Thursday, November 18, 2010
Frankenstein and Draculaa.
Well, the novels Draculaa andd Frankenstein have a very similar structuree. Like how both of thee books start off with letters. Have you guys noticed that? Draculaa begins with a diary kept by Jonathan Harker, a man who is likee an English solicitor. And he’s travelling somewheree, andd he is on his way from Englandd to Eastern Europee. This is a major resemblancee to Robert Walton. At the beginning of the book, Walton writes a series of letters on a ship headedd on a voyagee to the North Polee. I thinkk the book is structuredd likee this on purpose becausee the letters give us info about whats gonna happen later on in the story, but not not too much information so that it has that hint of mystery, which is a key element in gothic literaturee and horror stories.
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The letters do help with the foreshadowing, and they also add to the mystery. Do you think they could be adding to the "authenticity" of the story, i.e. making it seem more real.
ReplyDeleteIn my own novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, a similar kind of journal type storytelling is employed. The book does not begin with letters as in Frankenstein, but it is obviously from the point of view of the earliest speaker and catalogs his interactions, essentially a journal. I believe that this is in fact something iconic of Gothic works.
ReplyDeleteI agree. First person is an imporatnt ket to writing a gothic novel I believe. It's iconic and it is what institutes a gothic novel, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI have seen on everybody's blog a topic about their book being similar to Frankenstein. Does this mean that all Gothic literature is similar to each other?
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