Cultural Notes on the Gothic
Aug. 16th, 2022 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI think you could say that the concept of “the Gothic” originates in Germany in four ways.
(1) The Goths were a Germanic tribe considered to be barbarians by the Romans. The “pagan” religions of northern Germanic peoples were considered to be creepy as shit by people living around the Mediterranean, and the darker aspects of this religion were believed to be naturally derived from a “harsh” environment of forested mountains. This was, of course, an ethnocentric view. Mediterranean religions are super fucking dark too.
(2) Medieval German religious architecture is about as Gothic as architecture can get. This style of architecture was popularized in Western Europe by nineteenth-century writers like John Ruskin, who specifically discussed it as “German” even though various elements had already spread throughout Europe so thoroughly as to become ubiquitous. These writers were technically incorrect, as many Gothic architectural elements came from the Middle East via the Ottoman Empire, but it’s true that nobody does bizarre over-the-top Dark Souls architecture like the medieval Germans.
(3) In order to create a sense of a modern German nation out of various disparate principalities, the German government and its institutions funded research into “German identity” during the early nineteenth century. A bunch of people were therefore sent out into the boondocks to study and document what’s now known as “folklore.” Grimms' Fairy Tales is probably the best-known example of this movement, which is where a lot “dark” story tropes and archetypes now associated with “the Gothic” originally came from before being integrated into English and French fiction. I don’t know much about this, but I’ve heard it mentioned that the earliest Gothic novels were actually German.
(4) Sigmund Freud. Who was actually Austrian! But still. Enough said.
Moving on, I tend to think that there’s not really a strong Gothic genre in Japan because Japan’s material culture isn’t conducive to some of the key elements of the genre.
To begin with, there aren’t many old buildings in Japan. The ideal is for a building to last thirty years. Fifty years is pushing the limit. People from outside of Japan get upset when iconic buildings are torn down, but I personally am on the side of ease of living, modern plumbing, and earthquake safety. Families regularly remodel or even rebuild their houses (remodeling is relatively affordable in Japan), and landlords regularly move tenants to new buildings in order to demolish old ones. Houses and other buildings are generally torn down immediately after the families or tenants leave, usually within the week.
A lot of buildings in Japan that seem to be “historic” are actually torn down and rebuilt in exactly the same way on a cycle of twenty or thirty years. Ironically in the context of this discussion, this happens specifically so that the structures don’t become cursed or haunted. (From what I understand, the cycle for Buddhist temples is longer – about eighty years – because Buddhist magic prevents curses.) In less numinous terms, it’s considered disrespectful to the artisans who constructed the building and the people who occupied the building to allow that building to get old and sad.
There are exceptions, of course, but these exceptions tend to be famous historic buildings that have near-constant heavy foot traffic, like Tokyo Station and Tōdaiji temple in Nara. In other words, the constant renewal of people keeps the building “clean.” It’s also worth saying that historic buildings are impeccably maintained in Japan, and that decorative aspects such as ceiling paintings and wall murals are constantly replaced or refreshed by highly trained art history professionals.
( As an aside, the construction industry in Japan is extremely interesting. Because buildings are constantly being built and remodeled and destroyed, the industry is enormous and has a seemingly infinite number of sectors. A surprising number of young people are eager to train in architectural techniques that are thousands of years old, and Japanese forestry practices regarding the renewal of natural resources are fascinating. )
In addition, it’s extremely rare for a house or other building to be isolated. Even farmhouses surrounded by fields are, at most, a twenty-minute walk from their neighbors. In sparsely populated areas where there’s nothing stopping houses from being farther apart, they’re still built right up next to each other. “The lone house on the moor” is not a thing in Japan, nor is “the old house on the hill.”
Old houses, isolated houses, and ruined houses are considered prime ghost story material in Japan. There are a ton of haunted house stories in Japan, but these stories aren’t really “Gothic” in the classical sense because no one technically “lives” in these houses. There are definitely Gothic-themed horror stories in Japan, of course, but they’re almost always about “isolated cursed villages” instead of “isolated cursed families.”
Two classically styled Japanese Gothic horror novels I can think of are Asa Nonami’s Now You’re One of Us and Natsuhiko Kyogoku’s Summer of the Ubume, both of which are super disturbing and a lot of fun. But yeah, Japan is much stronger on “haunted house” stories than it is on “Gothic” stories… or maybe “Japanese Gothic” should simply have its own definition?
And finally, I understand that there’s a lot of cool contemporary Gothic fiction in Argentina. Given the country’s history, I guess that makes sense, but I don’t know much about it. Also, the Chilean author Isabel Allende writes incredible and epic literary Gothic novels. I don’t read Spanish or Portuguese, unfortunately, but I’d love to learn more about Latin American Gothic.
(1) The Goths were a Germanic tribe considered to be barbarians by the Romans. The “pagan” religions of northern Germanic peoples were considered to be creepy as shit by people living around the Mediterranean, and the darker aspects of this religion were believed to be naturally derived from a “harsh” environment of forested mountains. This was, of course, an ethnocentric view. Mediterranean religions are super fucking dark too.
(2) Medieval German religious architecture is about as Gothic as architecture can get. This style of architecture was popularized in Western Europe by nineteenth-century writers like John Ruskin, who specifically discussed it as “German” even though various elements had already spread throughout Europe so thoroughly as to become ubiquitous. These writers were technically incorrect, as many Gothic architectural elements came from the Middle East via the Ottoman Empire, but it’s true that nobody does bizarre over-the-top Dark Souls architecture like the medieval Germans.
(3) In order to create a sense of a modern German nation out of various disparate principalities, the German government and its institutions funded research into “German identity” during the early nineteenth century. A bunch of people were therefore sent out into the boondocks to study and document what’s now known as “folklore.” Grimms' Fairy Tales is probably the best-known example of this movement, which is where a lot “dark” story tropes and archetypes now associated with “the Gothic” originally came from before being integrated into English and French fiction. I don’t know much about this, but I’ve heard it mentioned that the earliest Gothic novels were actually German.
(4) Sigmund Freud. Who was actually Austrian! But still. Enough said.
Moving on, I tend to think that there’s not really a strong Gothic genre in Japan because Japan’s material culture isn’t conducive to some of the key elements of the genre.
To begin with, there aren’t many old buildings in Japan. The ideal is for a building to last thirty years. Fifty years is pushing the limit. People from outside of Japan get upset when iconic buildings are torn down, but I personally am on the side of ease of living, modern plumbing, and earthquake safety. Families regularly remodel or even rebuild their houses (remodeling is relatively affordable in Japan), and landlords regularly move tenants to new buildings in order to demolish old ones. Houses and other buildings are generally torn down immediately after the families or tenants leave, usually within the week.
A lot of buildings in Japan that seem to be “historic” are actually torn down and rebuilt in exactly the same way on a cycle of twenty or thirty years. Ironically in the context of this discussion, this happens specifically so that the structures don’t become cursed or haunted. (From what I understand, the cycle for Buddhist temples is longer – about eighty years – because Buddhist magic prevents curses.) In less numinous terms, it’s considered disrespectful to the artisans who constructed the building and the people who occupied the building to allow that building to get old and sad.
There are exceptions, of course, but these exceptions tend to be famous historic buildings that have near-constant heavy foot traffic, like Tokyo Station and Tōdaiji temple in Nara. In other words, the constant renewal of people keeps the building “clean.” It’s also worth saying that historic buildings are impeccably maintained in Japan, and that decorative aspects such as ceiling paintings and wall murals are constantly replaced or refreshed by highly trained art history professionals.
( As an aside, the construction industry in Japan is extremely interesting. Because buildings are constantly being built and remodeled and destroyed, the industry is enormous and has a seemingly infinite number of sectors. A surprising number of young people are eager to train in architectural techniques that are thousands of years old, and Japanese forestry practices regarding the renewal of natural resources are fascinating. )
In addition, it’s extremely rare for a house or other building to be isolated. Even farmhouses surrounded by fields are, at most, a twenty-minute walk from their neighbors. In sparsely populated areas where there’s nothing stopping houses from being farther apart, they’re still built right up next to each other. “The lone house on the moor” is not a thing in Japan, nor is “the old house on the hill.”
Old houses, isolated houses, and ruined houses are considered prime ghost story material in Japan. There are a ton of haunted house stories in Japan, but these stories aren’t really “Gothic” in the classical sense because no one technically “lives” in these houses. There are definitely Gothic-themed horror stories in Japan, of course, but they’re almost always about “isolated cursed villages” instead of “isolated cursed families.”
Two classically styled Japanese Gothic horror novels I can think of are Asa Nonami’s Now You’re One of Us and Natsuhiko Kyogoku’s Summer of the Ubume, both of which are super disturbing and a lot of fun. But yeah, Japan is much stronger on “haunted house” stories than it is on “Gothic” stories… or maybe “Japanese Gothic” should simply have its own definition?
And finally, I understand that there’s a lot of cool contemporary Gothic fiction in Argentina. Given the country’s history, I guess that makes sense, but I don’t know much about it. Also, the Chilean author Isabel Allende writes incredible and epic literary Gothic novels. I don’t read Spanish or Portuguese, unfortunately, but I’d love to learn more about Latin American Gothic.
