TSOTHOU 9 Gr B

 tHE MysTERIES of  UDOLPHO / The MONK

A Sight of the Abbey

(Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen, 1803)

It's about a young woman who is about to discover an old abbey, and she muses about the past of the building.

This novel is a parody of a Gothic story. The main character is a young girl who is about to live in an old abbey. She expects horrible and exciting adventures in that place, imagining a miserable fate for herself, but it just doesn't happen. The house is clean and neat, and its inhabitants are as nice as can be.

A majority of Gothic novel readers were women. Some of the most famous Gothic writers were women too. J. Austen plays on these stereotypes with Northanger Abbey. She also examplifies this trend of "the happiness of being sad" from V. Hugo, here by proxy (par procuration).

Gothic elements : 

The walls, and windows of the imaginary Abbey (and its isolation). The character needs assistance to find her way (a maze?). The rain (Pathetic Fallacy?)

Everything is then turned upside down : the sun, the beautiful building, the simple road and the nice people.


The Mysteries of Udolpho, A. Raddcliffe

Plot

the setting is a castle, it's very dark and melancholy. 

Gothic :

Dark, melancholy, the architecture 

 

The Monk, M. Lewis, 1796

Plot :

It's about a man, Lorenzo, who goes into a church. There are strange things in it. Doors close on their own. He walks in the church ; at some moment, there are silver lamps on the roof that turns on, singers start singing, an organ starts playing, he can see his wife, and behind her, there's a preacher.

Gothic ?

The church / the organ / dark / melancholy / "Gothic obscurity"

 Christabel, Coleridge 1800

it talks about a woman in a village. The poet describes the village, it features a castle and a church, among others. He also mentions the clock.

Gothic aspect : "shroud," "toothless," 


Translation time !

p.90

"What was it ? - I paused to think - what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher ? It was a mystery all insoluble ; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered."

p.94

"It was with difficulty that I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with the companion of my early boyhood."

Ce fut avec difficulté que j'avais pu me résoudre à admettre l'identité de l'être devant moi avec le compagnon de mon enfance.

... du faible être...

C'était avec difficulté que j'ai pu apporter à moi même d'admettre l'identité de l'homme triste que j'étais avant avec le compagnon de mon enfance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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