The symbolism of food in gothic narratives

With the popularity of the Gothic, from its emergence in the 18th century to its expansion into cinema, many elements have become characteristic of this movement. However, a very important element for analyzing these works and the periods to which they belong or refer, food, has not yet been given the relevance it deserves. In this way, this work sought to make a brief form of cartography of Gothic narrative works, in order to highlight and analyze food as a narrative element in novels. In the process, three works were selected according to period of the victorian era: The Mysteries of Udolpho (Ann Radcliffe), The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson) and Dracula (Bram Stoker) and then contextualized and summarized. Through this analysis of the food present in the works the relevance of food in literature, its various representations and its symbolism in these narratives were addressed. In order to achieve this result, this research used exploratory methodology, seeking to base itself on articles and works such as Devouring The Gothic by Elizabeth Andrews and Gothic by Fred Botting, in order to provide background on the subject and being applied to the production of literary cartography. As a result, it was possible to observe the versatility and contextual importance of the use of food as a literary element in the narratives of the Gothic genre and beyond, as well as its importance for the critical fortune of these works.