Gothic forests

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The Forest and the EcoGothic: The Deep Dark Woods in the Popular Imagination
Book by Elizabeth Parker (webinar)

"Inside us is a child that is afraid of the wildwood". Why does the forest manifest. Seven elements of the forest: Fear of the forest. Forest is against civilization. Forest is associated with the past, going back to nature. Forest is a landsape of trial. Forest is a setting in which we are lost, decentred and uncertain - we should walk in a straight line to get out. Forest is a threat of being consumed by something in the forest or by the forest itself - I will meld with it. Forest is the site of the unconscious - ego above ground and the darkness below, forest as shadow to civilization. Forest is an anti-christian space - sacrifices, domain if the devil, temptations in the forest.

How does fear manifest. The trees are alive. The wolf and the witch wait for you in the forest. The monsters in the forest are us. 'Backwoods' and 'back to the woods'. We have been divided from the forest, we are incapable of return. Fear displaces cynicism. "Myth wakes and stirs in the forest."

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