|
ENGL-191-01 Seminar: Gothic Novel and Its Aftermath
Spring only
The late eighteenth-century Gothic novel in England was both wildly popular and potentially shocking to contemporary sensibilities, dealing as it did with topics such as abduction, rape, supernatural forces, and secret sacrilegious rituals. But alongside the sensationalistic aspects of the Gothic novel is also frequently a sustained, though distorted, examination of the social and cultural anxieties of the age that produced it, anxieties frequently of sexual, religious, or national transgression. This course will move from the traditional Gothic novel to some of its later manifestation in the nineteenth century, analyzing the ways in which shifting moral, scientific, and social contexts shaped the dystopic world of the Gothic. At the same time, it will explore the relationship of certain formal conventions of the Gothic novel (including structure and narrative technique) to this broader cultural work. Texts will include The Castle of Otranto, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Monk, Zofloya, Melmoth the Wanderer, Carmilla, and Dracula. As a four-credit class, this course will have a substantial theoretical component, including critical essays on form, gender, national identity, race, and sexuality as they relate to the development of the Gothic as a mode. Also, students will be expected to engage in significant archival research in the 18th- and/or 19th-century collections at the Library of Congress in preparation for a final paper that contextualizes a Gothic narrative within its cultural and historical context.
Credits: 4
Prerequisites: None
Credits: 4
Prerequisites: None
|
 |
Other academic years
There is information about this course number in other academic years:
More information
Look for this course in the schedule of classes.
The academic department web site for this program may provide other details about this course.
|
