

- #Supernatural gothic literature series#
- #Supernatural gothic literature tv#
- #Supernatural gothic literature free#
Alexandra Lykissas considers the manner in which the series depicts a post-9/11 anxiety and the fear of terror from within (of the “homegrown terrorists,” p. Part 1, titled “Gothic Tropes and Traditions,” features three articles tied together by the presence or absence of key Gothic motifs in the show, such as the angst created by a disturbed, disjointed reality the Winchesters’ car as a variation of an old European castle and the atmosphere of darkness characterized by a universal chaos and the absence of God. The present collection thus makes a valuable contribution to the study of the evolution of the Gothic genre and to the rise of Gothic horror TV, as well as to the interpretation of the series’ ever-evolving and complex Gothic universe, with its basis in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition and its varied borrowings of universal and culture-specific folkloric motifs.
#Supernatural gothic literature tv#
In addition to a number of references to the classic Gothic texts of the past, such as Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), Matthew Lewis’s The Monk (1796), Charles Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer (1820), Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), or Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), the articles reference contemporary examples of the Gothic genre in both film and literature, such as contemporary TV horror shows ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood) or fiction (and its screen adaptation, where applicable) by Stephen King, Cherríe Moraga, J.

Each article approaches the show from a unique perspective, be it a gender, a queer, or a postcolonial interpretation, but all make reference to the manner in which the show both adheres to and defies the Gothic literary canon, fighting to establish “its own particular mythology,” in the words of one of the collection’s contributors (p. The Gothic Tradition in Supernatural consists of four parts and thirteen articles in addition to an introduction penned by Edmundson, a note on contributors, and an index. This uneasy, constant battle and the contested, subjective nature of morality is at the core of the series and is a central theme of many works of the Gothic literary tradition, tying the two together in the present collection under review.

More than once, the brothers face a dilemma: they must choose whether to save the ones they love (including each other) who have been tainted by evil, or eliminate them for the greater good.
#Supernatural gothic literature free#
The Winchesters lead the nomadic lifestyle of monster hunters, attempting to free the seemingly safe American suburbia (and, by extent, the world) of the evil lurking in the dark, while simultaneously discovering and fighting their own monstrous, repressed selves. The show is an epitome of the American Gothic-hence, the interpretative angle of the collection-and centers around two protagonists, brothers Dean and Sam Winchester. Melissa Edmundson has edited a collection of essays written by scholars about the popular American television show Supernatural (2005-), which has been in production for more than ten years and is currently in its thirteenth season. Reviewed by Svitlana Krys (MacEwan University)Ĭommissioned by Hanna Chuchvaha (Independent scholar)

The Gothic Tradition in Supernatural: Essays on the Television Series.
