ENG 331 - Gothic Monsters (1)

Demons, ghosts, vampires, and the indescribable monsters that stalk the night have appeared in literary and historical records reaching back to the earliest stories that humans began to tell one another. The eighteenth century and early nineteenth century did not invent any of these monsters, but they did shift the way the culture at large relates to them. With the rise of Gothic literature in England came a newfound appreciation for monsters: they were not only horrifying and dangerous but also appealing in oblique ways. They were terrifying precisely because they were attractive and evil. Gothic monstrosity was therefore suitable to be used for a variety of critical ends: to underscore fears of female sexuality; to represent anxieties about racial and ethnic Others; and to critique other religions. In this course, we will consume eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gothic texts alongside the modern stories inspired by their legacy. By comparing different generations of Gothic ideas-across multiple forms of media-we can tease out why Gothic thrills remain pleasurable and how they’ve been adapted for a contemporary readership with potentially subversive aims. Features archival visits and guest speakers. Prerequisite: writing-designated course (W), or ENG 201, ENG 202, ENG 215, or ENG 225 Alternate years.
(Humanities)