| Kommentar |
The course investigates the genesis of Gothic fiction in the context of the social and cultural transformations of gender roles in the late 18th and early 19th centuries - focussing in particular on the construction of masculinity. By exploring the spooky dungeons of medieval monasteries and abandoned abbeys, we will analyze, among other things, typical Gothic emotions, such as fear, terror, and horror. Following the central question to what extent these emotions had a different appeal to male and female writers and readers we will work out ideational and narrative differences between the so-called male and female Gothic from the perspectives of the social history of the novel, psychology and cultural history. Our discussions will include, e.g., how the emotional mobilization of terror and horror serve as a therapy of ennui, as alibis for the mis en discours of culturally marginalized topics, such as violence or sexuality. As some of the novels are not exactly short participants are expected to have read and enjoyed the Gothic tickle of the following novels before the beginning of the semester - there is more to come: Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 1998). Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 2009). Matthew Lewis, The Monk (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 1995). Interested students should contact me by mail - stephan.lieske@rz.hu-berlin.de before the beginning of the winter term. |
