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Academic Year 2005/2006

Gothic Fiction
ENGL 231 FA

Gothic is originally a style in architecture, later a genre of the novel, and finally a condition in which architecture determines action, the proper response to every object is horror, and there are no effective divisions between life/death, sleep/waking, image/realization. This class will survey the genre from its origins in 18th-century England to its permutations in American and other literatures. Topics will include: religion, psychology, sexuality, chance, evil.

MAJOR READINGS

Readings will be selected from: novels by Walpole, Radcliffe, lewis, Beckford, Shelley, Bronte, Collins, Du Maurier; shorter pieces by Hoffmann, Brown, Balzac, Machen, Hernandez; theory by Marx, Freud, Kristeva, Toufic. We may also consider a few films by Murnau, Hitchcock, Argento, and Jackson.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

3 short papers (5-8 pp.); take-home final.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course fulfills the pre-1800 requirement for English majors.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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