The 5th WLM CfP: Mystery, terror, the supernatural and the sensational in 18th- and 19th-century British literature

18^th- and 19^th-century Britain saw the rise and vigorous growth of narrative forms which breached the strictures of realism with the aim to awaken the readers’ emotional responsiveness, even if the feelings thus aroused were in fact the ancient Aristotelian cathartic responses of fear and compassion.

By the end of the 18^th-century the Walpole-sired Gothic story (or quasi-medieval romance) had already diversified into a number of sub-genres; and the advent of romanticism encouraged even bolder forays into the realms of horror and fantasy. The rapidly transforming social and cultural environment in the Victorian era stimulated further ventures beyond – to quote Walpole’s definition of realism – “strict adherence to common life,” especially as the conviction grew that the familiar and the ordinary may themselves be suspect and in urgent need of diagnostic inspection.
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