Popular Culture Review 30.1
Given their many similarities , a comparative analysis of these two masterworks of fantastic literature will naturally further our understanding of the fantastic mode by revealing some of its more characteristic structural patterns and recurrent narrative motifs , allowing us , among other things , to distinguish it from the often misused and confusing notion of “ gothic genre .” To better contextualize my demonstration , I will use the 1890 English translation of “ The Horla ,” that which , according to all probabilities , Bram Stoker read the same year he began to conceive Dracula .
THE THREE FACES OF “ THE HORLA ”
“ The Horla ” tells the story of a man who feels progressively possessed by a mysterious being as his reality is suddenly subverted by the irruption of unexplainable occurrences . The first version , “ Letter of a Madman ,” presents relatively little action , leaving more room to the protagonist ’ s considerations regarding the natural limitations of human perception and our incapacity to see beyond the surface . By reflecting upon those matters , the protagonist progressively sharpens his senses until he perceives indeed an invisible presence lurking about which frightens him to the verge of madness , and leads him to address this letter to his physician : “ My dear doctor , I place myself in your hands ” (“ Mon cher docteur , je me mets entre vos mains ” ( 233 )). Whether “ Letter of a Madman ” is logically presented in an epistolary form , the second version of the story , and first to be entitled “ The Horla ,” is a framed narration , in which the narrator is invited by an eminent alienist to hear the story of one of his patients , who in turn tells the tale in the first person . This particular version adds several instances of supernatural manifestation to the story , such as the protagonist ’ s sensation of a deadly weight on his chest that sucks his breath as he sleeps , water and milk
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