106-052 Gothic Fictions

Formerly available as 106-277/377. Students who have completed 106-277 or 106-377 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 12.5 points of first year English.

This subject offers an introduction to the contexts, nature, form and literary children of Gothic fiction. Students should become familiar with the formal conventions and devices of Gothic fiction in relation to the social, cultural and political contexts in which it first appeared (the late 18th century) and some of the ways in which the genre is reworked in the early 19th century, Victorian England, modernism and postmodernism. Students will encounter changing conceptions of the heroine of sensibility, the paternal protector, the family, patriarchal and paternal structures of authority, horror, terror, monstrosity, the individual and sexuality.

• social, ethical and cultural understanding;

• critical, creative and theoretical thinking;

• information management and information literacy;

• intelligent and effective communication of knowledge and ideas;

• written communication.

An essay of 1500 words 40% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 60% (due at the end of semester).

A subject reader will be available from the University Bookshop.

• J Austen, Northanger Abbey. Claire Grogan (ed) Norton Critical Edition.
• R L Stevenson, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. World's Classics OUP.
• M Lewis, The Monk. World's Classics, OUP.
• E A Poe, The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. G R Thompson (ed) Norton Critical Edition.
• A Radcliffe, The Italian. OUP.
• A Rice, Interview with the Vampire. Penguin.
• M Shelley, Frankenstein. P Hunter (ed) Norton Critical Edition.
• B Stoker, Dracula. Auerbach & Skal (ed) Norton Critical Edition.
• F F Coppola, Bram Stoker's Dracula. (Film).
• F W Murnau, Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauns. (Film).
• J Whale, Frankenstein. (Film).
• J Whale, Bride of Frankenstein. (Film).
• J Whedon, Buffy. (selected episodes).