Gothic Themes, Settings, and Figures | Eino Railo (Essay Date 1927)
EINO RAILO (ESSAY DATE 1927)
SOURCE: Railo, Eino. “Other Themes.” In The Haunted Castle: A Study of the Elements of English Romanticism. 1927. Reprint, pp. 299-318. New York: Gordon Press, 1974.
In the following essay, originally published in 1927, Railo comments on the major themes present in early Gothic literature.
1
I have already remarked that from Walpole onward a common and important feature of terror-romantic literature is its preoccupation with an atmosphere of oppression and innocence in danger, the development of situations based on persecution and a constant fleeing from pursuit. The basis on which the whole plot rests is usually some form of usurpation, an old crime, or the like; but the actual impulse is derived from this state of danger and persecution; it furnishes the suspense necessary to keep up the reader’s interest. The creation of a state of suspense is not...
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