Gothic Literature: Monster Stories

Gothic Literature is a one-semester course intended to familiarize students with the different conventions, themes, and elements of Gothic literature through the analysis of representative literary works. Students will discuss classics such as Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Ann Radcliffe’s novel, A Sicilian Romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Students will also analyze Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic short stories, Robert Browning’s Gothic poems, and Emily Dickinson’s poems about death, mortality, and spirituality. Finally, students will get a glimpse of Matthew Lewis and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Gothic dramas; learn about Gothic parodies and Gothic subgenres; and discuss contemporary Gothic literature.