Shaping Dark Academia: Merging Darkness with Intellectual Beauty
Shaping Dark Academia: Merging Darkness with Intellectual Beauty

Summary/Abstract: Torn between being an online aesthetic subculture and a literary genre, Dark Academia has gained considerable popularity in recent years, particularly in terms of visual culture. This cultural phenomenon is characterised by a romanticised, pictorial allure of academic pursuits and a studious lifestyle, most often portrayed through carefully crafted, picturesque social media content. Observed from a distance, its quaint charm is only apparent: a distinctive colour palette, haunting academic or opulent settings, and intellectual integrity. Its foundation, however, is rooted in the Classics, existentialist philosophical ideologies and the Gothic tradition, where the pursuit of knowledge and beauty is intricately entwined with great peril. The present paper aims to explore how ‘academic aesthetics’ interweave both literature and ambience to create a unique identity in which intellectual isolation and doomed love play a fundamental role. The paper will analyse how elements such as the Romantic sublime and the Gothic grotesque mould the Dark Academia narrative, illuminating the phenomenon’s darker connotations.

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