SUBLIME AND UNCANNY AS FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF GOTHIC AESTHETICS IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE
This study examines historian and author Nikolay Karamzin’s (1766- 1826) tale “The Island of Bornholm”, which is considered to be the first example of Gothic fiction in Russian literature. Literary analysis of the text has been realized using concepts of the sublime and the uncanny, forming the t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sada Institute of Art and Language Studies
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Ulakbilge: Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi |
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| Online Access: | http://www.ulakbilge.com/makale/pdf/1530452503.pdf |
| Summary: | This study examines historian and author Nikolay Karamzin’s (1766-
1826) tale “The Island of Bornholm”, which is considered to be the first example of
Gothic fiction in Russian literature. Literary analysis of the text has been realized
using concepts of the sublime and the uncanny, forming the two theoretical sources of
Gothic theory in the fields of philosophy of art and psychology. Gothic has been the
subject of aesthetics since it was used by Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-
1574) as a pejorative adjective to describe the typical examples of medieval
architecture. The sublime basing on the aesthetic conceptions of Irish philosopher
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) and German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
describes the thing that has qualities such as immensity, colossality or uncertainty
though it is not traditionally beautiful. The sublime is the basis of Gothic theory and
criticism as it is applied today, crossing with Sigmund Freud's (1856-1939) concept of
the uncanny (unheimlich) in the field of psychology. The uncanny is the thing that
ought to have remained hidden and secret, and yet comes to light. It refers something
frightening and unreliable because not being familiar or not belonging to home. |
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| ISSN: | 2148-0451 2148-0451 |