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  6. EL35GK: MIND AND MONSTROSITY: REALISM AND THE GOTHIC IN THE LONG 19TH CENTURY

EL35GK: MIND AND MONSTROSITY: REALISM AND THE GOTHIC IN THE LONG 19TH CENTURY (2016-2017)

Last modified: 28 Jun 2018 10:27


Course Overview

Exploring connections between Gothic monstrosity and psychological realism, this course investigates an exciting range of texts and contexts from the long nineteenth century. Focusing on novels from 1789-1914, with some attention to other genres and adaptations, we ask what it means to be human, and how cultural anxieties and scientific/technological developments have affected literature (and vice versa). From doubling to degeneration, madness to the metropolis, villain to vampire, empire to the threat of extinction, we examine the work of writers such as Mary Shelley, Dickens, Poe, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Bram Stoker and H.G. Wells.​

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 3
Term Second Term Credit Points 30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus Old Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Alexandra Lewis

Qualification Prerequisites

None.

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • English (EL)
  • Either Programme Level 3 or Programme Level 4
  • Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

  • EL30GK Mind and Monstrosity: Realism and the Gothic in the Long 19th Century (Studied)
  • EL3506 Reading the Victorians (Studied)

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

Exploring connections between Gothic monstrosity and psychological realism, this course gives us the opportunity to investigate an exciting range of texts and contexts from the long nineteenth century. Focusing primarily on novels from the period 1789 to 1914, with some attention to other genres (such as the short story) as well as neo-Victorian and twenty-first-century responses to or adaptations of the nineteenth-century Gothic, we will investigate the ways that cultural anxieties and scientific and technological developments have historically affected literature (and vice versa). What does it mean to be human? How has this question been raised within the Gothic and realist traditions at different cultural moments? What sorts of monsters terrify or haunt us and how do they evolve to keep pace with the gaps in our certainties? From doubling to degeneration, madness to the metropolis, villain to vampire, empire to the threat of extinction, this course examines the work of writers such as Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Bram Stoker and H.G. Wells.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

1st Attempt

  • Two 2500-word essays (40% each)
  • Group presentation (10%)
  • SAM (10%)
Resit
  • 3000-word essay (100%)

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Feedback

Formative and summative assessment will be provided via written feedback on assessed work. Students will also be encouraged to discuss their progress with their tutor​.​

Detailed written feedback on the essays. Detailed oral and written feedback on the presentations and SAM.

Course Learning Outcomes

None.
 

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