The Gothic Tradition module (EN42029)

This module surveys gothic fiction (novels, novellas, and short stories) chiefly produced before 1900 in Britain and Ireland, among other countries. We will cover a range of influential writers in the Romantic and Victorian periods.

Studying the gothic tradition encourages us to address perennial concerns for humanity, whether it’s life and death, love and hate, faith and doubt, or the functions and figurations of our bodies and souls.

Above all, what does it mean to be human in an increasingly unfamiliar world, and does gothic literature create or uncover monstrosity?

The texts you will study include:

• Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (1764)
• Matthew Lewis, The Monk (1796)
• Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1818)
• John Polidori, The Vampyre (1819)
• James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)
• Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
• Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897)
• Selected short stories by Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Margaret Oliphant, Angela Carter, and more!

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• examine the persistence of major figures across periods, such as vampires and ghosts
• examine the use of the supernatural in storytelling
• distinguish between horror, terror and the weird
• consider related genres, from the fairy tale to science fiction

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of influential gothic works of fiction
• apply key knowledge of literary movements and fashions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
• explore the impact of the gothic tradition on modern literature, art, and culture
• identify important literary tropes and themes

Assignments / assessment

• first essay - 3,000 words (50%)
• second essay - 3,000 words (50%)

This module does not have a final exam.

Teaching methods / timetable

This module comprises a weekly lecture followed by a two-hour seminar for group discussion.