PS, Wed 8:30- 10:00, S.122
SoSe 2009
Universität Bayreuth
Course Description:
This seminar aims at providing an overview of the literary movement of the Gothic, focussing on classic Gothic literature of the 19th century. Gothic literature reveals the “dark side” of human nature and its different faces. Therefore we will first of all determine prominent themes, symbols and characters of Gothic fiction and trace them in the selected works. To find out why the authors of these classics were fascinated by the elements of the Gothic, we will read their works in the context of their time and culture. Since the fascination with the Gothic remains unbroken, there are many media adaptations of the works dealt with in this seminar. Where appropriate, excerpts from them will be shown and analysed.
Texts to be obtained by students:
Mary Shelley. Frankenstein
Bram Stoker. Dracula
Robert Louis Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of the Baskervilles
