Gothic Fiction

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Classroom

Tracing the growth of Gothic fiction since its advent in the second half of the 18th century, this course will discuss a wide selection of Gothic novels novellas and short stories, contextualizing and re-evaluating them in the light of changing currents in literary criticism, such as: psychoanalysis, feminist and poststructuralist criticisms. Starting with such elementary issues as: the various implications of the term "Gothic", the origin of the form, the course will examine significant shifts as well as continuities in the genre and explore relationships between language, power, evil, violence, sexuality, and the literary tradition using key Gothic texts of the eighteenth and nineeenth centuries.

This course is geared specifically to the needs of students taking an interest in Gothic fiction. Starting with such elementary issues as: the various implications of the term "Gothic", the origin of the form, the course will introduce the students to the most significant works, issues and debates within the field of Gothic studies.

The Gothic is notable for its mobility and its ability to reconstitute itself anew in the light of changing social, political and cultural circumstances. Since its advent in the second half of the 18th century, it has assumed a variety of manifestations and forms, adapting and developing in response to transitions in literary and intellectual fashion. This course will be tracing the transformations of the genre through history, from the "classic" Gothic to its 19th and 20th century transmutations.

Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, the first Gothic novel proper, proved a seminal work which had much influence on the development of a genre. Walpole's novel influenced the work of such writers as Ann Radcliffe, William Beckford and Matthew Lewis. These novels were popular with readers for their historical settings as well as for representation of supernatural events and evocation of terror. The genre moved into the 19th century: influenced by Romanticism, it generated a new set of themes and motifs. The figures of a wicked villain and persecuted heroine, inherited from the previous century, were supplemented by the figures of the vampire, the searcher after forbidden knowledge, and the wanderer. In the novels of James Hogg and Robert Louis Stevenson, the motif of the double (Doppelganger) acquired prominence.

It is often claimed that Gothic literature has flourished at times of social and political upheaval, for instance, in the late 18th century. It is no coincidence that the decade of the French Revolution was the period when the Gothic novel was most popular. Such a theory could be supported by the sudden resurgence of Gothic at the end of the 19th century. The age which produced many powerful cultural myths, including R. L. Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Bram Stoker's Dracula, was a time marked by growing fears of degeneration back to a pre-civilised state. England was an imperial power in decline.The traditional values and family structures of the middle class were disintegrating, threatened by the emergence of such figures as Dracula and Dr Jekyll. London, the capital of the civilized world, was often represented as a site of cultural decay and a source of menace. Stoker's novel was one of many examples of fiction in which the security of English society was undermined. In addition to vampirism, what made Dracula alien and fearful to late Victorian readers were his origins in the 'backward' east of Europe and his acts of sexual transgression.The diversification that increasingly characterize the Gothic genre gave rise to some new categories and subdivisions, such as: the Gothic thriller (Sheridan Le Fanu, Wilkie Collins), the tale of terror focusing on psychological disturbance and obsessive states of mind (Edgar Allan Poe), and the ghost story centering on uncanny experiences and events. The versatility of the Gothic is also reflected in the parodic versions of Gothic themes and conventions (Jane Austen). In reworking Gothic motifs and subjecting them to parodic revision, these writers challenge the traditional notion of and the prejudiced attitudes to Gothic fiction.

While discussing a selection of Gothic novels and tales, an attempt will be made to contextualize and re-evaluate them in the light of changing currents in literary crticism and theory, such as psychoanalysis, feminist and poststucturalist criticisms.

Primary sources:

Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (1764)

Ann Radcliffe, The Sicilian Romance (1790)

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1818)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

John Polidori, The Vampyre (1819)

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847)

George Eliot,The Lifted Veil (1859)

Sheridan Le Fanu-Carmilla (1872)

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)

Oscar Wilde-The Canterville Ghost (1887)

Oscar Wilde- The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)

Further Reading:

Baldick, Chris. 1987. In Frankenstein's Shadow. Clarendon Press.

Botting, Fred. 1996. Gothic. Routledge.

Botting, Fred. 2008. Gothic Romanced. Routledge.

Freud, Sigmund. 1919. 'The Uncanny'.

Gelder, Ken. 1994. Reading the Vampire. Routledge.

Jackson, Rosemary.1981. Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion. Methuen.

Punter, David. 1996. The Literature of Terror. Vol.1-2. Longman.

Punter, David, ed. 2001. A Companion to the Gothic. Blackwell Publishers.

Jack G. Voller, 'The Literary Gothic' (www.litgothic.com/index_html.html)

A student will acquire advanced information about :Gothic Fiction and will develop his/her analytical skills.

Education at language level B2+. In class discussions students acquire skills of expressing their thoughts in a clear, coherent, logical and precise manner, with the use of language which is correct grammatically, lexically and phonetically.

Knowledge

Students will be able to:

K_W02- understand key terminology, well established methods and theories used in literary studies in the context of gothic fiction..

K_W03- describe methodology and recent developments in English literary studies in the context of gothic fiction..

K_W04- describe the relation between literature and historical and cultural processes on an advanced level in the context of the tradition of gothic fiction.

K_W07 - explain principles of designing literary studies, with special focus on selecting appropriate methods and tools in formulating research questions as relating to the context of gothic fiction.

Abilities

Students will be able to:

K_U01- employ the terminology and methodological tools used in literary studies

K_U02- employ the methodology of literary studies within English studies, respecting the ethical norms and copyright law

K_U04- implement knowledge to describe a problem and identify means to solve it, thereby completing a project in literary studies

K_U11- design one’s own development

Social competences

Students will be ready to:

K_K02- undertake life-long learning and personal development, applying skills and competences to select subjects and projects optimally suiting their personal interests

K_K03- value responsibility for one’s own work and respect the work of others, adhering to the professional and ethical norms in various projects and other activities undertaken at work, voluntary services, etc.

Education at language level B2+.

Final exam and active participation in our discussions in class.

3 absences permitted.