BETWEEN DARKNESS AND DESPAIR: GOTHIC IMAGINARY AND MELANCHOLIA IN MODERNIST LITERATURE

Abstract

Gothic literature is one of the most influential literary movements that have deep roots in the 18th century, and today it is widespread and fundamental. Having major Gothic works throughout centuries and prolific writers, Gothic literature bears important critical theories. It discusses essential topics ranging from society, politics, humanity, morals, psychology, postcolonial, and more to disclose realities and modern problems of the human. This thesis aims to explain the persistent influence of Gothic literature and melancholia as an overview, with a close reading of the selected works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Beckett, and T. S Eliot. In doing so, psychoanalysis and literary criticism will be core elements to explain how Gothic literature, together with the sense of melancholia, still prevails in modernism and today’s academia and this thesis will delve into how the themes of melancholia and the Gothic continue to influence contemporary literature and society. Additionally, this thesis will examine how the exploration of melancholia in Gothic literature provides a means to understand the complex human psyche and the darker aspects of the human experience.