We will read four classic Gothic novels and discuss in how far they build, sustain or subvert the conventions associated with the name of this particular genre. Beginning with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), commonly considered to be the ‘first’ Gothic novel in the English tradition, we will discuss the usefulness of the term and the conventions that it evokes. Moving from the 18^th into the 19^th century, we will read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) as one of the most prototypical Gothic novels and establish what the general themes are that make the tradition so influential. What are the most crucial concerns of ‘the Gothic’? In how far is this novel a landmark for the genre? What does the Romantic influence have to do with this and when and where come anachronistic psychoanalytic elements into play? From Shelley we will move on to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and discuss the nexus of the Gothic and feminist criticism. We will look at the differences between the Gothic as a genre and as a mode and we will pay particular attention to the notion of the Double, so prevalent in Gothic fiction. This discussion we will continue by reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). In the attempt to make a connection to all previous examples, we will try to establish in how far the vampire myth is both subversive of and endemic to the Gothic tradition.

Please make sure that you read all four novels before the beginning of term.

Kurs im HIS-LSF