The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly
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Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking
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Spanking Gothic No man is an island, and no fictional genre is either. While we may often think of spanking fiction as a uniquely quirky form occupying its own little spot on the shelf of world literature, in reality it blurs into all sorts of other genres and has many commonalities with them. One genre that it shares a striking number of characteristics with, however, is perhaps a slightly surprising one: Gothic literature. When someone mentions 'Gothic literature', what do you think of? Vampires, werewolves and ghosts? Twilight? It's perfectly understandable if so, for the supernatural has always been an element within the Gothic (going right back to the book that basically started it all: Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto), but it is not the case that it is all that the genre is about. Interpretations offered by various literary theorists on what the Gothic novel might represent include: a critique of the social position of women; a subversive commentary on the constructed nature of society; an exploration of the concept of identity; the relationship between literature and the world at large; the border between the conscious and unconscious mind... there are probably as many possible readings as there are Gothic texts. But, as fascinating as these things may be, I'm going to focus in this piece on those elements that resonate most strongly with our favourite little genre and its tales of smacked bottoms and (very often) erotic domination. First and foremost, both Gothic fiction and spanking fiction are, like the 'romance' genre that overlaps with each, textual forms that foreground the sensational - i.e. emotion, feeling, the sensations - rather than verifiable externalities such as scientific facts or historical events. (The novel, as a relatively new fictional form in the eighteenth century, typically constructed itself as realistic and tended to deal with day-to-day events). In the Gothic, the unruly 'anti-novel', the sensational generally takes the form of terror. In spanking fiction it might be sexual desire and satisfaction, the humiliation and/or pleasure of a spanking, or the psychological and/or emotional response to a strict regime of discipline. And why, exactly, do these fictional texts foreground these sensations? In order to try and evoke the same sensations in the reader: basically, to give them a naughty thrill! Both genres are also very much concerned with transformation; with a personal journey of discovery or development for the protagonist. In the Gothic, this protagonist (let's say she's female) is taken from a normative, everyday starting point and dropped into a strange and potentially threatening situation. (In early Gothic texts, this would involve the heroine physically travelling to a strange foreign land, or being magically whisked off to a mysterious old castle, but it could just as effectively be a journey of the mind. As the genre evolved over time the psychological increasingly came to the fore). She is young, innocent and vulnerable, and she is subjected to all manner of beastly, frightening things (cue the supernatural) during her spell within the nightmarish Gothic environment. Yet whatever trials and tribulations she faces, by the end of the story she escapes and returns to her home, unharmed but undoubtedly changed for her experiences. Does any of that sound familiar? It should! Just as in the Gothic, in spanking fiction the central character undergoes a process of change, whether that be a full-blown rite of passage from innocence to sexual experience, a straightforward improvement in attitude as the result of a single punishment (or a series of them), a journey into or through a sub/dom relationship, or any other form of development or change induced by his or her kinky experiences. The magical power of spanking! And of course the reader is invited to go along with the naughty protagonist every step of the way and vicariously share his or her painful exploits. A third key commonality involves the concept of an altered reality, an idea touched upon above and one vital to both genres. In the Gothic space, the rules of the 'outside world' - the generally accepted conventions of the heroine's (and, by extension, the reader's) society - are altered in some way or simply don't apply. Crucially, this means that, for the heroine, reality becomes subjective: she can't trust her senses. She can't rely on her knowledge of the outside world. She must instead negotiate an unfamiliar reality; one constructed and controlled to some unknown degree by a person or force that has nefarious or libidinous designs on her. And her position thus becomes one of vulnerability by default. (It probably goes without saying that the concept of vulnerability is also central to spanking fiction). The altered reality of spanking fiction may or may not involve a forbidding, 'Gothic' environment like a prison (such as in the 'reformatory' tales of imreadonly2), or it might be something as straightforward as an old-fashioned aunt who applies corporal punishment to her visiting niece. Yet even this latter scenario involves a profound departure from the norms of 21st century Western life. And it is precisely from this transgression of contemporary cultural mores that much of the erotic sting of spanking fiction derives (just as the chill of Gothic terrors traditionally lay in the distance between them and the reader's everyday reality). We can thus see that both genres centre round escapism, a parallel that is present whatever the variation in plot specifics, and one that is interwoven with the ideas of sensation and transformation. The Gothic text puts the reader in the position of a girl being chased round a haunted castle and invites her to feel the girl's confusion and fear; the spanking story invites the reader to identify with the participant in a spanking (be it the spankee or the spanker) and imagine how that person might feel. (Just imagine being turned across your wife's knee for a spanking, right in the middle of a shopping mall! Or being sent back to school as a grown woman and punished like a misbehaving fifth former! How humiliating that would be!) Here's an extract from Ann Radcliffe's Gothic novel The Italian that exemplifies some of the things I've written about above, particularly the textual representation of an individual being overwhelmed by sinister external forces: Some strange mystery seemed to lurk in the narrative she had just heard, which she wished, yet dreaded to develope; and when, at length, Ellena appeared with the miniature, she took it in trembling eagerness, and having gazed upon it for an instant, her complexion faded and she fainted. And here's a remarkably similar snippet from the seminal BDSM novel The Story of O: Whatever courage, or whatever surge of overwhelming desire she may have had, she felt herself suddenly grow so weak as she was about to reply that she slipped to the floor, her dress in full bloom around her, and in the silence Sir Stephen's hollow voice remarked that fear was becoming to her too. Of course, though spanking stories may or may not incorporate accounts of fainting females, the principle of representing and evoking sensation is the same whether a passage describes a fainting or a spanking. Here's a passage from one of my own stories that (hopefully) conveys both sensation and transformation, and that invites the reader to empathise with the character experiencing them: Her bottom completely exposed, Eleanor shivered with shame and humiliation, and something else, something unexpected... was it anticipation? To her surprise, the spanking was having a pronounced effect on her, just as Lisa had predicted. The chagrin she had felt when she was first put over Lisa's knee had gone, dissolved, long ago. In its place was a strange feeling of catharsis. She felt cleansed by the experience; relieved, in a strange way, that all her past misdemeanours were being punished. I hope that my little essay goes some way to demonstrating how intimately related two seemingly distinct literary genres are, and also that a spanking story doesn't necessarily need to include werewolves to be thought of as 'Gothic'. Other fictional forms, of course, offer yet more commonalities and more opportunities for interesting comparison. My intention is simply to encourage that process of comparison, and to show that spanking fiction, far from being an obscure, semi-legitimate category, in fact belongs proudly centre stage alongside any other fictional form. (But it might still be wise to take your spanking stories off the coffee table when your Aunt comes round to visit).  7 comments:
imreadonly2 said...
Thank s, Penelope, for your thoughtful and intriguing essay. I never thought of my stories as Gothic, although they are, now that I think about it. And I appreciate the shout-out! I think all good fiction involves a transformation of some sort, the hero's journey, as it were. It's just some journey are a bit more painful and embarrassing than others! :-) 4 June 2012 08:54
spankingpenelope said...
You're welcome, imreadonly2. Your stories are great! And don't get me started on the Bildungsroman ;o) 5 June 2012 21:11
islandcarol said...
I came across Gothic novels when I was 11 years old or so and started reading the author Victoria Holt. I never did get the term "gothic" I knew of gothic architecture-mostly cathedrals with lots of glass and flying buttresses of the post Renaissance and it never occurred to me how they might relate to this other worldliness or altered state of mind. As you elaborated, it made perfect sense. In my 11 year old mind reading of the heroine in Victorian garb who is confused and lost in her great aunt's castle and rescued by some mysterious stranger who plagues her dreams now makes sense. Your article is well written,very enlightening and a pleasure to read. IC 8 June 2012 20:26
barretthunter said...
A brilliant analysis! Thanks. Interesting fact: when "Wuthering Heights" first came out, it was criticised for Healthcliffe being too human and not evil enough. This points to a dilemma for both the gothic novelist and the spanking writer. 11 June 2012 10:50
TheEnglishMaster said...
Wow! What a learned article - in fact the most learned from a literary-critical point of view that we have yet seen here, I think. Thank you. I confess I'd never really thought about spanklit as being closest cousins with Gothic, but you tease out lots of interesting and convincing parallels between the two. It's most obvious in M/F or F/F stories, which, as you point out, says something about the way women are situated, and the appeal to the audience, in both genres. There are lots of genres that writers here play with: Rick Marlowe - aptly given his name - has done at least one excellent private-eye story; and the romance genre is obviously well represented. But it's Flopsybunny who comes closest (in my limited range of reading here) to creating the Gothic mood in some of her more serious, atmospheric stories. Like your blog, too! 18 June 2012 00:06
mati said...
I nearly left this article out as I’m not at all familiar with Gothic literature and therefore thought that this comparison is of no interest for me. But now I’m glad that I came back to this very informative and interesting article. At least I learned something about the gothic genre, which I tend to avoid as for me the “real” world is already scary and mysterious enough. I agree with TEM that many of Flopsybunnie’s stories have this Gothic mood, but also some of DJBlack's. One of my favourite serials in this library is the collaborative work “The Prophecy” from Flopsybunny and DJB, which seems to meet both genres perfectly under consideration of your characterisation. Thanks for this article. 18 June 2012 08:52
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There are a few cases in which they have, and mine is one of them. The Vampire Elsbeth was a piece I wrote not too long ago. It got some readership, but not like those of any in the normal range of the genre.
This is a tough nut to crack if it's not done right. It's a touch and go situation with a lot of readers I would assume. Either they like that sort of thing or they don't.
B