Aims

The aim of this module is to explore how the link forged between terror and inspiration in Edmund Burke’s philosophy of the sublime, impacted the rise of supernatural (or ‘Gothic’) fiction during the late Enlightenment. Students will read a range of canonical and non-canonical texts, including literature written by authors whose Gothic influences are less well-known. We will focus particularly on the process through which Burke’s philosophy illuminates contemporary unease towards gender, class, race, and nationhood, and examine how these concerns evolved throughout the eighteenth-century, Romantic and Victorian eras.

Students will gain a thorough knowledge of the historical and cultural contexts which shaped the emergence of Gothic fiction. They will also combine this knowledge with some key philosophies of the human mind, in order to question whether the supernatural is ‘real’, or whether it can be ‘explained’ via the lens of patriarchal anxiety, forbidden desire, or fear of ‘the Other’. We will connect these historical and cultural changes with formal and generic developments in the literature of the period, paying particular attention to the way that writers re-imagined Gothic tropes to reflect upon their own age. The module culminates by considering the extent to which the sublime not only generates terror, but also drives us to channel this sensation into enlightenment and reform.

Outline Of Syllabus

The syllabus comprises a range of genres, including poetry, novels, and short stories written between 1790 and 1890. Due to the philosophical and psychoanalytical themes of the module, it will also include some contemporary texts that illuminate the theoretical frameworks of the sublime and 'explained supernatural'.

The syllabus may vary year to year, but key authors may include Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Jane Austen, John Keats, John William Polidori, Emily Brontë, Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu, Rudyard Kipling and William Butler Yeats.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The lectures introduce students to knowledge outcomes relevant to the module. They address themes common to the authors studied and encourage the students to think comparatively. The seminars allow for the development of knowledge outcomes through close reading of specified texts, and the practice of skills, especially oral presentation and interpersonal communication. In addition, between the lecture and the seminar, students will be required to participate in a self-directed group learning hour. In the course of the module, each student will be responsible for writing at least two study group reports.
Seminars develop this knowledge and enable the practise of skills, namely close textual analysis and interpersonal communications. Study groups give students the chance to develop independent study and prepare for the seminars in terms that give them genuine ownership over the material.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

In the formative assignment, students will be required to plan an essay that links at least two texts that they have studied on the module. In this plan they will be expected to apply their understanding of the sublime to form either 'real' or 'explained' supernatural readings of the texts, and situate these interpretations within the historical and cultural contexts of the long nineteenth century.

The formative assignment will:
1. Encourage student engagement with the module themes by reflecting critically upon their learning.
2. Require students to develop research skills as they seek out additional primary and secondary sources to compile their research plan and annotated bibliography.
3. Prepare students for their final essay in a way that allows them to receive constructive feedback and engage with it before beginning the assignment.

The end of module essay (3,500 words) will ask students to write an essay that engages with least two different texts, and responds to one or more given keywords. This assessment will focus students upon detailed aspects of the material in terms that connect their ideas with the module’s broader thematic and conceptual ambitions.