Thursday, December 24, 2009

Close Reading Questions for Stevens’s The Gothic Tradition (pp.1-31)


Answer any TWO of the following in a decent-sized paragraph (enough for me to see you “thinking”—no vague or one-sentence responses will be accepted).

1. According to the text, what social forces was the Gothic movement more or less a response to? How might these explain the Gothic’s fixation on the ancient, the secret, and the macabre?

2. Why were women so instrumental in creating and perpetuating the Gothic genre? And why might the novel in particular (rather than poetry or drama) represent its ideal form of expression?

3. How did Gothic authors such as Coleridge, Beckford, Radcliffe, and Shelley change the conception of an “author”? What about their lives and characters (or how they represented them) may have contributed to this?

4. Compare Goya’s “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” (11) to one of the Romantic/19th century works on page 12. What “gothic” elements do you see in each, based on how Stevens defines the Gothic? How is each work similar—and what obvious differences are revealed by comparing the two? Is each one equally (or even legitimately) “Gothic”? For this last question, you can either Google the individual works/painters or visit the CGFA website: http://cgfa.acropolisinc.com/. Many of the works on page 12 can be found there.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Welcome to the Course...

Welcome to the blogsite for English 4543, Gothic Literature in Britain: 1760-1900.  Please bookmark this site since all your daily assignments will be posted here, as well as paper assignments, schedules, and other links of interest.  Remember that you are required to respond to ONE of the two sets of questions posted each week.  Please turn in these responses in class (not as comments).  The questions for Tuesday's class are posted above--be sure to bring them to our second class (on Tuesday). 

I look forward to our discussions on Walpole, Austen, Shelley, Le Fanu, Stoker, and the various ideas and implications these authors will stir up.  Please e-mail me with any questions or concerns you have about the course.  See you on Thursday...