A narratological reading emphasizing the narrator/narratee relationships in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', Charles Robert Maturin's 'Melmoth the Wanderer', and J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla'

The focus of this study is a narratological reading emphasizing the narrator/narratee relationships in three highly mediated, nineteenth century, English Gothic novels: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1817); Charles Robert Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer (1820); and, J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872). A narratological reading depicts how the form of these novels illuminates their content to demonstrate that these Gothic stories do have redeeming literary merits and are not just popular fiction.;The introduction discusses Gerald Prince's theory of narrator/narratee relationships which he explicates in his article "The Introduction to the Study of the Narratee" (Poetique 1973). Next, the introduction explains the functions that these narrator/narratee relationships serve to help the reader better understand the texts of Frankenstein, Melmoth, and Carmilla. These three functions are: to create narrative distance between the authors and their supernatural and controversial subject matter and between this material and the reader; to characterize the narrators and also to characterize the narratees to whom the narrators' tales are addressed; and, to emphasize, underscore, or contradict the major and minor themes portrayed in each of these novels.;The second, third, and fourth chapters of this study apply Prince's theory of the narrator/narratee relationships to these three highly mediated Gothic novels. Instead of detracting from other interpretations, as critics of narratology suggest, a narratological reading actually illuminates more innovative readings of these novels such as a psychological, new-historical, or feminist interpretation.;The conclusion reiterates the overall benefits of a narratological reading of Frankenstein, Melmoth, and Carmilla for the academic community in general. On a theoretical level, this study explicates that if the reader or critic applies the appropriate critical theory to a particular literary work, this will provide additional insights into this literary work and also give new dimensions to the critical theory. On a pragmatic level, this type of reading is a good pedagogical technique for teaching highly mediated Gothic novels because it gives the teacher a formula for instructing students regarding how to read these complicated works.;To qualify this approach, a narratological reading is not the end-all interpretation of mediated Gothic fiction. However, this type of reading is a good initial approach for better understanding Frankenstein, Melmoth, and Carmilla as well as all other highly mediated Gothic novels.