Welcome
Course Introduction
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Catalog Description: This course will introduce you to Gothic literature, a genre of literature that came into being during the eighteenth century that continues to “haunt” literature today. Gothic Literature is rich and nuanced. Not only does it seek to thrill and entertain its readers with shocking tales of horror, supernatural spirits, and damsels in distress, Gothic texts also offer their readers potent critiques of art, human nature, and the dominant political and social norms. This course will examine the rise of Gothic literature. We will discuss the fundamental principles that make a text “gothic,” as well as the political and social climate in which the gothic came into existence. This course will also help you implement strategies for reading and writing about literature that will prepare you for other courses in English literature.
Time Limit for Course Completion: 9 months. All assessments must be submitted and graded within this time.
Course Keycode: 2277
Textbooks/Materials
Required Texts
Required print text:
NOTE: Be sure to obtain the print edition of Northanger Abbey listed below, because it includes several literary critiques that you will be required to read for Lesson 6.
- Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. Edited by Susan Fraiman. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004.
Available in print or online:
NOTE: For the texts listed below, the print editions are optional, though recommended. If you prefer, you may access any of these texts online.
- Lewis, Matthew (1796). The Monk: A Romance. Oxford University Press, 1998. (Print edition is optional. Text is also available online: Project Gutenberg, 1996.)
- Radcliffe, Ann (1794). The Mysteries of Udolpho. Edited by Bonamy Dobree. Oxford World's Classics, 1998. (Print edition is optional. Text is also available online: Project Gutenberg, 2002.)
- Shelley, Mary (1818). Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. Edited by Susan Wolfson. Longman, 2006. (Print edition is optional. Text is also available online: University of Pennsylvania.)
- Walpole, Horace (1764). The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story. Edited by W. S. Lewis. Oxford World's Classics, 1998. (Print version is optional. Text is also available online: Project Gutenberg, 2002.)
- Wordsworth, William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798). Lyrical Ballads. Edited by W. J. B. Owen. Oxford University Press, 1970. (Print edition is optional. Text is also available online: Renascence Editions, 1995.)
Available online:
- Burke, Edmund (1757). A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful, available through ECCO database, which you can access online via MU Libraries' proxy server.
- Gilpin, William (1792). Three Essays on Picturesque Beauty, available through ECCO database, which you can access online via MU Libraries proxy server.
How to Study for This Course
Good reading habits are a necessity in an English course. The following tips will help you get the most out of what you read.
- Do not read just to find out what happens. Literature is both a form of entertainment and an art form. Pay attention to how an author says something, not just what the author says. Remember, authors have an infinite number of options available to them when they create their stories. Why did the author choose to represent a character, a scene, or an event in a particular way? What are the implications of such a choice?
- Keep in mind that literature does not exist in a vacuum. Authors are products of their society and culture, and literature often has tangible effects on readers and social institutions. Especially when dealing with literature from an earlier time period, avoid both applying your own social views on the literature as well as stereotyping the earlier time period as unsophisticated or entirely distinct from your own experience.
- Be an active reader. Ask questions and write down your ideas as you read. Get a notebook and record what you read. Each day you read, write down the date and the page numbers, authors, and titles of what you have read. Provide a brief plot summary, a list of character names, significant events, and settings. You also should include notes about what you found interesting, good, bad, or difficult about the reading. Keeping a reading journal has at least two significant benefits: (1) it helps you retain information about the book, and (2) it is an ongoing record of your ideas over the course of a reading or a series of readings. When you look back through your journal, you probably will find that the same sets of questions or realizations occurred to you over the course of reading several works.
Jack Lynch's "How to Get an A on an English Paper" is an especially helpful guide for reading and writing about literature. I encourage you to read it before starting with Lesson 1.
Additional Study Hints
Technical Specifications
About the Course Developer
Crystal B. Lake is a graduate student at the University of Missouri currently completing her PhD in English. Crystal completed her MA at West Virginia University and wrote her master's thesis on the gendered and colonial implications of picturesque aesthetics. At the University of Missouri, Crystal specializes in eighteenth-century British literature and has long found gothic literature both fascinating and terrifying. She is especially interested in representations of women, architecture, and history in gothic literature. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and son.