MDDM Ch. 12 Gothickal Scribblers Part Two

[John Bailey]

Now, onto the Gothic in Chapter 12.

Count Senzacapo (p118) – Italian for ‘without a head’, hahaha. Though 
admittedly, about as subtle a title as some Gothic works actually were (not 
all, no way, but some). Supposedly it contains an episode with ‘three 
peasant girls’, which echoes the Vrooms back at the Cape, as well as 
bringing out the way Gothic novels were an outlet for a lot of sexual stuff 
which didn’t help the genre’s reputation (check out Lewis’ The Monk, 
'charged with all the adolescent sexual intensity of the 19-year-old who 
wrote it'). A lot of villains in Gothic novels were Italian, for instance, 
in Ann Radcliffe’s ‘The Italian’. Okay.

Maskelyne makes a joke about how Gothic novels may have helped drive Mr 
Smart over the edge, referring to Mason’s professed tastes in entertainment. 
Sooooo…is the reference to Mr Smart? Or to the Gothic novels of Grub St? I 
tend to think the latter (or both, really)…
Thing is…the ‘first’ gothic novel is usually considered to be The Castle of 
Otranto, and it was published in 1765. We’re in about 1761 or so here, 
aren’t we? So….gothic scribbling doesn’t yet exist, let alone have a name, 
let alone be known by a lunar-tic on a remote island, right? Well…Pynchon 
does like the genre, and he’s been messing around with time so much, we’ll 
allow it for now.

So…Vampyrs of Covent Garden I take to be a reference to, perhaps, The 
Vampire by James Planche, a play which was very popular when performed at 
Covent Garden. Hence, the Vampire of Covent Garden. But then the whole thing 
wouldn’t be in italics, would it? Also, it WAS written in 1819.

Vampires were a pretty popular subject, though not the most popular, and I 
think the Ghastly Fop would be a more typical example of a gothic novel. I’m 
still looking for that ‘real’ reference to the Ghastly Fop I’ve already 
mentioned, and I’m sure I’m getting closer….well, not that sure.

‘In 1731 the Austrian Government had commissioned a report on various 
peasant customs, prompted by mass hysteria in the village of Medvegia. The 
report, supervised by Johannes Fluckinger, goes into great detail about 
vampire activity in the area, and is quickly spread through international 
journals and fashionable society. It caught the public imagination, and the 
attention of scientists and philosophers, for decades to come, in both 
England and the Continent.’

If any of you need a quick pseudonym from behind which to hurl some flames, 
I BEG you to make it Johannes Fluckinger. I cannot read that name without 
laughing, I honestly can’t.



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