Forthcoming
The enduring images of fear have followed humanity throughout history. Not from a distance, but from within — from the depths of the human mind.
For centuries, the human mind has been home to fear, just as it has been to countless other emotions.
While these images have quietly left their traces on everyday life, they have been anything but silent in literature. Classical Gothic literature was a musical for them.
For centuries, they have been passed down through myths, cultures, and stories. Even today, we unknowingly make room for them in our everyday lives and continue to live alongside them.
Because they are not far away. They are within us.
But why?
Why did we begin living alongside them without even realizing it? Why have the same concepts taken shape and come to life across different parts of the world?
In this study, I draw these recurring concepts from a selection of 30 classical Gothic works and trace them back through the different historical periods, mythologies, and cultures in which they emerged. I present propositions about why these concepts persist in collective memory, bringing them together in the form of an original essay.
Eylül Çakmak 