LCC 3823:

Gothic Literature and Culture

Dr. Carol A. Senf

carol.senf@lcc.gatech.edu

http://www.webct.gatech.edu/

Objectives:

In this class you will learn about Gothic culture and will trace its origins back to the thirteenth century and the building of the great cathedrals. Because the Gothic is generally associated with everything that is dark, eerie, and mysterious, we will spend the bulk of our time exploring the Gothic in its more modern incarnations in literature, music, and art.

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Texts:

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey,

Henry James, The Turn of the Screw,

Chris Baldick, ed. Gothic Tales (Oxford),

Otto Von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral (Princeton), and The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction.

WEEK I

June 27 Introduction to course

June 28 The Gothic Cathedral: The Gothic Cathedral, xvii-58

June 29 The Gothic Cathedral, 183-241.

June 30 Walking tour of Oxford: Keble College, Natural History Museum, the Bodleian

WEEK II

July 4 The Beginnings of Literary Gothic: “Introduction” (Baldick, xi-xxiii), “Sir Bertrand: A Fragment” and “The Poisoner of Montremos” (Baldick, 3-12)

Paper 1 due

July 5 The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, 1-62.

July 6 “The Friar’s Tale” and “Raymond: A Fragment” (Baldick, 23-31)

July 7 “The Ruins of the Abbey of Fitz-Martin” and “The Vindictive Monk” (Baldick, 31-51)

WEEK III

July 11 Nineteenth-Century Gothic: The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, 85-105; Northanger Abbey.

July 12 Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

July 13 Midterm

July 14 “A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family” (Baldick, 102-133); The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction,189-208.

WEEK IV

July 18 “Olalla” (Baldick, 183-218)

Paper #2 due

July 19 “Barbara of the House of Grebe” (Baldick, 218-245)

July 20 “The Yellow Wall-Paper” (Baldick, 249-64)

July 21 James, The Turn of the Screw

WEEK V

July 25 James, The Turn of the Screw

July 26 Contemporary Gothic: “The Outsider” (Baldick, 316-322)

July 27 “A Rose for Emily” (Baldick, 322-331)

July 28 “Miss De Mannering of Asham” (Baldick, 386-407); The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, 259-277.

WEEK VI

August 1 “The Bloody Countess” (Baldick, 466-478)

Paper #3 due

August 2 “The Lady of the House of Love” (Baldick, 483-498)

August 3 “Blood Disease” (Baldick, 502-519); The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction, 277-300.

August 4 Final

Requirements:

You are expected to attend class regularly (missing more than two days without some reasonable explanation is likely to hurt you), to read and contemplate the assigned texts, and to respond to these texts in a timely fashion. (For each assignment, you will receive a paper copy that spells out the requirements, and you can also access the individual assignments on WebCT.)

You will also be expected to adhere to the requirements spelled out in the Georgia Tech Honor Code. (For a full version of the code, please check http://www.gatech.edu/honor/honorcode.html) If you have any questions about what is or is not permitted in this class, please ask me.

Grades:

Midterm (essay and short-answer) (25%)

Final (cumulative, essay and short-answer) (30%)

Paper #1 (The Gothic cathedral) (15%)

Paper #2 (Real Gothic: Elizabeth Bathory,

Vlad the Impaler, and Jack the Ripper) (15%)

Paper #3 (Contemporary Gothic: Literature, Music, Art, Film) (15%)