Weeks 7-9
1. How is
the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological,
conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration
in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
It is always interesting to look at the myths and different genre from past years according to ‘On the Sublime’ is a piece of writing that focuses on the effect of good writing is both a discourse on aesthetics and a work of literary criticism. Longinus critically accepted and blamed the literary work as instances of bad and good styles of writing. He encouraged the ‘elevation of style’ and the core of ‘simplicity’.
ReplyDeleteFive sources that Longinus sets out for sublimity which are very strong emotions, have a great thoughts, some certain figures of thought and speech, noble diction and dignified of word arrangement (Weiskel, 1976). ‘on the sublime’ deals with forms of expression which have the power to lead the readers into wonder and having the ‘irresistible’ force according to Pateman (2004, 1991). This derives in the sublime passages in literature and from a rhetorical advice “a well timed stroke of sublimity scatters everything before it like a thunderbolt, and in a flash reveals the power of the speaker” (On the sublime, chpt 1).
Additionally, romanticism contacts the sublime with nature, artist, poet and the romantic experiences witnessing the beauty of nature. However, it can suggest the sublime in the readers by having ideas that can take away their attention spontaneously and emotionally. Although this can be connection the ridiculous opposites of love/death. Nevertheless, the sublime is connected to traditional Christian religion since faith focuses on the understanding of realities that includes observed experience and often with the language. For instance, you must ‘feel’ the Holy Spirit to ‘understand it’. In the greater degree of sublime comes from the ‘terror’ in all cases according to Burke (1757). He defines ‘terror’ the dread of pain; we are horrified by massiveness, by insignificance and with eternity. “Infinity has a tendency to fill the mind with that sort of delightful horror, which is the most genuine effect and truest test of the sublime” (p. 129).
Reference
Pateman, T. (2004,1991). 'The sublime' in key concepts: A guide to aesthetics, criticism and the arts in education. London: Falmer Press.
Sorry guys I forgot to put the question on top of my response which is question 1.
Delete1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
Excellent answer. For the Romantics, the sublime certainly had a religious overtone. The sublime in nature was seen as the manifestation of the divine in nature.
Delete1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
DeleteAs we view or look at the sublime with that pleasure/pain aspect, we view poems in a darker point of view. The Chimney sweeper, the narrator blames the Church and God stand out the most. “And are gone to praise God & his Priest and King/ who make you a heaven of our misery” This stood out to me the most and maybe to most readers who can relate. I think it is easier to relate to others pain than pleasure. The most powerful sublime is created in our own minds and the importance we put into certain things comes from the power of our thoughts.
In Patemans article, we know that a sublime is amazement, wonder or awe in ambition. It has the “power to entrance us” to “transport us with wonder as opposed to merely persuading or pleasing us”. Sublime does reflect to a love of a woman and the pain that follows.
Reference:
Pateman, T. (2004, 1991) ‘The Sublime’ in Key Concepts: A Guide to Aesthetics, Criticism and the Arts in Education.London: Falmer Press
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDeleteThis one was a significant summer in 1816 when an extremely well-known group rented the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Beside with poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin who was previously calling herself "Mrs. Shelley" notwithstanding his first wife still existence alive. Their son, and their friend, Clare Claremont. Later united by poet Lord Byron and his individual physician, John Polidori, what they had all wanted would be an enjoyable stay was noticeable by miserable weather which kept them all confined for days at a time.
Subsequently in 1816 was similarly The Year Without a Summer with irregular weather patterns troublemaking agriculture around the world and perhaps caused by the Mount Tambora eruption of 1815, the temper at the villa was not precisely friendly.
Lord Byron supplied that summer his now-famous trial that separately one present would try writing a story with a paranormal theme. While the stories written by Percy Shelley and Lord Byron are not as well-known as their other works, John Polidori wrote The Vampyre, the first English vampire novel and, debatably, the beginning of the romantic vampire literary genre.
The greatest well-known of the stories that came out of that summer was by Mary Shelley. In the beginning only planning to write a short story, she was convinced by her husband to write a full-length novel instead. Published anonymously in 1818 under the title, Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus,
References
Who Inspired Frankenstein?Providentia:
A biased look at psychology in the world. Retrieved 12/05/11 from:
http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2010/12/inspiring-frankenstein.html.
Good answer. Before the age of the internet and TV, people would often tell stories (Note Wife of Bath tale). This must have been quite a party!
DeleteSummer. June 1816. The Shellys, Lord Byron and the entourage of Mary Godwin, Claire Clairmont and John Polidor (who was Bryons personal physician, rent out the Villa Diodati for the Summer). The Villa Diodati was by lake Geneva. Apparently the year of 1816 was the year for meteorologists and was considered the year without summer. The following year, Bryons marriage ended.
DeleteOn June 15th the weather had been so bad that the weather forced them to spend the night indoors and Byron suggest that each person write and share a ghost story each. No one was allowed to stop writing unless they all came up with something good or more so scary that would capture “horror”.
Two evenings later was when everyone got together and began telling their ghost stories. Obviously, the most serious one to come out from this charade was Frankenstein.
(Side note) Its funny to actually think that back then they would tell stories or write up stories, now that internet it is highly most unlikely to be writing stories at a gathering.
References:
Ellis, D. (2011). Byron in geneva: That summer of 1816. Liverpool: Liverpool University press. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10840984-byron-in-geneva
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting one, as Mary Shelley is the greatest well-known for writing Frankenstein, and John William Polidori shaped the vampire genre with The Vampire. Without these piece of fiction the current gothic genre would be completely diverse from what it is today in the modern history. Every authors that remained in the Villa Diodati not only influenced the present gothic period, they help out make it. When looking back or some flashback from today at the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" is the utmost prominent method to see the result they had on the fictional world.
Additionally, there have been so many Frankenstein movies finished and so many books that have transmitted off the topic of carrying someone back to life. By way of well as that, the vampire genre is unique of the major things out there today, particularly in the TV/film area with True Blood, Twilight, and Vampire Diaries being 3 film/shows with an enormous resulting.
However, without the "brat-pack", we consume no impression what the gothic rebellion would have seen like. Disinterested like any other undertaking, the most prominent facts shape and continue to form the style even after it has arisen. Short of these figures, it is incredible to say if the gothic genre would have continually made it as huge or even have made it at all.
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDeleteWhat happened at the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816 is well informed on the Internet, where many forms of introduction are presented. Wikipedia devotes one page to describe the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816, when a group of writers stayed indoors and told each other about their own tales (2015). Walsh (2014) composed and submitted a poem, dedicating it to the story of Villa Diodati in 1816. Not only in form of words, also there are artistic expressions about the underlying event. An artist, Granger (2012) uploaded a digital image of the Villa Diodati on the site of fineartamerica.com.
4. 4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts.
The links between the Villa Diodati “brat-pack” and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre are traceable. Buzwell describes the ‘ghost story challenge’ at the Villa Diodati in the summer of 1816 gave rise to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and other works of gothic feature. The word choices like “a thick cloud” and “darkness” in Shelley’s Frankenstein where describes about the protagonist’s surrounding in association with the presence of the monster (p.210), express a sense of horror, upon which the elements of the gothic novel and the Romanticism took form later on. Similar traits also exist in John Polidori’s The Vampire.
References
Buzwell, Greg. (n.d). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein and the Villa Diodati, Retrieved on 25 May, 2015, from: http://bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/mary-shelley-frankenstein-and-the-villa-diodati
Granger. (2012). Byron:Villa Diodati, 1816. Retrieved on 25 May, 2015, from: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/byron-villa-diodati-1816-granger.html
Shelley, Mary. (1818). Frankenstein. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor&Jones. Retrieved from: http://www.planetebook.com
Villa Diodati. (n.d.). Retrieved 25 May, 2015, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Diodati
Walsh, Darlene. (2014). Villa Diodati In 1816-Poem by Darlene Walsh. Retrieved on 25 May, 2015, from: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/villa-diodati-in-1816/
1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
ReplyDelete‘The Sublime’ and proposes numerous interpretations and manifestations of this idea according to Pateman (1991). One expression of the sublime that is recommended is the dread of pain (Pateman, 1991). William Blake's poem ‘The Little Boy lost’ reveals this idea of sublime, in which a boy appeals for his father to slow down since he is frightened of existence lost. Nevertheless, the boy did become lost. The second half of this work reflects this well:
“The night was dark no father was there
The child was wet with dew.
The mire was deep, & the child did weep
And away the vapour flew.”
Additionally, appearance of the sublime is grind that raises our spirits, solving a feeling of arrogance and happiness. This is an effort that is believed to be skilled through capability, motivated thought and a strong emotional drive (Pateman, 1991). For instance this happening is in Burkes work ‘The Little Boy Found’. In its own right, the work offerings a ecstatic sense of adoration and pledge however, as an extension from ‘The Little Boy Lost’, the work shapes off the anxiety of pain and hopelessness into a stubborn release where the boy is found. This is an example of sublime, as an uplifting force.
References:
Pateman, T. (2004, 1991) ‘The Sublime’ in Key Concepts: A Guide to Aesthetics, Criticism and the Arts in Education.London: Falmer Press, pp 169 - 171.
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDeleteThe year 1816 is known as the “year without a summer”, due to a significant geological event, the eruption of Mount Tambora on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia in 1815 (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2011). The ensuing volcanic ash cloud spread throughout the atmosphere, darkening the skies, and its effects were widespread, with famine due to crop failure and epidemics occurring in America, Britain and Europe as well as some Asian countries (Cardin, 2013) and wild weather that included constant rain and lightning storms (Perrottet, n.d.). Lord Byron may have been inspired by this event in the composition of his poem “Darkness” in July 1816 (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2011). Those companions who accompanied Lord Byron on his trip to Geneva were Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (who Percy Shelley later married in 1816), Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, and the physician John Polidori (Perrottet, n.d.)
Lord Byron and his companions gathered at the Villa Diodati, near Lake Geneva in Switzerland (Cardin, 2013). They were kept inside by the unusual weather, so they read horror stories and discussed “the latest scientific theories” (Perrottet, n.d.). As a result, supposedly after reading a translation of a French horror story named “Portraits de Famille” (or The Family Portraits), where a group of people trapped together tell each other ghost stories, Lord Byron suggests that the companions write their own horror stories (Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 2011). The story that Mary Shelley née Godwin wrote became Frankenstein (or The Modern Prometheus), with its setting influenced by the vistas of Geneva as well as the main character Victor Frankenstein being from Geneva (Perrottet, n.d.). Doctor John Polidori’s story The Vampyre: A Tale led to Bram Stoker writing Dracula decades later (Cardin, 2013).
Cardin, M. (2013). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the dark-mythic summer of 1816. Retrieved from http://www.teemingbrain.com/2013/09/05/
Perrottet, T. (n.d.). Summer of Love: The Romantics at Lake Geneva. Retrieved from http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/frankenstein/essay/essayperrottet
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. (2011). Byron, Lord. Retrieved from http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including YouTube clips (hint: for a start try Russel Gothic on Youtube).
ReplyDeleteAlthough the stories created by those staying at the Villa Diodati in 1816 have influenced other literary works and films, especially in the case of Frankenstein and The Vampyre, the fact that the series of events leading up to the creation of these works was so unusual also led to varying artistic theories on what really happened at the Villa Diodati. Ken Russell’s film “Gothic” (1986) is a fictionalised tale based on the trip to the villa, but focuses on the origin of the idea for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where supposedly Mary Shelley and those at the villa experienced their own personal horrors due to drug-induced mind games. The film “Haunted Summer”, directed by Ivan Passer, is another fictional film account, released two years later in 1988. The ideas that drugs were involved in the conception of the stories are not unfounded. According to Perrottet (n.d.), wine was frequently available to the companions staying at the villa, as was laudanum, described as a liquefied form of opium. Light references to the events at the Villa Diodati are also made in a few films, mostly those that are adapted from Frankenstein. For example, James Whale has a short opening scene in his film “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) that shows Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley talking about Mary’s success with writing Frankenstein (Cardin, 2013). The videos of the trailers for the films “Gothic”, “Haunted Summer” and the opening scene for “Bride of Frankenstein” are available at http://www.teemingbrain.com. Reference listed below.
Cardin, M. (2013). Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the dark-mythic summer of 1816. Retrieved from http://www.teemingbrain.com/2013/09/05/mary-shelley-frankenstein-and-the-dark-mythic-summer-of-1816/
IMDb. (1990-2014). Haunted Summer (1988). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com
IMDb. (1990-2014). Gothic (1986). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com
Perrottet, T. (n.d.). Summer of Love: The Romantics at Lake Geneva. Retrieved from http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/frankenstein/essay/essayperrottet