Fears in hybridic fiction : when reality negates the pleasures of terror

• The literary subgenre of Female Gothic primarily explores the specific fear and suffering of women trapped, oppressed and disciplined by patriarchy. As long as the text is identifiable as fiction, the reader may remain at a safe distance from the terrors described, but by using her imagination and empathy, she can experience the feelings of the frightened heroine by proxy. In addition, the Gothic novel provides the female reader with an opportunity to recognize the perilous position of being a woman in any society permeated by gender inequality, and thus experience a fear closely linked to her own particular circumstances. One can consequently argue that the Female Gothic is able to induce two kinds of fear - one with an indirect and potentially pleasurable impact and one with a direct, unpleasant impact on the female reader. In this chapter I explore how certain recurring themes in the Female Gothic, such as the repetition compulsion described by Michelle A. Massé, are employed in the autobiographical fiction (autofiction) by Swedish author Carina Rydberg. By using Rydberg as a case study, and by juxtaposing her works to more traditional Gothic novels, I will argue that the combination of autofictional and Gothic elements fundamentally changes how and why the female reader experiences fear. As the autobiographic details peel away the protection fiction provides, the reader is forced to either face the reality of female oppression, or use the singularity of autobiography to distance herself from the terrifying collective trauma of gender inequality. In either case, the hybrid of autofiction and the Gothic precludes the pleasurable experience of sublime terror specifically associated with classic Gothic fiction. Instead, the reader is forced to choose between denying all feelings of fear or acknowledging her own situation as a woman in a gender divided culture.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Literatures (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Autobiographical fiction

fear

Female Gothic

gender and emotion

hybrid genres

reader-orientated criticism

Swedish literature

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)