Start Date
7 October, 2025
There will be 10 weekly meetings on Tuesday, 6 - 7.30pm, starting from 7 October.
Overview
This course comprises a weekly 1.5 hour live online meeting (via Zoom) and online learning materials for you to engage with before and after each live session.
The Gothic – the literature, terror, thrills, chills and, occasionally, abominations – traces its history back to the mid-eighteenth century. This course will explore the early development of the Gothic, looking at key texts and writers, and digging into key themes and concerns of the early Gothic. The course will look at a variety of forms, including novels, poetry, chapbooks and short stories and will explore recurring features of the Gothic from virtuous heroines to ruined castles, magnetic villains to blood-drenched vampires.
The course aims to introduce students to a range of key early Gothic texts. It will enable students to identify and discuss key features and themes of the early Gothic. It will develop knowledge of contemporary history to understand how the Gothic reflects and comments on contemporary issues.
This course will appeal to students with an interest in the Gothic or the Romantic period or with a desire to explore one of the eighteenth centuries most popular and influential genres. Students will be asked to read a novel or short texts for each week but we do understand that students will have to prioritise their reading so extracts will also be provided. All readings can be found free online or through the library and most are also available in cheap paperback editions. Students will be provided the opportunity to engage with critical arguments about the Gothic and produce creative work responding to the early Gothic.
Syllabus
Week 1 – Before the Gothic: Terror and Horror in the Long Eighteenth Century
Text: A selection of contemporary extracts will be provided.
Week 2 – Founding the Gothic: Horace Walpole and Clara Reeve’s Gothic Romancing
Text: Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Week 3 – Gothic Terrors: Virtuous Heroines and Ruined Castles
Text: Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest (1791)
Week 4 – Gothic Horrors: Bleeding Nuns and Monstrous Monks
Text: Matthew Lewis, The Monk (1796)
Week 5: The Oriental Gothic
Text: William Beckford, Vathek (1786)
Week 6 – Chivalry and Shades: Gothic Balladry
Text: Selections from the work of Charlotte Dacre, Anne Bannerman and Mary Robinson
Week 7 – Shilling Shockers
Texts: Isaac Crookenden, ‘The Nocturnal Assassin; or Spanish Jealousy’
Sarah Wilkinson – ‘The Castle of Montabino, or The Orphan Sisters’
Week 8 – Devils and Doubles: The Scottish Gothic
Text: James Hogg, The Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)
Week 9 – The Rise of the Vampire
Text: John Polidori, ‘The Vampyre’ (1819)
Week 10– Monstrous Creations
Text: Mary Shelley - Frankenstein (1818)
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier.
In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Dr Sam Hirst
Sam Hirst completed their PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University and later turned this research into their first book Theology in the Early British and Irish Gothic, 1764-1834. They are currently working on a book on demonic representation in Gothic fiction. They have published and spoken widely on the Gothic, popular romance, and theologies of the supernatural. They run the weekly lecture programme Romancing the Gothic which invites expert speakers from around the world on all topics more or less Gothic. They are also a regular collaborator with Newstead Abbey, Byron's ancestral home, and the Bronte Parsonage. They have taught English at the universities of Liverpool. Sheffield, Manchester Metropolitan and Oxford Brookes and have conducted post-doctoral research on Byron's life and legacy at the University of Nottingham.
Courses fees: Full fee £155/ Concessions £80
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