Description
As described by Frederick S. Frank, the architecture of the Gothic is in many ways a living organism. One example of living architecture is its ability to hold the memory of previous generations and inhabitants. In the chapbook “Knight of the Broom Flower,” for example, Elvira lives in a former abbey, which is described as being polluted by the crimes of the evil abbot. As a result of the memory of wickedness infesting the place, her father is murdered, and bandits hold her prisoner for decades. She can only be saved when the hero of the story takes her far away from that place.
Courtesy of Wendy Fall, Marquette UniversitySee also:workings of the mindSource:Frank, Frederick S.
The First Gothics : A Critical Guide to the English Gothic Novel. New York : Garland Pub., 1987. Print.
Related Chapbooks
- Cronstadt Castle; or, The Mysterious Visitor. An Original Romance.
- The Gothic Story of Courville Castle; or the Illegitimate Son, a Victim of Prejudice and Passion: Owing to the Early Impressions Inculcated with Unremitting Assiduity by an Implacable Mother Whose Resentment to Her Husband Excited Her Son to Envy, Usurpation, and Murder; but Retributive Justice at Length Restores the Right Heir to His Lawful Possessions. To Which is Added the English Earl: or the History of Robert Fitzwalter
- The Knight of the Broom Flower; Or, The Horrors of the Priory [Transcript]
- The Mysterious Murder; or, the Usurper of Naples: An Original Romance. To Which is Prefixed, The Nocturnal Assassin; or, Spanish Jealousy.
- The Ruins of the Abbey of Fitz-Martin [Transcript]