Thursday's Class: Gothic Storytelling

Remember, Thursday's class is devoted to the four stories chosen from our Gothic Storytelling assignment.  The stories were distributed in class on Tuesday, so please see me if you missed class and are still without a copy.  The stories are:

Jim Brockman, "Walton; or A Modern Prometheus"
Holly Fipps, "Excerpts from the Diary of Mr. Peterson" (she didn't give it a title, so this is mine)
Patricia Anderson, "Immortal Sleep"
Steward McCoin, "Abigail"

Please read the stories BEFORE coming to class so we can discuss them and give them their due as bona fide Gothic works of art.  

Last Questions for Dracula! Rejoice!

(at right: Caspar David Friedrich, A Walk at Dusk, 1835)

1. Find other instances in the text where Dracula is linked to the fear of the colonial “other,” who could infect or invade England. How does Stoker play on this very real cultural anxiety (which we discussed in class on Thursday)?

2. In Chapter XXVI, pge 349, Dr. Seward remarks, “…it made me think of the wonderful power of money! What can it not do when it is properly applied; and what might it do when basely used.” In these final chapters of the novel, how does money become a key element of the text? How do the vampire hunters use money (or in Marxist terms, capital) to foil Dracula’s plans, and how is he, too, associated with money?

3. Though Dracula is clearly a supernatural creature, Van Helsing continually tries to reduce him to a type, either a devil, a child, or a common criminal. In these final chapters, how does he try to explain Dracula’s motives through the study (a very recent one) of criminal psychology (Chapter XXV)?

4. In Chapter XXVI, page 347, Dr. Van Helsing admits that “Our dear Madam Mina is once more our teacher. Her eyes have seen where we were blinded.” Does the novel end with a sense of a feminine vision (or authority) carrying the day? Or is she yet again dismissed as one with a “man’s brain,” and a “woman’s heart”?

Close Reading Questions for Dracula, Chs. XVII-XXIV (pp.225-307)

(at left: Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875), a work which captures the mysticism and nocturnal deeds of the novel)

1. Van Helsing theorizes about Dracula quite a lot in these passages, speaking at one point of the “mighty brain and…iron resolution [which] went with him to his grave” (Chapter XVIII, pg. 245), and later on, that “in some faculities of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of man’s stature” (Chapter XXIII, pg.300). How is Dracula both mighty and childish—and how is he growing to a “man’s stature”?

2. How does Renfield develop as a character in these chapters? How might Stoker position him against the vampire hunters and ally him with Mina?

3. Chapter XXI contains one of the most disturbing scenes in the book—that of Dracula forcing Mina to “feed” on his blood. Consider how this passage is written and witnessed, and why this might be among the most uncanny (and nightmarish) scenes in the novel.

4. How do the men’s (and specifically Van Helsing’s) relationship with Mina progress in these chapters? Does she become one of the gang—and integral member of the vampire hunters—or is she left on the margins as a woman to be protected? Why do the men come to either conclusion—what makes them either accept or banish her from the fold?

Close Reading Questions for Dracula, Chs. X-XVII (pp/134-225)

(at right: Gustav Klimt's Judith II (1909), a painting that conjures up the decadent, voluptuous world of late 19th/early 20th century Europe--a world embodied by Dracula and the vampiric Lucy). 

NOTE: See the Final Exam instructions in the previous post if you missed Thursday's class! 

1. How is Van Helsing’s portrait drawn in these chapters? Is he a near relation to Dr. Hesselius, or does he lend more authenticity to the practice of “metaphysical medicine”? Consider his method of treating Lucy as compared to Hesselius’s plan of treatment for Mr. Jennings in Green Tea.

2. Note the specific transformation of Lucy from virginal Victorian to voluptuous vampire vixen (gotta love alliteration!). How does Stoker mark this change, and what words and images surround the “new” Lucy?

3. In Chapter XIII, from Dr. Seward’s Diary, Van Helsing takes him aside and says, “Friend John, there are strange and terrible days before us. Let us not be two, but one, that so we work to a good end. Will you not have faith in me?” (177). What do you make of the male relationships in the novel? Do they reinforce a “homosocial” order (that is, a world of men, for men, by men), or are these relationships critiqued from an almost feminist perspective?

4. Provide a close reading of Lucy's death in Chapter XVI: what interesting images of themes emerge in this passage? How might this compare with Carmilla’s end—and where might Stoker surpass his famous predecessor?

FINAL EXAM: see below

To prepare for your final exam, I want you to thoroughly read (and re-read?) one of the following critical articles in the back of the Bedford St. Martin’s version of Dracula. The ones I want you to choose from are:

 Sol Eltis, Corruption of the Blood and Degeneration of the Race: Dracula and Policing the Borders of Gender (pg.450)

 Dennis Foster, “The Little Children Can Be Bitten”: A Hunger for Dracula (pg.483)

 Jennifer Wicke, Vampiric Typewriting: Dracula and its Media (pg.577)

Your final exam will be a series of questions based on one of the above articles and its application to Dracula. You MAY bring your book to class, and the book may be annotated (underlined, circled, notes in the margins) but you may not bring any notes or pre-writing with you. The exam will test not only how well you read and have thought about Dracula, but how you can examine the work from a theoretical point of view and entertain some more esoteric readings. You do not necessarily have to agree with the author’s thesis or reading, but you must attempt to understand it, and be able to use it to examine Dracula—while at the same time considering your own point of view.

The Final Exam will be held on WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, FROM 3:00-6:00pm in our normal classroom. Bring paper and your book!

Close Reading Questions for Dracula, Chs.IV - X, pp.83-134

(at left: Turner's The Slave Ship (1840), which we discussed in class; a vision of the Demeter's last days at sea?)

1. How does Lucy Westenra’s illness compare to Laura’s in Carmilla? How does she record her descent into vampirism, and what images or symbols document this journey? You might particularly consider the dream she relates to Mina in Chapter VIII.

2. Why might Stoker introduce the character of Renfield and Dr. Seward’s copious notes on Renfield’s behavior and condition? Though a literal character, how might he reinforce ideas of the “uncanny” and the Gothic?

3. In Chapter VIII, Mina mocks the so-called “New Women” of late 19th century society, writing, “Some of the “New Women” writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won’t condescend in future to accept; she will do the proposing herself” (Bedford, 109). From these early chapters, what kind of woman does Mina strike you as? On the scale of traditional Gothic heroine (aka Walpole’s heroines) to the “New Woman” where does she fall? Is she contrasted with Lucy Westenra, or are they both conservative women waiting to be rescued by the virile men in the novel?

4. Stoker (or Mina, if we take the narrative literally) often includes bits of tangential information from outside sources, such as the Letter from Samuel F. Billington & Son (Chapter VIII), and the Log of the ill-fated ship, the “Demeter” (Chapter VII). Why do you think he wants us to see these narrative tidbits? While many modern readers might skim over them (especially the shipping receipts!), why should the English scholar take careful notice of them?

Class Schedule Revision

Somehow I added two days to our class!  I didn't do this in any other of my classes(!).  To fix this, I've re-arranged the schedule slightly.  Basically, I removed the article I planned to have you read on the 29th, and will use that day to do Gothic Storytelling (only one day instead of two, sadly).  However, the articles in the back of your Bedford book will return to haunt you on the Final Exam, which I will discuss in class on Thursday, so be sure you have that edition (if not, we can make arrangements to photocopy for you--but you must tell me before hand).

ALSO: The Creative Paper is due on the last day of class (the 29th); however, if you would like a chance to discuss your story on the last day of class, please submit it earlier, by the 22nd.  I will read through these stories and chose the most "Gothic" ones to read in class on the 29th (we'll probably be limited to 4 at most, depending on length). 

The new schedule:

T 13 Stoker, Dracula (26-81)
R 15 Stoker, Dracula (81-134) (Paper #2 due on FRIDAY)

T 20 Stoker, Dracula (135-203)
R 22 Stoker, Dracula (204-270)

T 27 Stoker, Dracula (270-330)
R 29 Gothic Storytelling

FINAL EXAM WEDNESDAY, MAY 5th, 3:00-6:00 pm

Close Reading Questions for Stoker's Dracula, Chs. I-V (pp.26-83)

(at left: Caspar David Friedrich's Moonrise Over the Sea (1822), a Romantic-Gothic image that captures the Gothic revival tone of Dracula quite well)

1. Why does Stoker call the region of Translyvania an “imaginative whirlpool” (28)? How might this play into British notions of the Orient and Freud’s “uncanny”?

2. Examine the “seduction” scene between Harker and Dracula’s brides in Chapter III: how does he react to their advances (look closely at the language), and how does this either resemble or contrast with Carmilla’s seduction of Laura? Does Stoker mean this passage to be similarly subversive?

3. What reading material does Harker find in Dracula’s library? How might this underline Dracula’s later statement that, “to know her [England] is to love her” (45)?

4. Discuss the effect of Harker’s journals as a narrative strategy in the first few chapters. Why tell the story entirely from this point of view (rather than an omniscient or even normal first-person narrative)? Does this resemble the techniques used by Le Fanu in In a Glass Darkly? Is the technique ever strained beyond belief (or effectiveness)?

A Pitch for Fall 2010

NOTE: The new questions for Carmilla are in the previous post...

(at left: portrait of Rudyard Kipling, one of my all-time favorite authors, who is featured in English 4983 by his greatest novel, Kim)

It's enrollment week, and for those interested, I have included a blurb and a reading list for my two Fall 2010 courses that may be of interest.  Both will touch on themes in this class, the "Colonial and Postcolonial Literature" class more explicitly than the Humanities.  However, both courses will be of interest to English majors and those who enjoy literature and its cultural implications.

ENG 4983: COLONIAL AND POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE (TR 11-12:15): In this course we will read works that chart the boundaries of the colonial British empire in India, Africa, and the Carribbean. These works, often written by outsiders with only a tenuous connection to England, give us a unique glimpse into the true nature of “Englishness,” particularly in the years leading up to WWI. As the empire fades, we will also read several works by writers of former British colonies who struggle to assert a national voice in the Queen’s English.

BOOKS:
* Behn, Oroonoko (Norton Critical edition)
* Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (Norton Critical edition)
* Conrad, Heart of Darkness (Bedford St. Martins edition)
* Tutuola, The Palm Wine Drinkard (any edition)
* Kipling, Kim (Longman Cultural edition)
* V.S. Naipaul, An Area of Darkness (any edition)

HUM 2113: GENERAL HUMANITIES I (T 6:30-8:30): A better name for this course might be “Cultural and Literary Archeology,” as we will unearth selected “classics” from the literary canon and analyze them through related art, philosophy, music, and architecture. The goal is to understand the very human ideas and impulses the fuel even the most exotic texts, and reconstruct the seemingly invisible roots that bind the ancient world to the present.

BOOKS:
* Plato, The Last Days of Socrates (any)
* The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin)
* Tales from the 1,001 Nights (Penguin)
* Hrafnkel's Saga and Other Icelandic Stories (Penguin)
* Machiavelli, The Prince (any)
* Shakespeare, The Sonnets (any)

Second Set of Questions for Le Fanu's Carmilla

(at right: Grimshaw's The Lovers (circa 1870)

1. In Helen Stoddart’s essay, “ ‘The Precautions of Nervous People Are Infectious’: Sheridan Le Fanu’s Symptomatic Gothic,” she writes that “Laura is a passive and helpless victim—the incredible essence of Victorian driven-snow purity who emerges as one overwhelmingly baffled…the fight for Laura’s sexual and imperial rights as a child-bearer and soul-maker will have to be fought for her and not by her” (Stoddart, 32). Why does Le Fanu make his heroine so weak and ineffectual (as opposed to a later woman, Mina, in Dracula, who is quite capable of holding her own)?

2. Why might Carmilla be a story of women terrorizing (or seducing) other women? Men have virtually no role in this story, except as protectors trying desperately (and often, incompetently) to secure their women from harm. Why do you feel a woman is the threatening force in the story, and why doesn’t she attack and kill other men as well?

3. Reflecting on the nature of her illness, Laura writes, “Had I been capable of comprehending my condition, I would have invoked aid and advice on my knees. The narcotic of an unsuspected influence was acting upon me, and my perceptions were benumbed” (283). Note the use of the word “narcotic” here and “benumbed,” both of which conjure up drugs and intoxication. Of course, these words equally apply to the infatuation of being in love (or lust). Can we make a case for her being infatuated (in love?) with Carmilla? Is it simply the result of witchcraft…or did she, at the time, truly want to “die” with her? NOTE: the word “die” which Carmilla uses repeatedly to describe their union was an Elizabethan term for “orgasm.”

4. Why might the vampire be a uniquely Freudian creation? The preponderance of vampires in ancient civilization and folklore suggests that it did exist—that is, it is a cultural memory from our “animistic past” that reflects something real that has been suppressed. What might this be? What is uniquely “uncanny” about the vampire itself, and how might Le Fanu conjure this sense of our shared past in his story?

Private Collection of 18th Century Erotica Discovered!

(at right: a chapbook from 1814, typical of the eighteenth century chapbooks discussed in the article)

As you'll recall from The Gothic Tradition, Gothic literature was long considered an unhealthy and debased genre, very similar to erotica, which it sometimes dabbled in (especially in works like Lewis's The Monk).  Young women often hid their gothic fictions as men hid their erotica; now, apparently, a 300 year-old collection of erotic chapbooks (cheap publications once sold by "chap men") has been discovered in a library in the famous Lake District (once home to Wordsworth and Coleridge, among others).  Read the full story here:

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/5765762.Stash_of__saucy__literature_uncovered_at_historic_Troutbeck_house/

Close Reading Questions for Le Fanu's "Carmilla"

(at left: John Atkinson Grimshaw's painting, Full Moon Behind Cirrus Cloud from the Roundhay Park Castle Battlements, 1872). 

1. Wrting in The Uncanny, Freud reminds us that “whatever has an uncanny effect in real life has the same in literature. But the writer can intensify and multiply this effect far beyond what is feasible in normal experience…fiction affords possibilities for a sense of the uncanny that would not be available in real life” (157). In what way does Carmilla convey this deepened sense of the uncanny? What elements of the uncanny do we find here that are similar (or more pronounced) to what we find in Green Tea and/or The Familiar?

2. The word “languor” is used several times in the story, each time to characterize Carmilla’s appearance and demeanor. What is the significance of this word, and why does Laura see this as a negative quality? You might consult the OED to shed light on this facet of the story.

3. Examine the numerous passages where Carmilla “woos” Laura, as in the following: “In the rapture of my enormous humiliation I live in your warm life, and you shall die—die, sweetly die—into mine. I cannot help it; as I draw near to you, you, in your turn, will draw near to others, and learn the rapture of that cruelty, which yet is love” (263). What do you make of the frank sexual nature of Carmilla’s speech (and actions)?

4. What role do dreams play in the story? Why are several pivotal events portrayed as dreams or dream-like memories? Consider Robert Tracy’s note in the Introduction, “To dream is dangerous in Le Fanu’s world” (xxv). Who dreams and why in this story—and how, as readers, are we invited to play the role of Freud in interpreting them?