ENGL 347 | Gothic American Literature

This course explores the theoretical, political, and aesthetic dimensions of the gothic literary tradition in the U.S. from its late 18th-century inception to the current day. Along with a variety of primary literature, students consider foundational theoretical texts (Freud, Lacan) and secondary sources relevant to the uniquely American iteration of the Gothic, particularly those that interrogate the tradition's functions as dark counter-narrative to progressive U.S. ideology. Authors may include the following: Brown, Poe, Hawthorne, Crane, James, Wharton, O'Connor, Faulkner, Jackson, Capote, Whitehead.