Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell

    In nineteenth-century texts the Victorian home is not merely asetting for supernatural activity—it is the protagonist. This articleconsiders how architecture engendered and shaped hauntedspace within Gothic texts by focusing on a single feature—the door—whose symbolic charge has been widely d...

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Main Author: Ilse M. Bussing
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2012-11-01
Series:Ilha do Desterro
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/26990
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author Ilse M. Bussing
author_facet Ilse M. Bussing
author_sort Ilse M. Bussing
collection DOAJ
description     In nineteenth-century texts the Victorian home is not merely asetting for supernatural activity—it is the protagonist. This articleconsiders how architecture engendered and shaped hauntedspace within Gothic texts by focusing on a single feature—the door—whose symbolic charge has been widely discussedby critics. However, instead of focusing on psychoanalyticor feminist notions commonly attached to this element, thisarticle considers architectural manuals of the day in order to“read” spatial and cultural implications of the door in Victorianhouseholds, arguing that an excessive concern for privacy andconcealment in life translates easily into Gothic fiction, in theform of spatial anxiety and infiltration. The discussion centerson two literary texts: The Dead Secret (1857) by Wilkie Collinsand The Open Door by Charlotte Riddell (1882).
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publisher Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
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series Ilha do Desterro
spelling doaj-art-da5e05aa59d2471d9d45f497463fd3772025-08-20T01:50:11ZengUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaIlha do Desterro0101-48462175-80262012-11-016210.5007/2175-8026.2012n62p9919082Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and RiddellIlse M. Bussing0Universidad de Costa Rica     In nineteenth-century texts the Victorian home is not merely asetting for supernatural activity—it is the protagonist. This articleconsiders how architecture engendered and shaped hauntedspace within Gothic texts by focusing on a single feature—the door—whose symbolic charge has been widely discussedby critics. However, instead of focusing on psychoanalyticor feminist notions commonly attached to this element, thisarticle considers architectural manuals of the day in order to“read” spatial and cultural implications of the door in Victorianhouseholds, arguing that an excessive concern for privacy andconcealment in life translates easily into Gothic fiction, in theform of spatial anxiety and infiltration. The discussion centerson two literary texts: The Dead Secret (1857) by Wilkie Collinsand The Open Door by Charlotte Riddell (1882). https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/26990
spellingShingle Ilse M. Bussing
Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell
Ilha do Desterro
title Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell
title_full Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell
title_fullStr Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell
title_full_unstemmed Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell
title_short Sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by Collins and Riddell
title_sort sequestered spaces and defective doors in tales by collins and riddell
url https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/26990
work_keys_str_mv AT ilsembussing sequesteredspacesanddefectivedoorsintalesbycollinsandriddell