EN3H2-30 American Horror Story: U.S. Gothic Cultures, 1619-Tomorrow
Introductory description
The module aims to give students a detailed textual and theoretical grounding in the horror/gothic genre in the United States.
Module aims
The module aims to give students a detailed textual and theoretical grounding in the horror/gothic genre in the United States.
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.
Term 1
- Introduction
- Candyman (dir. Bernard Rose, 1992); The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011, dr. Chad Friedrichs)
- HP Lovecraft, "The Horror at Red Hook"; Victor Lavalle, The Ballad of Black Tom ( 2016) "Teddy Perkins" (episode 6, season 2) from Atlanta.
- The Shining (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1980); EA Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"
- Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
- Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
- Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (1984); The Hunger (1983)
- James Dickey, Deliverance (1970); Deliverance (dir. John Boorman, 1972)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1974)
Term 2 - I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943); Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
- George Romero, Night of the Living Dead (1968)
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic (2020)
- William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom (1936)
- William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom (1936)
- The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, ‘Young Goodman Brown’ (1835); The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015)
- Group video discussion (even for second years who did not have this assignment).
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge of selected texts and concepts relating to the U.S. horror/gothic cultures;
- Deploy advanced analytical and critical skills through close reading/viewing of the set texts;
- Demonstrate a conceptual understanding that enables the development and sustaining of a critical argument
- Describe and comment on recent research and/or scholarship in subject
- Display on appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity, and contradictions within US gothic cultural productions
- Make appropriate use of scholarly reviews and primary sources
- Exhibit an advanced command of written English together with a wide-ranging and accurate vocabulary
- Apply confident textual analysis and fluent critical argument to initiate and carry out an extended essay
- Conduct independent research through self-formulated questions
- Produce work that displays the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making, along with collective engagement
- Deploy the expression and communication of ideas across media forms
Indicative reading list
Noel Carroll, Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Heart (1990)
Brigid Cherry, Horror (2009)
Charles Crow, ed., A Companion to American Gothic (2009)
Fredric Jameson, ‘Historicism in The Shining’ (1981)
Joan Copjec, ‘Vampires, Breast Feeding, and Anxiety’
Eugene Thacker, In the Dust of This Planet (2011)
Franco Moretti, ‘The Dialectic of Fear’ (1982)
Francois Debrix, Global Powers of Horror (2017)
Teresa Goddu, Gothic America (1997)
Mark Seltzer, Serial Killers: Death and Life in America’s Wound Culture (1998)
Eric Savoy, American Gothic (1998)
Mark Edmundson, Nightmare on Main Street: Angels, Sadomasochism, and the Culture of Gothic
(1997)
Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror (1982)
Carol Clover, Men, Women, and Chain Saws (1993)
Kendall Phillips, Dark Directions (2012)
Aviva Briefel and Sam J. Miller, ed. Horror After 9/11 (2011)
Thomas Fahy, The Philosophy of Horror (2010)
Fred Botting, Gothic (2014)
---. Limits of Horror (2008)
Angela Ndalianis, The Horror Sensorium (2012)
Richard McGee, The Haunted Muse (2016)
Kyle Bishop, American Zombie Gothic (2010)
Bernice Murphy, Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture (2009)
Subject specific skills
- Demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge of selected texts and concepts relating to the U.S. horror/gothic cultures;
- Deploy advanced analytical and critical skills through close reading/viewing of the set texts;
- Demonstrate a conceptual understanding that enables the development and sustaining of a critical argument;
- Describe and comment on recent research and/or scholarship in subject;
- Display on appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity, and contradictions within US gothic cultural productions
- Make appropriate use of scholarly reviews and primary sources;
- Exhibit an advanced command of written English together with a wide-ranging and accurate vocabulary;
- Apply confident textual analysis and fluent critical argument to initiate and carry out an extended essay;
- Conduct independent research through self-formulated questions;
- Produce work that displays the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making, along with collective engagement;
Deploy the expression and communication of ideas across media forms.
Transferable skills
- Deploy advanced analytical and critical skills through close reading/viewing of the set texts;
- Demonstrate a conceptual understanding that enables the development and sustaining of a critical argument;
- Describe and comment on recent research and/or scholarship in subject;
- Make appropriate use of scholarly reviews and primary sources;
- Exhibit an advanced command of written English together with a wide-ranging and accurate vocabulary;
- Apply confident textual analysis and fluent critical argument to initiate and carry out an extended essay;
- Conduct independent research through self-formulated questions;
- Produce work that displays the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of personal responsibility and decision-making, along with collective engagement;
Deploy the expression and communication of ideas across media forms.
Study time
Type | Required |
---|---|
Seminars | 18 sessions of 1 hour 30 minutes (9%) |
Private study | 273 hours (91%) |
Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
Preparation and group projects.
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A4
Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
|||
Group Video Project | 20% | Yes (extension) | |
Production of video essay in small groups (3-6). |
|||
Reassessment component |
|||
Video Project OR 2,000 word essay | Yes (extension) | ||
Students who need resit can either submit a solo project of a video or an essay of 2,000 words. |
|||
Assessment component |
|||
Essay 2 | 40% | Yes (extension) | |
Written essay on independently-derived topic |
|||
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Assessment component |
|||
Essay 1 | 40% | Yes (extension) | |
Written essay on independently-derived topic |
|||
Reassessment component is the same |
Feedback on assessment
Written comments; opportunity for further oral feedback in office hours
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 3 of UCXA-QQ37 Undergraduate Classics and English
- Year 4 of UCXA-QQ38 Undergraduate Classics and English (with Intercalated Year)
-
UENA-QQ00 Undergraduate English & Cultural Studies
- Year 3 of QQ00 English & Cultural Studies
- Year 3 of QQ00 English & Cultural Studies
- Year 3 of UENA-Q300 Undergraduate English Literature
- Year 3 of UENA-QP36 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing
- Year 4 of UENA-QP37 Undergraduate English Literature and Creative Writing with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of UENA-Q301 Undergraduate English Literature with Intercalated Year
- Year 3 of UCXA-QQ39 Undergraduate English and Classical Civilisation
- Year 4 of UCXA-QQ3A Undergraduate English and Classical Civilisation (with Intercalated Year)
- Year 4 of UFRA-QR3A Undergraduate English and French
- Year 4 of ULNA-QR37 Undergraduate English and German
- Year 4 of UHPA-QR34 Undergraduate English and Hispanic Studies
- Year 3 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
-
UENA-VQ33 Undergraduate English and History (with Intercalated year)
- Year 4 of VQ33 English and History (with Intercalated year)
- Year 4 of VQ33 English and History (with Intercalated year)
- Year 4 of VQ33 English and History (with Intercalated year)
- Year 4 of VQ33 English and History (with Intercalated year)
- Year 3 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
- Year 4 of ULNA-QR38 Undergraduate English and Italian
- Year 3 of UTHA-QW34 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies
- Year 4 of UENA-QW35 Undergraduate English and Theatre Studies with Intercalated Year
- Year 3 of UFIA-QW25 Undergraduate Film and Literature
- Year 4 of UFIA-QW26 Undergraduate Film and Literature (with Study Abroad)
- Year 3 of ULAA-M136 Undergraduate Law with Humanities (3 Year)
- Year 3 of UVCA-LA99 Undergraduate Liberal Arts
-
UVCA-LA98 Undergraduate Liberal Arts with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA85 Liberal Arts with Classics with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA72 Liberal Arts with Design Studies with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA79 Liberal Arts with Economics with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA78 Liberal Arts with Education with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA88 Liberal Arts with English with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA77 Liberal Arts with Film and Television Studies with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA76 Liberal Arts with Global Sustainable Development with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA86 Liberal Arts with Global Sustainable Development with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA90 Liberal Arts with History with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA98 Liberal Arts with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA84 Liberal Arts with Life Sciences with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA74 Liberal Arts with Modern Lanaguages and Cultures with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA89 Liberal Arts with Philosophy with Intercalated Year
- Year 4 of LA87 Liberal Arts with Theatre and Performance Studies with Intercalated Year
- Year 3 of UPHA-VQ72 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature
- Year 4 of UPHA-VQ73 Undergraduate Philosophy and Literature with Intercalated Year
- Year 3 of UPHA-VQ52 Undergraduate Philosophy, Literature and Classics
- Year 4 of UPHA-VQ53 Undergraduate Philosophy, Literature and Classics (with Work Placement)
- Available to all finalist students on non-English Literature degree programmes – subject to availability and must have A level English Literature or equivalent qualification.