By highlighting features common to the Gothic classics and the works of Adelaida García Morales, this monograph aims to put the Gothic on the map in Hispanic Studies.
The Gothic as a literary mode extending well beyond its first proponents in eighteenth-century England is well established in English studies but has been strangely under-used by Hispanists. Now Abigail Lee Six uses it as the paradigm through which to analyse the novels of Adelaida García Morales; while not suggesting that every novel by this author is a classic Gothic text, she reveals certain constants in the work that can be related to the Gothic, evenin novels which one might not classify as such. Each of the novels studied is paired with an English-language Gothic text, such as
Dracula,
Frankenstein and
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and then read in the lightof it. The focus of each chapter ranges from psychological aspects, such as fear of decay or otherness, or the pressures linked to managing secrets, to more concrete elements such as mountains and frightening buildings, and to keyfigures such as vampires, ghosts, or monsters. This approach sheds new light on how García Morales achieves probably the most distinguishing feature of her novels: their harrowing atmosphere.
ABIGAIL LEE SIX is Professor of Hispanic Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London.