Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2021 - ENGL 385 E100

Across Time, Across Space (4)

Class Number: 4144

Delivery Method: Remote

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 11 – Apr 16, 2021: Wed, 5:30–9:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Apr 19, 2021
    Mon, 7:00–10:00 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    Two 100 division English courses, and two 200 division English courses.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores influential works of literature with a particular emphasis on how they exist across temporal and/or spatial divides, how they alternately bridge and reinforce differences of time, culture, and place. May be repeated for credit once if different topic is taught.

COURSE DETAILS:

New Gothic:  The Contagious Scope of the Uncanny

Figures of the uncanny, from demonic apparitions to material appearances of the dead,  have bridged literary texts both temporally and spatially from the inception of the gothic modes to the present.   We will explore three significant themes of the gothic modes that have crossed spatial and temporal divides.  In one strand, the unheimlich figures an underclass,  the underprivileged,  the disappeared, the criminal, the escaped and alien. In a second,  it figures the ghosts of empire,  or the hybrid, spectral shapes of an oppressive and yet active past.  In a third,  we can trace an uncanny force that, like a pandemic,  threatens the contagion of whole cultures, classes, genders, sexual orientations or species. Theory has,  in turn,  kept up with these themes. Postcolonial gothic, Eco-Gothic, Global Gothic, Canadian Gothic, Feminist Gothic, Queer Gothic, Body Gothic, Happy Gothic and Apocalyptic Gothic are some we will explore.  Working with these new approaches,  we focus on the circulation of gothic modes in four novels and a number of short tales drawn from differing cultures and periods.  While drawing examples from past and present literature,  we will also explore these gothic themes in art, film, and magazines both print and online. The creative, often radical quality of the figures of the uncanny and their contagious spread across cultures and media will be our theme in this course. 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Texts

From Pu Songling, Strange Stories  (online)

From Daniel Defoe,  A Journal of the Plague Year and  “A True Relation of the Apparition
          of one Mrs. Veal The Next Day after Her Death” (online)

Henry James,  The Turn of the Screw, Modern Library (2001)  (or any other edition)

Charles Chesnutt,  “The Marked Tree” and “The Dumb Witness “ (online)

Margaret Atwood,  Alias Grace,  Seal Books,  (1997)  (or any other edition)

David Chariandy,  Soucouyant, Arsenal Pulp Press (2007)

Janie Chang, Three Souls, Harper Perennial (2013)


Films

One or more of The Innocents (1961),  Winter’s Bone, (2010)  Near Dark (1987),  A Ghost Story (2017) and Martha Marsha May Marlene (2011)

Excerpts from Works of Theory,  (All Online)

Catherine Spooner,  Post-Millennial Gothic: Comedy, Romance And The Rise Of Happy Gothic (2017) London : Bloomsbury Academic.

Charles Crow ed.,  The Palgrave Handbook of the Southern Gothic (2020)

Cynthia Sugars,  Canadian Gothic: Literature, History, and the Spectre of Self-Invention University of Wales Press (2014)

Fred Botting,  Gothic,  Routledge, (2013)

----- Limits of Horror: Technology, Bodies, Gothic, MUP  (2008)

Glennis Byron and Dale Townsend eds,  The Gothic World, Routledge, (2014)

Glynnis Byron ed,  Global Gothic, MUP (2016)

Leslie Jamison, “Giving Up the Ghost: The eternal allure of life after death” (2015)
Harper’s  (online)

Susan Owens,  The Ghost:  A Cultural History.  Tate Publishing, (2017)

(And others)

Recommended

Hilary Turner, Figurative Language:  A Historical Guide,  SFU Publications,  2020
      VitalSource online etext.

 

Grading

  • Participation 10%
  • Book or Film Review 15%
  • Presentation & 4-5 pp Summary 20%
  • Paper Proposal 15%
  • Term Paper 40%

NOTES:

Possible (not required)  participation in an upcoming online Conference, Gothic in a Time of Contagion, Populism and Racial Injustice
International Gothic Association and Gothic Without Borders

http://www.sfu.ca/conferences/iga-wll-gothic-2021.html


REQUIREMENTS:

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Four writing assignments, an in-class presentation and continuous participation. The breakdown is as follows:

Participation

10%

Book or Film Review

15%

Presentation & 4-5 pp Summary

20%

Paper Proposal

15%

Term Paper

40%

 

 

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Course seminars to be held online in Zoom.

Department Undergraduate Notes:

IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.

For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN SPRING 2021

Teaching at SFU in spring 2021 will be conducted primarily through remote methods. There will be in-person course components in a few exceptional cases where this is fundamental to the educational goals of the course. Such course components will be clearly identified at registration, as will course components that will be “live” (synchronous) vs. at your own pace (asynchronous). Enrollment acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes. To ensure you can access all course materials, we recommend you have access to a computer with a microphone and camera, and the internet. In some cases your instructor may use Zoom or other means requiring a camera and microphone to invigilate exams. If proctoring software will be used, this will be confirmed in the first week of class.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112).