BEYOND THE MOORS: GOTHIC THEMES IN CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CLIMATE FICTION

This research of the process of the introduction of Gothic motifs into British climate fiction shows how Gothic motifs are being reproduced in the genre. Through investigation of motifs such as solitary deconstructed areas and supernatural creatures coming together with environmental issues will bring the point across at the fearful feelings of people in a world suffering the climate. By illustrating, via two contemporary examples, how nature and environment are the Gothic antagonists and manifest the story through these devices, the authors (Chloe Benjamin's The Immortalists and Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Water Dancer) display the depth and extent of the characters' fear tied with ecological deterioration. To add that, such motifs as alienation, human frailty, and the fear of the unknown may be just a writer's tools but are represented as a criticism of the environment, thus Gothic horror expressed the same moral that environmental destruction do. Furthermore, this paper drives a point that the Gothic narrative not only provides an eternally mysterious and ambiguous background but also uses it to create symbols that show the effects of weather deterioration, and thus, it becomes a link through the literary genre to modern climate issues. In conclusion, the combination of research and literary means comes to the table that British climate fiction goes beyond the orthodox environmental narrative description and artistic creation through the engagement with Gothic motifs, enables pertinent social critique.