Not taking into account the obvious impossibility of answering such a question, having been raised with a proverbial silver spoon — at least for the first part of my life — and being a somewhat typical American where fitness is concerned, i.e. totally out-of-shape, I cannot, literally, for the life of me, answer this question [...]
While both Bulgakov and Pasternak share social, national, and cultural concerns, their similarities seem to lie on a deeper, more subtle, level. Their respect for the artist and his/her creative spirit, drive to propagate their beliefs, and individuality far outweigh, in their respective views, the concerns of society and its assumed moral stances and degradation. [...]
Hawthorne, like Poe and Melville, is a pessimistic Romantic. His writing is deceptively simplistic on the surface, but his subtle philosophy can be divined through a close reading — anything simple is an illusion. Hawthorne separates the reader from the action as much as possible (e.g. arachaic language, third-person narrative, time displacement) wanting the reader [...]
Hawthorne’s Unpardonable Sin, the violation of the “sanctity of the human heart,” is a reflection of Shelley’s Frankenstein. Whether it takes the form of intellectual pride, cold manipulation and observation, or the estrangement of the individual from humanity, the Unpardonable Sin becomes the impetus of the sinner’s suffering and destruction, while at the same time serves as a vehicle for enlightenment.
With the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia, strains of naturalism begin to take shape within Russian literature. With this propensity towards deterministic environs, perhaps experiments with new types of fiction that transcend established conventions — a metafiction — is a natural evolutionary step. Zamyatin’s, Babel’s, and Olesha’s works contain naturalistic elements and can [...]
While many differences are obvious between Bely’s Petersburg and its nineteenth-century predecessors, there are a few that are more immediate and striking. The treatment of nature has progressed from the pathetic fallacy of Igor’s Campaign to Bely’s crepuscular, obfuscated environs of Petersburg.
Poison is the prevalent gothic element in “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” Poison and its connection with beauty and, in the case of Beatrice, goodness and life also supplies ample Hawthorian ambiguity. All of the characters, in one way or another, are poisoned either mentally or physically. This poison, or poisoning, leads to the tale’s other gothicisms, namely [...]
Dr. Gerald R. Lucas is an Associate Professor of English in the Department of Media, Culture & the Arts at Macon State College. He teaches courses in new media theory, web site design, and humanities. His research and teaching interests include epic poetry, science fiction, technoculture, and modernism.