Author: coolshark

Carmilla was first published in the periodical The Dark Blue in four serialized segments. The first segment was published in December 1871, and the following three were each published a month apart, with the final installment appearing in March 1872. These chapters were accompanied by three illustrations which were drawn by D.H. Friston and engraved by C.M. Jenkin.  

The journal The Dark Blue was created by John Christian Freund and first published in March 1871 (Chapman). Though the journal was only in publication for three years, it received acclaim for the quality and variety of the content it produced, as well as the notable writers who were published in it. The periodical was reportedly named after the colors of Oxford University, which Freund and many of the periodical’s contributors had attended (Chapman). This fact speaks to the journal’s educated and likely well-connected readership. Though Carmilla would have been considered a middlebrow contribution to the journal, The Dark Blue’s educated and well-received writers and readers suggests that the story was written for such an audience. 

Following the story’s publication in The Dark Blue, it was published in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s anthology In a Glass Darkly as a short story (Le Fanu xiii). Notably, this version of Carmilla added “The Prologue,” which was not present in the version published in The Dark Blue (Le Fanu xiv). In the prologue, Le Fanu introduces the story as though it is a true record collected by a Doctor Hesselius. This addition frames the supernatural story and its female narrator Laura through the lens of the doctor’s male medical authority. This male-centered framing contrasts the at-the-time shocking nature of the novel’s powerful and assertive female villain Carmilla.  

Though Carmilla is said to have partially inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which was published over two decades later, it didn’t gain much notice when it was first published. This is likely due to the female-centric plot and the subversive sexuality of the vampire Carmilla. However, the novella is now regarded as having had a strong role in establishing the conventions of the vampire novel, as well as providing insight into Victorian attitudes towards female sexuality. Consequently, the novella has gained popularity in the late 20th and early 21st century, resulting in increased scholarly discourse and several book, TV, and film adaptations.  

 

Works Cited 

Chapman, Alison. “The Dark Blue, and J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’ (1871-1872).” The University of Victoria Libraries, Omeka, 2018, omeka.library.uvic.ca/exhibits/show/movable-type/networks/dark_blue_carmilla.html. 

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. “Notes on the Text.” Carmilla: A Critical Edition, edited by Kathleen Costello-Sullivan, Syracuse University Press, 2013, pp. xiii–xvi. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1j5d4xp.5. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024. 

As I began to research the role of queerness in gothic literature for my senior thesis, I noticed one name that kept coming up: Eve Sedgwick. Although I had read some of Sedgwick’s work before and knew of her important contributions to queer studies, I was surprised to find that she had also written about the gothic.  

Eve Sedwick was a scholar who became best known as one of the founders of queer theory. Sedgwick received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Cornell University in 1971, and a Ph.D. in English from Yale in 1975. Her doctoral thesis, which focused on gothic literature, was titled The Coherence of Gothic Conventions. She later expanded upon her thesis to create a book of the same name, which analyzed the intersection of the gothic with modern understandings of gender and homophobia. Following her graduate studies, Sedgwick struggled for nearly ten years to find a teaching position before finally becoming a professor at Amherst College. Once there, she made considerable efforts in establishing a curriculum for gender and sexuality studies. It was at this time that she began to gain academic recognition following the publication of Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire in 1985, and Epistemology of the Closet in 1990. These books are her most widely known publications and are also considered foundational texts to the field of queer studies. Sedgwick, writing during the height of the AIDS epidemic, was deeply influenced by her experience of the crisis. She wrote about the role sexuality plays in creating social meanings, as well as the dangers of homophobia and ignorance. I believe her writing on both queer studies and the gothic will be a valuable place to start my research for my senior thesis.  

 

Works Cited 

“Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.” Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick | Life of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, evekosofskysedgwick.net/biography/biography#:~:text=Sedgwick%20concentrated%20on%20English%20literature,and%20became%20a%20lifelong%20friend. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024. 

Secondary or Theoretical Works  

Benshoff, Harry  M., and Barry  Keith Grant. “The Monster and the Homosexual.” The Dread of Difference : Gender and the Horror Film, University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, 2015, pp. 116–141, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dickinson/detail.action?docID=3571889. Accessed 2024. 

Fuss, Diana. “Introduction: Inside/Out.” Inside/Out : Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, Routledge, New York, New York, 1991, pp. 1–10, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dickinson/detail.action?docID=1144411. Accessed 2024. 

Thomas, Ardel. Queer Others in Victorian Gothic : Transgressing Monstrosity. University of Wales Press, 2012.

Petrocelli, Heather O. “Horror Is Queer: Theoretical and Ontological Foundations.” Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator, 1st ed., Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru / University of Wales Press, 2024, pp. 1–37, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dickinson/reader.action?docID=7263174&ppg=12. Accessed 2024. 

Rigby, Mair. “Uncanny Recognition: Queer Theory’s Debt to the Gothic.” Gothic Studies, vol. 11, no. 1, May 2009, pp. 46+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A381057953/AONE?u=carl22017&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=815748c7. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024. 

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. The Coherence of Gothic Conventions, New York: Methuen, 1980. 

 

 Primary Sources

“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier

“Carmilla” by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

“Hauntings: fantastic stories” by Vernon Lee

“The Haunting of Hill House,” by Shirley Jackson

 

Academic Journal 

Horror Studies 

 

Keywords 

Queer theory, gothic, horror 

 

For my thesis, I am interested in focusing on the way queerness manifests in the gothic horror tradition. This genre interests me because of how it explores and reveals cultural anxieties. Gothic literature centers elements that are often uneasily regarded within society, then moralizes them to produce clear messages about good and evil. The intrinsically transgressive elements of the gothic are what make it align well with queer readings. Gothic literature often includes the concept of the immoral “other,” which is where queer theory begins to be used as a unit of analysis. Throughout the history of this genre, queerness has been covertly used to signify a monstrous and frightening “other.” At the same time queer-coded villains represented supposed social evils, they also represented transgressive yet tempting sexuality. This complicated relationship between the gothic and queerness both upheld and questioned popular perceptions of reality. 

I am currently most interested in exploring this concept of monstrousness within the context of gothic literature and queer theory. The majority of the secondary sources I have chosen provide insight into the history of this literary genre and its relation to queerness. I plan to determine which time period I would like to focus on, as well as which primary source I would like to build my research around. As I continue to explore this subject, some of my guiding questions will be: what does it mean to queer the gothic? How have representations of queerness developed in this genre? 

 

Update

I have narrowed down the subject of my thesis to focus on gothic literature. To reflect this change, I have removed secondary sources that focus on horror and film, and I have found additional sources that have a specific focus on queerness in gothic literature. I have also begun to read primary texts that may relate to my research, beginning with “Rebecca” and “Carmilla.” These are texts that have frequently been referenced in the articles I have read while researching my topic, making them a good starting point.

 

Within Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” water is a recurring motif that represents new beginnings and rebirth. Both Sethe and Beloved emerge from the water having been remade in some way.  

For Sethe, water represents her rebirth as a free woman. The river that she crossed to reach Baby Sugg’s house is the final physical boundary between her old life as a slave and her new life of freedom. It is also the location of Denver’s birth, making it both literally and figuratively representative of new life. The river “looked like home to her, and the baby… must have thought so too” because as soon as Sethe reached the river “her own water broke loose to join it” and she went into labor (Morrison 98). She gave birth while sinking in the river water, then swaddled the baby while standing in the river. The reiterated presence of water in this birth scene serves as a sort of symbolic baptism of both Sethe and Denver, indicating the new chapter of their lives that is about to begin.  

For Beloved, water represents her rebirth in a corporeal form and her return to Sethe and Denver’s life. Beloved is first introduced with the phrase “A fully dressed woman walked out of the water” (Morrison 60). Everything about Beloved appears new, from her suspiciously uncreased shoes, to her fancy dress, to her “new skin,” which is “lineless and smooth” (Morrison 61). Later, when Beloved talks to Denver about where she came from, she explains that “in the place [she was] before” it was dark and warm, and she was small and curled in a fetal position like a baby (Morrison 88). As Beloved disjointedly reveals her journey to 124, she mentions that before her arrival she was “in the water” (Morrison 89). It is revealed that she emerged from the stream she and Denver used to play by as children. The water imagery surrounding Beloved’s reappearance represents the final stage of a birth-like transformation. It also ties back to past family memories, which Beloved’s appearance begins to reawaken. 

Between Sethe and Beloved, water becomes a recurring motif representing rebirth. However, while Sethe’s rebirth represents a new future, Beloved’s represents a return to the past. 

 

Works Cited 

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Penguin Random House, 2004. 

 

Though the primary conflict of Hitchcock’s film “Rear Window” is the murder of a neighborhood woman, the primary source of personal conflict the protagonist Jeffries faces is marriage. Throughout the film, serving as a backdrop to the murder plot, Jeffries struggles with his relationship with his girlfriend Lisa, who is eager to get married. Jeffries believes Lisa is “too perfect” to marry; more significantly, he is convinced he will become trapped by marrying her and will no longer be able to work his dangerous job as a photojournalist.  

Jeffries’s anxieties about marriage are reflected in the lives of the neighbors he observes. There is the young newlywed couple that moves into an apartment at the beginning of the film. Though their initial happiness is clear, Jeffries begins to see the husband wearily smoke out their window, and notices his annoyed expression when his wife beseechingly calls him inside. The tension of this relationship grows, culminating in a spat between the couple at the end of the film, and shattering the illusion of marital bliss.  

Representing the alternative to this couple is a lonely single woman, who hosts pantomime dinners with imaginary dates. Jeffries is surprised to see her have an actual date one night, then watches as the man storms out following an uncomfortable exchange. He later notices the unhappy woman appearing to contemplate suicide. Similarly, an outwardly content young woman is revealed to only be truly happy once her husband, a soldier, returns to her at the end of the film. These two women, in contrast to the newlywed couple, seemingly represent the importance of companionship and the fear of being alone. 

Finally, the most central figures are the Thorwalds, around which the murder mystery revolves. Mrs. Thorwald is exactly the sort of nagging, controlling wife Jeffries fears. When Jeffries explains to his editor over a phone call his reluctance to marry Lisa, he is shown looking out at the Thorwald’s apartment. Through this framing decision, the film reveals how the Thorwald’s dynamic reflects Jeffries’s own relationship concerns. The extreme animosity of the Thorwald’s relationship seems to represent the potential outcome of the newlyweds’ marriage, as well as Jeffries’s fears for his own union with Lisa. However, the single woman and the wife of the soldier also reveal the importance of companionship, which complicates the issue. By observing his neighbors’ lives, Jeffries is able to consider his own relationship concerns while also having the uncomplicated notion of a traditional marriage tested.

At the movie’s outset, extreme boredom has driven its protagonist L.B. Jeffries into observing his neighbors’ lives through their apartment windows. Because Jeffries has a broken leg and is confined to a wheelchair, his perspective is limited and changes very little. Jeffries’ perception of his neighbors’ lives is conveyed through static shots of the outside of their windows. The decision to frame these scenes through windows, rather than through close-up shots of the apartments’ interiors, creates a sense of distance between Jeffries and the people he watches. Since the window frame is always present, the viewer is always aware of the act of watching they are participating in. As Jeffries’ neighbors move in and out of frame, it is as though they are moving about a movie screen, or a theater set. The effect of these shots is the impression of a frame within a frame, which highlights how boxed in Jeffries feels by his limited perspective.  

As the film’s murder plot progresses, what occurs unseen beyond the bounds of the window frames becomes just as important as what is visible through them. The limitations of this framing work as a visual device to increase the suspense of the film while also providing insight into character dynamics. The relationship of the Thorwald couple, around which the murder mystery turns, is emphasized by the framing of their apartment. Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald have separate rooms, which are painted distinctly different colors. Their rooms’ windows are separated not only by a brick wall, but also by a drainpipe that runs down it, creating a clear visual indication of separation and contrast that reflects their strained relationship.  

As the murder mystery’s stakes become higher, the limitations of these frames decrease to highlight Jeffries’ increasing personal involvement. During the climax of the film, Mr. Thorwald breaks into Jeffries’ apartment to confront him. When Thorwald attacks him, Jeffries falls out of his apartment window, breaking the restrictive framing of the film and his limited perspective. In this moment, Jeffries becomes an active participant in the world he had only previously been observing.