The gothic imagination, marked by anxious encounters with the “other,” is manifested in late nineteenth-century literature in several ways: through gender, definitions of mental illness, and through literal creation of monsters and vampires. This course will trace the ways in which these motifs—sex and sexuality, madness and monstrosities—were present in literature as a reflection of (or perhaps embodiment of) the cultural concerns of their age, as we examine the relationship between dominant culture and its dark underbelly. We will begin by surveying some “classic” gothic pieces and working on some standard definitions from the Romantic era before seeing how these motifs played out later in the century.   Students will be expected to bring materials and ideas from their own disciplines to add to our understanding of the gothic imagination.

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