The haunted wilderness as the Sublime in Canadian Gothic fiction in the 19th century

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Hamburg (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: American Gothic of the 19th century , language: English, abstract: This work focuses on the question how and why nature can be seen as the Sublime in Canadian Gothic fiction of the 19th century. This will be shown on the poem 'Death in the Arctic' by Robert W. Service. A short summary will be given at the beginning and will be followed by a sketchy interpretation. The concept of the Sublime in Gothic fiction in general will be explained briefly. The next paragraph will deal with general Gothic elements that appear in Canadian Gothic fiction and that all together form the basis for the statement that nature is the source for the Sublime. A detailed analysis of the primary source will be given in the then-following section, showing how the Sublime is created in this particular piece, using the elements that were stated in the previous section. At the end, a conclusion will be drawn.