The Demon Lover Annotated
In Gardiner-Scott’s analysis, she examines “The Demon Lover” as a variation of a Gothic ballad, being both a ghost story and a story about a woman’s frame of mind in wartime. She explains that the readers learn from clues in the story that “The Demon Lover” is set during the London Blitz, in WWII, while Kathleen Drover’s memory of her soldier-lover dates back almost thirty years. The understanding of this is vital, because for Kathleen the past and present become one horrid nightmare at the end of the story. Gardiner-Scott explains that Bowen connects Kathleen’s vow of fidelity with the supernatural elements of the Gothic ballad. Gardiner-Scott tells that the overcast atmosphere of the story contributes to whichever translation