Late Victorian Gothic: Texts and Contexts

Module code: EN3128

Module co-ordinator: Professor Gowan Dawson

Although the genre of supernatural fiction known as 'Gothic' first came to prominence in the late eighteenth century, its preoccupations with transgression, terror, and taboos, as well as its opposition to standard forms of realism, have re-emerged at various times over the last two hundred years. 

Aims

This module considers the resurgence of Gothic themes and narrative strategies in fiction from the final decades of the nineteenth century, examining how this distinctively Victorian form of the Gothic was related to the social, political, and intellectual anxieties of the fin-de-siècle period. There will be a particular emphasis on issues such as gender, race, urbanism, and identity. Late Victorian Gothic writing will also be compared with both earlier and later manifestations of the genre, including the re-writing of nineteenth-century Gothic conventions in contemporary cinema. The principal focus of the course will be on novels and short stories from the period 1885-1902, but we will also consider one earlier Gothic novel and a modern film along with a wide range of contextual material. 

The main texts are:

  • Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824)
  • Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)
  • Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
  • Du Maurier, Trilby (1894)
  • Wells, The Island of Dr Moreau (1896)
  • Stoker, Dracula (1897)
  • James, The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories (1898)
  • Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  • Mary Reilly (film directed by Stephen Frears, 1995)

Relevant contextual material is included in the anthologies 1900: A Fin-de-Siècle Reader (1999) and The Fin-de-Siècle: A Reader in Cultural History 1880-1900 (2000); other background material will be provided as photocopies. Students will be expected to engage with recent literary, historical, and theoretical criticism relating to the themes of the course.

Learning

Weekly seminars will approach each text in relation to a range of contextual and critical material selected to offer introductory and in-depth understandings of core topics. Students will be required to present, either on their own or in pairs, an unassessed oral introduction (ten minutes long) of one of the core texts. 

Participation in class discussions will help students develop their analytical and evaluative skills as well as clarify and reflect on their interpretations of the themes covered in the module. By the end of the module, students will have acquired...

  • A detailed understanding and appreciation of a range of late Victorian literary texts
  • An in-depth knowledge of the relationship between individual literary texts and their historical, sociopolitical and cultural contexts
  • The ability to discern the varying uses of generic conventions in different historical periods
  • The confidence to organise and present complex ideas and arguments in class discussions and oral presentations

Assessment

  • One 5,000-word essay

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