MDMD 18th Century Madness & Gothic
David Morris
fqmorris at hotmail.com
Tue Nov 6 15:07:42 CST 2001
Ruskin would have to be the preeminent spokesman for the Gothic Revival of
his era. It is interesting how different was his perception of the style
then from how it is now generally perceived: "pure & honest" versus "spooky
and dark." Ruskin's social concerns against the dehumanizing results of
modern labor structure do resonate w/ many of Pynchon's concerns. But I
have to admit that I don't think he ever refers to the term "Gothick" in the
light Ruskin did.
And how this relates to "Gothic" literature is beyond me...
David Morris
>From: jbor <jbor at bigpond.com>
>
>It's interesting that you mention Ruskin. Along with the pre-Raphaelites,
>Ruskin craved that time before the High Renaissance, when arts and crafts,
>as well as religion and social organisation, were unsullied by "modernity"
>as it was then emerging (industrialisation, the factory system,
>urbanisation, colonial imperialism etc), and the decadence which had come
>of "progress". The medieval was revered as a "purer" age. This ties in with
>Romanticism, as well as the Luddites, the Gothic Revival and the Gothic
>Novel, which are all very prominent in Pynchon's texts.
>
>For some, including Ruskin and the historians and philologists of the c.
>19th, looking back it seemed as though there were and are waves of revolt
>and counter-revolt, Neo-Classicism and Romanticism, Apollonian and
>Dionysian, whatever. I suspect that the truth of it is a little more
>complex, that both strands have persevered side by side, and that quite a
>bit of (conscious and/or unconscious) cross-fertilisation was going on in
>many instances.
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