Myths of the Uncanny in the Contemporary Graphic Novel

María Ibáñez-Rodríguez

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Chapter 5 Myths of the Uncanny in the Contemporary Graphic Novel

In: On Fear, Horror, and Terror: Giving Utterance to the Unutterable

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María Ibáñez-Rodríguez

María Ibáñez-Rodríguez
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 57–70

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004397996_006

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Abstract

Gothic, a hybrid form, has absorbed and adapted other literary forms and changed its own conventions in order to fit newer modes of writing. In the more than two centuries it spans, Gothic has moved in and out of mainstream culture, leaping from genre to genre. The important number of Gothic adaptations of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries therefore comes as no surprise. In order to create an atmosphere of mystery and, thus, reader engagement, the Gothic makes use of the mechanics of terror and horror, and so have been doing the writers and artists behind some contemporary graphic novels, such as the award-winning novelist and comic book writer Joe Hill, whose series Locke & Key is of interest to this chapter. The story of Locke & Key revolves around the Locke family, who move to a manor in New England after the murder of their father. Filled with fantastic doors that transform all who walk through them, and home to a malevolent demon that will not rest until its forces open the most terrible door of them all, Keyhouse Manor, the type of house that whispers in the dark, becomes a character with its own history and identity. Considering both the physical setting and other incarnations of traditional Gothic, this chapter intends to explore the emotional connection that the horror of Locke & Key heightens with its multiple stories, which braid together to create an overwhelming feeling of being trapped: a definite success in any horror story.

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On Fear, Horror, and Terror: Giving Utterance to the Unutterable

Series: At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, Volume: 125

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004397996

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 14 Jun 2019

Subjects
- Literature and Cultural Studies
  - Literature, Arts & Science
  - Criticism & Theory
- Philosophy
  - Social & Political Philosophy

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Chapter 5 Myths of the Uncanny in the Contemporary Graphic Novel

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On Fear, Horror, and Terror: Giving Utterance to the Unutterable

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