ENGL W3706 - The Gothic

Institution:

Columbia University in the City of New York

Subject:

Description:

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. (Seminar). The end of the eighteenth century saw the birth of the literary gothic, a subgenre of romance that registered a backlash against the prescriptive realism favored by critics earlier in the century. In addition to indulging flights of sensationalistic fancy, the gothic was also an outsider's genre, dramatizing the frightening nature of everyday life, of social institutions too often taken for granted: persecuting villains stand in for tyrannical husbands, and corrupt churches for patriarchal failure; transgressive desires reveal the stifling nature of traditional gender roles and heteronormative expectations. At the same time, the gothic confronts monsters from without, for the popularity of the genre mirrors the rise of the British Empire. This seminar will explore the origins and development of the gothic (1764-1820), as well as the ways in which eighteenth and early nineteenth-century writers used gothic tropes to reflect on their society. In the eighteenth century, these authors will include, among others, the progenitors of the form, Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto) and Clara Reeve (The Old English Baron), continuing through Anne Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho) and Matthew Lewis (The Monk), as well as Jane Austen's satire on the gothic novel, Northanger Abbey. Early nineteenth-century texts will also include Charlotte Dacre's Zofloya and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Undergraduate requirements: one short passage explication, to be revised, a brief final paper prospectus, and a final paper of approximately 10-12 pages. When available, an admit list will be posted at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/english/courses_ugsemadmit.htm.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.columbia.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 854-1754

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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