123044 PS Literary Studies / Proseminar Literature (2019W)

From early Gothic romances to late Victorian imperial Gothic, the course will be dedicated to tracing the evolution of the genre, starting the semester by analysing some of the key texts that helped define it, as well as by questioning how later examples of Victorian Gothic engage with these early texts while steering the genre towards new directions. Our major focus in the second part of the semester will be on imperial Gothic, as explored by Patrick Brantlinger in Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830–1914 (1988). As Brantlinger suggests, engaging in a critical reading of imperial Gothic works along with some of the major ‘monster stories’ of the nineteenth century (Dracula for instance) allows us to raise the issues of imperial expansion, of geographical exploration, of race, gender, sexuality, science, religion, and of realism versus romance, thereby allowing a richer perspective on Victorian culture and history as well as on Gothic fantasy. Finally, we will also explore the boundaries of the Gothic and its relation to fin-de-siècle invasion fiction.

In this course, participants will gain a knowledge of some of the major Gothic fiction texts ranging from the 18th century to the end of the 19th century, as well as an understanding of how the Gothic functions and how it evolved in response to significant historical and cultural contexts, through the study of a variety of authors. The course will also enable participants to develop their practical skills in the critical analysis of literary texts, and will tackle the basic techniques of academic writing, such as how to formulate a research question and how to structure a paper.