Document Type
Honors Thesis
Major
English
Advisor(s)
James Brophy
Committee Members
Jonathan Barron, Jordan LaBouff
Graduation Year
May 2024
Publication Date
Spring 5-2024
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and understand the rapid popularity of horror literature in the 1880s and 1890s through a literary style known as decadent Gothic. To do this, I will analyze two keystone texts of the style: Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. This analysis will be done using a framework of London’s nineteenth-century urbanization to understand the represented fears in both texts. This thesis shows that urbanization created a decentralized environment full of frightening stimuli, and that decadent Gothic literature, like the two texts, offered catharsis by exploring those specific fears in a safe manner.
Recommended Citation
Willis, Kyle, "Decadent Gothic: The Horrors of an Urban World" (2024). Honors College. 861.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/861