English 6283-001: The Victorian Gothic
Spring 1999
Meeting Times: 5:00-6:15 TR
Instructor: Dr. Cyndy Hendershot
Office: 126A
Office Phone: 972-3043
Office Hours: 8:00-10:30 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and by appointment.
E-mail: chenders@TOLTEC.ASTATE.EDU
Syllabus and links on web site at: http://www.clt.astate.edu/chenders
Required Texts: 1. The Victorian Gothic. Scopcraeft.
2. Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Norton.
3. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Norton.
4. Wells, H.G. The Island of Dr. Moreau. Everyman.
5. Collins, Wilkie. The Woman in White.
6. Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Lady Audley's Secret.
Course Requirements: Completion of 3 exams. The exams will consist of short answer and essay questions. Completion of a 10-15 page analytical paper incorporating at least 10 outside sources. The paper should focus on one of the works we cover in class. A proposal and a draft of the paper will be due prior to the final due date. Class participation is strongly encouraged. Regular attendance is mandatory.
Grading: Exams: 200 pts. each Paper: 400 pts. Scale for final grades: 1000-900 A 899-800 B 799-700 C 699-600 D 599 or below F
Class Meetings:
Part One: Ghosts and Criminals
1/7 Introduction to course.
1/12 Special guest lecturer Dr. Antony Oldknow will discuss the Victorian ghost story. Edwards. "The Phantom Coach."
1/14 Le Fanu. "Green Tea."
1/19 Collins. The Woman in White.
1/21 Collins. The Woman in White.
1/26 Thomas The Victorian Underworld (Prologue and Chapter One) and Pickett The Improper Feminine (Chapters 7-12) (handout).
1/28 Braddon. Lady Audley's Secret.
2/2 Lady Audley's Secret.
2/4 Conan-Doyle. "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and Thomas The Victorian Underworld (Chapter Seven) (handout).
2/9 First Exam.
Part Two: Darwin, Doubles, and Degeneration.
2/11 Discussion of Morse Peckham "Darwin and Darwinisticism" and Block "James Sully, Evolutionist Psychology, and Late Victorian Gothic Fiction." (handout).
2/16 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
2/18 Jekyll and Hyde continued.
2/23 Viewing of Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.
2/25 Viewing continued.
3/2 Proposal for Research Essay Due. Discussion of Siegel "Literature and Degeneration: The Representation of 'Decadence.'" And Stepan "Biology and Degeneration: Races and Proper Places." (handout). Stevenson "Olalla."
3 /4 Wells. The Island of Doctor Moreau.
3/9 Wells. The Island of Doctor Moreau.
3/11 Conrad. "Heart of Darkness." Anne McClintock Imperial Leather (Introduction and Chapter One).
3/16 Spring Break.
3/18 Spring Break.
3/23 Second Exam.
Part Three: Vampires and Demons: Gothic Sexuality
3/25 Emily Gerard. "From Translyvanian Superstitions," James Malcolm Rymer "From Varney the Vampire," Christopher Frayling "Bram Stoker's Working Papers for Dracula," Stoker "Dracula's Guest" (Dracula Norton Critical, "Contexts."). Sander L. Gilman. "Sexology, Psychoanalysis, and Degeneration." (Handout).
3/30 Viewing of Dracula.
4/1 Viewing of Dracula.
4/6 Stoker. Dracula. Sign up for individual conferences regarding first draft of research essay.
4/8 Stoker. Dracula.
4/13 Stoker. Dracula. Roth "Suddenly Sexual Woman in Bram Stoker's Dracula," Craft "Gender and Inversion in Dracula." (Norton).
4/15 Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray. (Norton 1891 version).
4/20 Dorian Gray. (1891 version).
4/22 Oates "The Picture of Dorian Gray: Wilde's Parable of the Fall," Lawler "Keys to the Upstairs Room." (Norton).
4/27 Final Draft of Research Essay Due.
5/4 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Third Exam.
Web Links:
The Sickly Taper: Gothic Bibliography
