THE REFLECTIONS OF THE GOTHIC IN FRIEDRICH SCHILLER’S WORK THE GHOST SEER

The inclusion of the concept gothic, which was first used in architecture and gradually started to be used in almost every area of art, in literature took place towards the end of 18th century. The first example of Gothic novel is considered to be English writer and art collector Horace Walpole’s (his original name was Horatio Walpole) The Castle of Otranto published in 1764. The most important reason for this evaluation is that the concept gothic has been used for the first time by Walpole in his work The Castle of Otranto. The gothic style which was born as a reaction to the rationality of the Age of Enlightenment served to free the individual from the pressure of the mind and rationality and expose suppressed impulses. The main function of gothic novel is to make it possible for man to face his fears which penetrate deep into his being. In other words, these fears, which are imprisoned in the hidden parts of the inner world, are revealed by the gothic novel. Der Geisterseher (The Ghost Seer) (1787-1789), which is the only fragment of German poet, drama writer, historian and philosopher Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller in the novel genre was published in fragment between 1787 and 1789 in the journal Die Thalia. The first part of the novel fragment, composed of two parts, was written in adventureful and intriguing. In the second part are given letters. Schiller’s Work Der Geisterseher (The Ghost Seer) is an example of a gothic novel which is adorned with elements such as séances to evoke the spirits, occultism and spiritualism. In this respect, it was aimed at dealing with the work in the context of gothic novel in this study and the work will be analysed to use work-immanent method.

Keywords

Gothic novel, Friedrich Schiller, The Ghost Seer, occultism, spiritualism