This module focuses on the antagonists and anti-heroes of Romantic-period Gothic writing, asking what they can tell us about the anxieties and obsessions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. We will encounter narratives of usurpation, of political disorder (oppressive masters and violent mobs), and of gendered, racial, and class-based transgression. The module will introduce you to specific Gothic figures: the first vampires in English literature; the troubled Byronic hero; the double; outcasts like the ‘wandering Jew’. We will explore the dark attraction of destructive passions while also probing how and why certain impulses were ‘othered’. Throughout the module, we will relate the fears and attractions of the Gothic mode to contemporary political upheavals and to wider dynamics of national identity, gender, race, and class.
The majority of our reading will be Gothic fiction, but the module will also cover poetry, drama, and non-fictional prose. The range of texts will ensure that we can challenge traditional distinctions between ‘Romanticism’ and ‘the Gothic’, as well as between ‘male’ and ‘female’ Gothic writing. Covering the period between 1764 (the publication date of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto) and 1824 (when James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner appeared), we will examine the groundbreaking work of Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Dacre, and Joanna Baillie, among others. The module will trace how the villains of early Gothic writing were shaped into the archetypal figures that we know today.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
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A | Spring Term 2022-23 |
The purpose of this module is to provide a grounding in Romantic-period Gothic literature, enabling you to understand the development of the genre in relation to wider social, cultural, and political contexts. It aims to introduce you to critical and theoretical debates about the genre, and to help you to develop research skills that are particularly relevant to the study of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary texts.
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
You will be given the opportunity to hand in a 1000 word formative essay in the term in which the module is taught (usually in the week 7 seminar). Material from this essay may be re-visited in your summative essay and it is therefore an early chance to work through material that might be used in assessed work.
This essay will be submitted in hard copy and your tutor will annotate it and return it two weeks later (usually in your week 9 seminar). Summary feedback will be uploaded to your eVision account.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Fiction:
Poetry:
Drama:
Non-Fictional Prose: