Horrid Books
Feb. 24th, 2024 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynling'All Horrid' – but not all German
https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2014/11/all-horrid-but-not-all-german.html
Apart from actual literary influences, the fact that 'Gothic' was still a synonym for 'Germanic' or 'Teutonic' was no doubt another factor in the identification of Germany with things gothic, as was the Germans' continued use of gothic type. [...] But perhaps another, although less easily demonstrable, explanation is that Germany simply lent itself more readily to gothic imagery in the popular imagination, with all the necessary forests, mountains and mediaeval buildings to furnish the scenery.
Picking apart literary history and references is something I love to do, but I'm also a big fan of Occam's razor. Perhaps it's not "easily demonstrable" (which is fair), but I assume that the literary genre about old castles in dark forests filled with wolves is associated with Germany is because Germany is in fact lousy with old castles in dark forests filled with wolves.
Anyway, the British Library article I linked to is about Jane Austen, but this post is about everyone in Bloodborne having a German or Alsatian (from the region of France on the border with Germany) name.
ETA: Okay I did more research and now I would very much like to visit Alsace.
https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2014/11/all-horrid-but-not-all-german.html
Apart from actual literary influences, the fact that 'Gothic' was still a synonym for 'Germanic' or 'Teutonic' was no doubt another factor in the identification of Germany with things gothic, as was the Germans' continued use of gothic type. [...] But perhaps another, although less easily demonstrable, explanation is that Germany simply lent itself more readily to gothic imagery in the popular imagination, with all the necessary forests, mountains and mediaeval buildings to furnish the scenery.
Picking apart literary history and references is something I love to do, but I'm also a big fan of Occam's razor. Perhaps it's not "easily demonstrable" (which is fair), but I assume that the literary genre about old castles in dark forests filled with wolves is associated with Germany is because Germany is in fact lousy with old castles in dark forests filled with wolves.
Anyway, the British Library article I linked to is about Jane Austen, but this post is about everyone in Bloodborne having a German or Alsatian (from the region of France on the border with Germany) name.
ETA: Okay I did more research and now I would very much like to visit Alsace.
