Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Module Catalogue

LN305-15 European Gothic

Department
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
Level
Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader
Fabio Camilletti
Credit value
15
Module duration
9 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Download as PDF

Introductory description

This module aims to challenge Anglo-centric narratives of the Gothic, by putting in the spotlight trans-national and trans-linguistic exchanges between the French, German, and Italian domains in the ‘Golden Age’ of Gothic literature (1764-1830). By focusing on specific case studies of textual translation, adaptation, and manipulation, it innovatively brings together elements of translation theory, history of printed culture and history of the book, Gothic theory, and media studies. In particular, the module aims to strengthening students’ skills as researchers, by encouraging them to make direct fieldwork in a still underdeveloped area of scholarship.

Module web page

Module aims

This module has a comparative approach. It will challenge Anglo-centric narratives of the Gothic, by putting in the spotlight trans-national and trans-linguistic exchanges between the French, German, and Italian domains in the ‘Golden Age’ of the Gothic (1764-1830), in line with recent trends in scholarship. By focusing on specific case studies of textual translation, adaptation, and manipulation, it will innovatively bring together elements of translation theory, history of printed culture and history of the book, Gothic theory, and media studies.
In particular, it aims at strengthening students’ skills as researchers, by encouraging them to make direct fieldwork in a still underdeveloped area of scholarship: as a consequence, it requires students to undertake individual research projects on single case studies.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module may foresee the participation of external speakers.

Wk 1: Trans-national approaches to the Gothic; the literary market of supernatural fiction in Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic Europe; case studies (Le livre des prodigies, Gespensterbuch/Fantasmagoriana/Tales of the Dead, Spectriana, Demoniana);
Wk 2: Research methodologies and library research (with the participation of staff from the Library); examples in inter-linguistic, inter-cultural, and inter-semiotic translation (particularly Fantasmagoriana and its metamorphoses between Germany, France, England, and Italy);
Wk 3: Media technologies and the Gothic: magic lantern and phantasmagoria shows and their literary impact (Schiller’s Der Geisterseher and its translations across Europe, Fantasmagoriana);
Wk 4: The uncanny and the problem of ‘belief’ in a disenchanted age; belief, superstition, and science; Swedenborg’s theories and the debate on the existence of ghosts in Enlightenment Europe;
Wk 5: Intertextuality and authorship in Gothic fiction
Wk 6: reading week
Wk 7: The literary type of the morte amoureuse from Phlegon of Thralles to Goethe, Gautier, and Dumas, via the trans-national exchanges of the Napoleonic age;
Wk 8: The story of the ‘woman wit the velvet ribbon’, from seventeenth-century Paris to the phantom hitch-hiker; the Gothic, modernity, and the birth of ‘urban legends’;
Wk 9: The legacy of the European Gothic: Shelley’s Frankenstein and Polidori’s The Vampyre; literature, orality, and the image of the ghost story-telling circle in twentieth-century Gothic (Straub’s Ghost Story; Carrère’s Bravoure; Palahniuk’s Haunted);
Wk 10: Beyond the uncanny: how can how can the European Gothic help us in rethinking Gothic theory?

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • By the end of the module students will:- Have developed a broader understanding of the Gothic as a literary and cultural phenomenon beyond dominant Anglo-centric narratives;
  • - Have acquired critical awareness of the trans-national dimension of the Gothic and of literary phenomena broadly intended, by reflecting on issues of authorship, intellectual property, plagiarism, and inter-cultural adaptation;
  • - Have increased their understanding of the material aspects of literary production in the age of the second printing revolution;
  • - Have reflected on the connections between literature, media, and technology, including pre-cinematographic technologies (magic lantern and phantasmagoria shows), stage magic, and entertaining science in the age of the Enlightenment;
  • - Have put their skills as linguists to the test, by moving between different languages, literatures, and cultural domains;
  • - Have developed their skills as researchers, by undertaking individual research projects and conducting direct research in libraries, developing original contributions to the field.

Research element

Inspired by research-led teaching philosophy; requires students to undertake individual research projects

Interdisciplinary

The module will involve the following disciplinary domains: literature and literary theory; translation studies; history of printed media and history of the book; media studies.

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.
This module, in particular, is specifically aimed at challenging Anglo-centric views of literary history and to show the intrinsic porosity of literature as a disciplinary field. By analysing and comparing texts in different languages, students are invited to reflect on how any serious study of a given age must necessarily adopt an international approach.

Subject specific skills

This module will develop students’ linguistic skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of European culture through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of European Gothic literature will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.

Transferable skills

All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Seminars 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Project supervision 1 session of 15 minutes (0%)
Other activity 45 minutes (0%)
Private study 131 hours (87%)
Total 150 hours

Private study description

Private Study.

Other activity description

1 x 45 mins of private study.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A1
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
Written Assignment (3000 words) 80% 104 hours Yes (extension)

Through their essays, students will critically engage on a single topic among the ones discussed throughout the module. Although a list of essay titles will be distributed by week 2, students will be invited to customize their own essay question, following their interests.
Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
10-Minute Presentation 20% 28 hours Yes (extension)

Presentations are meant to discuss a module-related topic of the student's choice, demonstrating basic research skills.
Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

Feedback will be provided in the course of the module in a number of ways. Feedback should be understood to be both formal and informal and is not restricted to feedback on formal written work.
Oral feedback will be provided by the module tutor in the course of seminar discussion. This may include feedback on points raised in small group work or in the course of individual presentations or larger group discussion.
Written feedback will be provided on formal assessment using the standard SMLC Assessed Work feedback form appropriate to the assessment. Feedback is intended to enable continuous improvement throughout the module and written feedback is generally the final stage of this feedback process. Feedback will always demonstrate areas of success and areas for future development, which can be applied to future assessment. Feedback will be both discipline-specific and focussed on key transferrable skills, enabling students to apply this feedback to their future professional lives. Feedback will be fair and reasonable and will be linked to the SMLC marking scheme appropriate to the module.

Pre-requisites

N/A

Courses

This module is Core optional for:

  • Year 2 of UHPA-QR34 Undergraduate English and Hispanic Studies
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R1A3 Undergraduate French with Italian
  • Year 4 of UHPA-R400 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4V1 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and History
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RH Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Italian

This module is Optional for:

  • Year 2 of ULNA-QR38 Undergraduate English and Italian
  • Year 4 of UGEA-R2V1 Undergraduate German and History
  • Year 4 of UPOA-M165 Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and Italian

This module is Core option list A for:

  • Year 3 of UFRA-QR3C Undergraduate English and French (3 year)
  • Year 4 of UHPA-QR34 Undergraduate English and Hispanic Studies
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R1L4 Undergraduate French and Economics (4-year)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R1A8 Undergraduate French with Japanese
  • ULNA-R2L4 Undergraduate German and Economics (4-year)
    • Year 2 of R2L4 German and Economics (4-year)
    • Year 4 of R2L4 German and Economics (4-year)
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RF Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and French
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RG Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and German
  • UHPA-R4W4 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Theatre Studies
    • Year 2 of R4W4 Hispanic Studies and Theatre Studies
    • Year 4 of R4W4 Hispanic Studies and Theatre Studies
  • Year 4 of UHPA-R4T1 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies with Chinese
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RL Undergraduate Hispanic Studies with Italian
  • Year 4 of UHPA-R4R7 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies with Russian

This module is Core option list B for:

  • Year 2 of ULNA-QR37 Undergraduate English and German
  • Year 4 of ULNA-RR14 Undergraduate French and German
  • Year 2 of UGEA-R2V1 Undergraduate German and History
  • Year 2 of UGEA-RW24 Undergraduate German and Theatre Studies
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RF Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and French
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RH Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Italian
  • Year 4 of UHPA-R4T6 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies with Arabic

This module is Core option list C for:

  • Year 3 of ULNA-R2L5 Undergraduate German and Economics (3 year)

This module is Core option list D for:

  • Year 2 of UFRA-R101 Undergraduate French Studies
  • Year 4 of ULNA-RR14 Undergraduate French and German
  • Year 4 of ULNA-RR15 Undergraduate French and Italian
  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4RG Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and German

This module is Core option list E for:

  • Year 4 of ULNA-R4L1 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Economics (4-year)

This module is Core option list G for:

  • Year 4 of ULNA-R1A4 Undergraduate French with Spanish

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 3 of UFRA-QR3A Undergraduate English and French
  • Year 4 of UGEA-RW24 Undergraduate German and Theatre Studies

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 2 of UFRA-R10P Undergraduate French Studies
  • Year 2 of ULNA-R1WB Undergraduate French and Theatre Studies
  • UPOA-M163 Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and French
    • Year 2 of M163 Politics, International Studies and French
    • Year 4 of M163 Politics, International Studies and French
  • UPOA-M164 Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and German
    • Year 2 of M164 Politics, International Studies and German
    • Year 4 of M164 Politics, International Studies and German
  • UPOA-M166 Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and Hispanic Studies
    • Year 2 of M166 Politics, International Studies and Hispanic Studies
    • Year 4 of M166 Politics, International Studies and Hispanic Studies
  • Year 3 of UPOA-M16H Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and Hispanic Studies (3 year degree)
  • Year 2 of UPOA-M165 Undergraduate Politics, International Studies and Italian

This module is Option list C for:

  • Year 4 of UFRA-QR3A Undergraduate English and French
  • Year 2 of ULNA-R4L1 Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and Economics (4-year)

This module is Option list D for:

  • Year 2 of ULNA-R1L4 Undergraduate French and Economics (4-year)

This module is Option list E for:

  • Year 4 of ULNA-RR15 Undergraduate French and Italian

This module is Option list G for:

  • Year 2 of UFRA-QR3A Undergraduate English and French
  • Year 4 of UFRA-R1WA Undergraduate French with Film Studies

This module is Unusual option for:

  • Year 3 of ULNA-R4RG Undergraduate Hispanic Studies and German