Kurkina Nadezhda Valerievna – postgraduate student of the Department of Foreign Literature of Lobachevsky State University (Nizhniy Novgorod); ORCID: 0009–0001–0070–2315
The plot of the spectre’s bride (or the “spectre bridegroom”) is widespread in Gothic literature. The article analyzes the transformation of this plot in the Gothic short-stories of J. Sheridan Le Fanu and W.G. Ainsworth. A comparative analysis of the works of the selected authors (A strange incident from the life of the artist Schalken, The Spectre Bride) is carried out, common artistic features and differences in the transformation of this popular plot are revealed. For example, Ainsworth follows the romantic tradition in portraying the image of the ghost groom. Le Fanu’s image of the dead groom undergoes some changes, which are associated with both social events and a change in the Gothic perception system – the author uses the supernatural as a technique that focuses on socio-psychological aspects.
Gothic literature, gothicshort-stories, spectre bridegroom, Le Fanu, Ainsworth