The Shadow of the Past. The Lord of the Rings and the Gothic Novel

The present paper is devoted to the question of the past in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in reference to the Gothic Novel and the way it approaches this subject. As an introduction I provide some background as to the definition and origins of both gothic and fantasy genres. I want to prove that they share many similarities and point out the connections between them. In the main part of my paper I present the creation of the past in the Gothic Novel and in The Lord of the Rings, showing that the past plays a very important role on both extratextual – as an inspiration for a writer – and intratextual levels – as a source of nostalgia, fascination and fear. This article was based on my bachelor’s thesis Elements of the Gothic convention in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.