernatural elements in legends and ballads, pagan Nordic and Celtic mythology, exoticism in oriental and eastern tales, and chivalric romances (Karl 1974, 236–237)
In the Preface to the 1765 edition of Otranto, Walpole created the general rule for the Gothic convention, which is a blend of the aspects of ancient romance
Summary
The present paper is devoted to the question of the past in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the M Rings in reference to the Gothic Novel and the way it approaches this subject. As an introduction I provide some background as to the definition and origins of both gothic and fantasy genres. In the main part of my paper I present the creation of the past in the Gothic Novel and in The Lord of the Rings, showing that. U the past plays a very important role on both extratextual – as an inspiration for a writer – and intratextual levels – as a source of nostalgia, fascination and fear. This article was based on my bachelor’s thesis Elements of the Gothic convention in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
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