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Transformations of the Gothic: 1831-2026

10 weekly sessions online on Wednesdays 6 - 7.30pm, starting from Wednesday 6 May

Overview

This course comprises a weekly 1.5 hour live online meeting (via Microsoft Teams) and online learning materials for you to engage with before and after each live session. 

The Gothic revived in the nineteenth century and continues to fascinate audiences to the current day, branching out from literature to music, film, fashion, aesthetic and more. This course will explore how the Gothic evolved in the Victorian period and through to the modern day. It will explore the different genres that evolved from the Gothic and different sub-genres with each week offering the opportunity to compare texts from different periods or in different mediums. 

The course aims to give an overview of some of the key transformations of the Gothic. Participants will be able to recognise and analyse different genres arising from the Gothic. The course will enable the participants to explore neo-Gothic texts in context. It will develop participants’ skills in analysing Gothic texts and films.

The course is suited for anyone interested in Gothic literature and film and for those interested in literary evolution. It can be taken after the ‘Rise of the Gothic’ course or on its own. Each week, participants will be asked to read or watch a Gothic text but we are aware that students may not be able to complete the reading each week or may prioritise specific readings and extracts will be provided.

Syllabus

  1. The Gothic-Fantastic
    1. Text: Alexander Pushkin, ‘The Queen of Spades’ (1834)
    2. Darie Little Badger, ‘The Famine King’ (2017)
  2. Ghostly Tales
    1. Text: Elizabeth Gaskell, ‘The Old Nurse’s Tale’ (1852)
    2. Suzan Palumbo, ‘Laughter Among the Trees’ (2021)
  3. Gothic Passions
    1. Text: Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847)
    2. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, ‘On the Lonely Shore’ (2019)
  4. Gothic Vampires
    1. Text: Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla (1872)
    2. Hailey Piper, ‘Queen of the Cloven Heart’ (2021)
  5. Eco-Gothic and Plant Horror
    1. Text: Lucy Hopper ‘Carnivorine’ (1889) and William Hope Hodgson’s ‘A Tropical Horror’ (1905)
    2. M H Ayinde, ‘Girlfriend Material’ (2022)
  6. Gothic Romance Gone Wrong
    1. Texts: Daphne Du Maurier, Jamaica Inn (1936)
    2. Dragonwyck (Mankiewicz, USA, 1946)
  7. Goth Detectives
    1. Text: Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None (1939)
    2. Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (1841)
  8. Southern Gothic
    1. Text: Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017)
    2. William Faulkner, ‘A Rose for Emily’ (1930)
  9. The Queer Gothic
    1. Text: Jennifer Giesbrecht, ‘The Monster of Elendhaven’ (2019)
    2. Robert Murray Gilchrist, ‘My Friend’ (19th century)
  10. Gothic Fairy-Tales
    1. Texts: E M Carroll, ‘His Face All Red’ (graphic novel)
    2. Angela Carter, ‘The Werewolf’ from The Bloody Chamber (1979) and Lucy Clifford, ‘The New Mother’ (1882)

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: £155
  • Concession fee: £80.