230255 Class, Politics, and the Fantastic in Eighteenth Century Gothic Fiction (S) (WiSe 2024/2025)

Since the publication of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto in 1764, the Gothic genre has proliferated and continues to capture popular and academic interest. In this class, we will explore how the genre's first wave reflected and negotiated the sociocultural potentials and anxieties of its time. Considering how these texts respond to contemporary issues of gender, power, and class, we aim to investigate the use of the fantastic as a tool for social commentary. Seminal texts by Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, and Jane Austen will be read for the complex implications of their ruinous castles, ancestral secrets, and transgressive heroines.

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen, notwendige Vorkenntnisse

Students should be aware that the reading list for this course will be fairly extensive. An interest and some prior knowledge in the study of Gothic fiction are recommended.