The sublime and its different perspective in the gothic literature

O objetivo da presente dissertação consiste em analisar o sublime, um conceito estético que vem sendo estudado desde os primeiros séculos. Tomamos como base a definição do sublime como algo paradoxal que cria o prazer e o medo ao mesmo tempo. Porém, o sublime apresenta especificidades que variam de acordo com o filósofo analisado. Neste trabalho, três críticos foram estudados: Longinus, Edmund Burke e Immanuel Kant. Assim, o sublime pode ser representado através da imensidão da natureza, do poder de uma criatura sobrenatural ou, até mesmo, através da sexualidade feminina. E, com o intuito de exemplificar essas diferentes perspectivas do sublime, buscamos obras da Literatura Gótica. Sendo esta uma vertente literária que buscava a oposição ao racionalismo trazido pelo movimento iluminista, as características sublimes foram essenciais para enfatizar a emoção. Para tal exemplificação, utilizamos trechos de dois romances góticos dos séculos XVIII e XIX, respectivamente: The Monk escrito por Matthew Lewis e Dracula escrito por Bram Stoker

Technical Challenges in the Construction of Gothic Vaults: The Gothic Theory of Structural Design

The construction of a Gothic vault implied the solution of several technical challenges. The literature on Gothic vault construction is quite large and its growth continues steadily. The main challenge of any structure is that, during and after construction, it must be "safe", that is, it must not collapse. Indeed, it must be amply safe, able to support different loads for long periods of time. Masonry architecture has shown its structural safety for centuries or millennia. The Pantheon of Rome stands today after almost 2,000 years without having needed any structural reinforcement (of course, the survival of any building implies continuous maintenance) . Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, finished in the 6th century AD, has withstood not only the dead loads but also many severe earthquakes . Finally, the Gothic cathedrals, with their appearance of weakness, are• more than a half millennium old. The question arises of what the source of this amazing strength is and how the illiterate master masons were able to design such daring and safe structures . This question is usually evaded in manuals of Gothic architecture. This is quite surprising, the structure being a fundamental part of Gothic buildings. The present article aims to give such an explanation, which has been studied in detail elsewhere. In the first part, the Gothic design methods "V ill be discussed. In the second part, the validity of these methods wi11 be verified within the frame of the modern theory of masonry structures . References have been reduced to a minimum to make the text simpler and more direct.

The Gothic Ribbed vaults in Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón

The Gothic Ribbed vaults in Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón. Second International Congress on Construction History. Construction History Society. Cambridge. Reino Unido. Vol: III. Pags: 2415-2431. ISBN. 0-7017-0205-2

Clarity, Light, and Logic : Parallels between Olafur Eliasson’s The weather project and the Gothic Cathedral

This Master’s Research Paper investigates Olafur Eliasson’s The weather project as a case study for the dialogue between Gothic artistic principles and prominent elements of contemporary art. A product of a post-modern mindset, weakened historicity allows us to examine these connections anew; past, present, and future blur and artists (and viewers) have the whole of time from which to gain inspiration and meaning in works of art. I demonstrate similarities through theories on phenomenology; the spatiotemporal relationship between viewer and artwork; the convergence of art and science; and the communal, quasi-liminal experience of pilgrimage. I embrace Eliasson’s belief in the self-reflexive potential of art and the importance of the viewer’s own values, memories, and methods of seeing. This new interpretive layer will hopefully offer a richer experience for future participants of both Gothic cathedrals and environments produced by Studio Olafur Eliasson.

The Goths : from the earliest times to the end of the Gothic dominion in Spain /

Mode of access: Internet.

The Gothic and Anglo-Saxon gospels in parallel columns with the versions of Wycliffe and Tyndale

Mode of access: Internet.

‘Why are there always three?’: The Gothic Occult in Dario Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy

Thomas De Quincey’s essay ‘Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow’ provided Dario Argento with the spark of an idea, which was further ignited by tales from his then wife, Daria Nicolodi, who told him of her grandmother’s stay at a music school which was run by a coven of witches. From these sources Argento came up with the mythology of The Three Mothers, which were to feature in three of his films: Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980) and La terza madre/The Mother of Tears (2007). This article will examine the occult and esoteric sources of The Three Mothers trilogy, and explore how these references work to create a series of films that may superficially appear to use the supernatural and occult to create scares, but actually incorporate elements of Western Esotericism rather than traditional Christian images of evil. By doing this, these films transcend their apparent flaws (in terms of shallow plot and character development, a common complaint directed toward many Italian horror films) and instead imbue the mise-enscene itself with meaning, character and narrative. Although the films are situated within the Gothic genre, and in many respects follow traditional Gothic lines with witchcraft and the occult becoming synonymous with evil, I will argue that the films actually belong to the long tradition of art forms that have attempted to investigate the allure and the danger of occult exploration.

Echoes of the Gothic and meaning in Lygia Fagundes Telles´s “A presença”

Lygia Fagundes Telles´s short story “A presença” has been almost forgotten in literary studies. The short story was first published in the 1977 collection Seminário dos Ratos, and is part and parcel of other important collections of the author, namely, Mistérios and Os melhores contos de Lygia Fagundes Telles. Even though it has been published together with other well-known short stories such as “As formigas”, “A caçada” and “A mão no ombro”, it has never been much focused in literary studies. Current essay focuses on three specific points to put this narrative in the limelight: (i) the use of the narrative with Gothic characteristics referring to the theme of persecution; (ii) a parallel on the manner gothic items inserted within the narrative maintain a dialogue with the issues involving Ricardo Piglia´s short story; (iii) the two previous items function so that the cross-section selected by the author is not limiting to meaning.

The candidate : a novella and examination of Australian Gothic crime fiction

Australia is a land without haunted castles or subterranean corridors, without ancient graveyards or decaying monasteries, a land whose climate is rarely gloomy. Yet, the literary landscape is splattered with shades of the Gothic genre. This Gothic heritage is especially evident within elements of nineteenth century Australian sensation fiction. Australian crime fiction in the twentieth century, in keeping with this lineage, repeatedly employs elements of the Gothic, adapting and appropriating these conventions for literary effect. I believe that a ‘mélange’ of historical Gothic crime traditions could produce an exciting new mode of Gothic crime writing in the Australian context. As such, I have written a contemporary literary experiment in a Gothic crime ‘hybrid’ style: this novella forms my creative practice. The accompanying exegesis is a critical study of a selection of Australian literary works that exhibit the characteristics of both Gothic and crime genres. Through an analysis of these creative works, this study argues that the interlacing of Gothic traditions with crime writing conventions has been a noteworthy practice in Australian fiction during both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and these literary tropes are interwoven in the writing of ‘The Candidate’, a Gothic crime novella.

The importance of the Deutsche Luxfer Prismen Syndikat, the Victoria regia lily and Gothic imitation in the design of Bruno Taut's Glashaus

Bruno Taut's Glashaus is considered a seminal example of early modernist architecture. Yet, some of the crucial factors behind the design of the Glashaus remain little understood. This PhD reveals that the Glashaus' patron, Frederick Keppler, exerted a significant influence over its design by insisting that it follow a prescriptive brief. Interpreting these rigid instructions, Taut as the architect, gained inspiration from the myths and symbols associated with the Victoria regia lily and the Gothic. This PhD therefore significantly expands the understanding of the Glashaus, and thus reinvigorates our comprehension of one of the most distinctive early examples of modern architecture.