The Uses of the Late Victorian and Neo-Victorian Gothic

The Uses of the Late Victorian and Neo-Victorian Gothic was originally written as a Bachelor’s thesis at the University of St. Gallen. It examines the various uses of the Gothic literary mode in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (1898) and Sarah Waters’ Affinity (1999). In particular it illustrates how stylistic elements of late Victorian and neo-Victorian Gothic can be used as a medium for controversial or delicate message-conveyance.