Skip to main content
What types of page to search?

Popular pages: Undergraduate Postgraduate PhD Accommodation Research International students

Alternatively use our A-Z index.

The Rise of the Gothic, 1764-1820

10 weekly sessions online, on Wednesdays at 6 - 8pm, starting from Wednesday 7 October

Overview

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 everything from vampires to ghosts to maidens running around ruined castles. Each week will focus on a key text or texts.

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.

The course will appeal to students with an existing interest in the Gothic or with a desire to explore one of the eighteenth centuries most popular and influential genres. Students will be expected to read a number of texts, although extracts will be provided when discussing longer novels. 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. 

Recommended Reading: Robert Blair’s ‘The Grave’ (1743)

  • Week 2 – Founding the Gothic: Horace Walpole’s Gothic Romancing

Text: Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764)

  • Week 3 – Developing the Gothic: Clara Reeve’s Altered Gothic

Text: Clara Reeve, The Old English Baron (1778)

  • Week 4 – The Oriental Gothic: William Beckford’s Vathek

Text: William Beckford, Vathek (1786)

  • Week 5 – Gothic Terrors: Ann Radcliffe, Gothic Enchantress

Text: Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance (1790)

  • Week 6 – Gothic Horrors: Matthew Lewis’ Bleeding Nuns and Monstrous Monks

Text: Matthew Lewis, The Monk (1796)

  • Week 7 – The Gothic in Verse

Text: Selections from the work of Charlotte Dacre, Anne Bannerman and Mary Robinson

  • Week 8 – The Chapbook Gothic

Texts: Isaac Crookenden, ‘The Nocturnal Assassin; or Spanish Jealousy’ 

Lucy Watkins, ‘Cavigni of Tuscany’

  • Week 9 – A Question of Immortality

Texts: Mary Shelley, ‘The Mortal Immortal’ (1833)

William Godwin, St Leon (1799)

  • Week 10 – Writing the Devil

Text: James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)

Course lecturer

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.

Course fee

  • Standard fee: £165
  • Concession fee: £85