EN2S29 - Gothic Literature: Dark Desires 01 Sep 2022 - 31 Aug 2028 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: EN2S29
Module Title: Gothic Literature: Dark Desires
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Culture and Animation
Faculty Sub Group: Culture
Module Leader: Diana Wallace
Module Team: Barrie Llewelyn
First Intended Intake: SEP 2022 Final Year of Intake: 2027
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 5
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100046 - creative writing
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2022
Valid To 31 Aug 2028

Module Aims

To introduce students to a range of Gothic texts, including novels, short fiction, and poetry
To make students aware of a range of themes and formal conventions which are associated with the Gothic
To introduce students to the skills of writing critically and creatively in relation to the Gothic mode, and further develop peer feedback skills through workshops

Content Summary

Marked by an obsession with terror and horror, Gothic texts often reflect and/or refract desires and anxieties which are specific to particular historical moments. Blending critical and creative writing approaches, this module will examine themes and conventions which are characteristic of the Gothic both past and present. Students will be introduced to a selection of Gothic texts, including novels, short stories and poetry. The structure of the module will encourage engagement with a range of themes (such as origins, ghosts, monsters, doubles) and examine how these relate to some of the formal conventions (such as found manuscripts, multiple narrations, framing narratives) characteristic of the Gothic mode. This textual engagement will provide a springboard for creative writing exercises and workshop sessions. Students will be able to explore Gothic conventions and themes through the process of writing their own texts and to choose to focus on either critical or creative writing for the assessments.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 14
Seminar 14
Practical classes and workshops 8
Independent Study 80
Directed Study 84
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Identify the major themes and conventions associated with the Gothic.
LO2 Offer sustained and thoughtful written/oral engagement with module content and themes, meeting appropriate standards of expression and presentation in materials submitted for assessment tasks / activities.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Student Choice 2 Essay / Creative composition 0 2000 50 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Student Choice 1 Essay / Creative composition 0 2000 50 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Student Choice 2 ✔ ✔
Student Choice 1 ✔ ✔

Reading List

Set texts will change on a regular basis and may include, for instance, Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764) Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959), and/or writing by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Bram Stoker, MR James, Edgar Allan Poe, Vernon Lee, Henry James, May Sinclair, Rebecca du Maurier, Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Iain Banks, Nalo Hopkinson, Cormac MacCarthy, Sarah Waters.

Secondary Reading
Lucie Armitt, Twentieth-Century Gothic, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011
Fred Botting, Gothic, London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
Jarlath Killeen, History of the Gothic: Gothic Literature 1825-1914, Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 2009
Ellen Moers, Literary Women. London: The Women’s Press, 1978.
Marie Mulvey-Roberts, The Handbook to Gothic Literature, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998
David Punter, The Literature of Terror, 2 vols, London: Longman, 1996
Andrew Smith, Gothic Literature, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007
Diana Wallace and Andrew Smith, eds, The Female Gothic: New Directions, London and
Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009
Journal: Gothic Studies.