CONTENT and TIMETABLE

CONTENT and TIMETABLE

In the opening week of the course students will be introduced to some of the key themes and issues involved in the approach to texts of 'The Fantastic', including introductory work on the theory of genre, and basic theories concerned with the nature, expression, development and subtexts of Fantasy literature. The work of theorists such as Freud, Jung and Todorov will be introduced, and students will be introduced to some of the various approaches - psychoanalytical, Structuralist, Marxist - which have been applied in the study of such genres.

Subsequent weeks will be concerned with the discussion of representative examples of Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction forms, in the following programme:

Week(s)

Session

2 - 3.

Edgar Allen Poe, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, (Everyman). We will look at the following texts: 'The Fall of the House of Usher', 'The Masque of the Red Death', 'The Pit and the Pendulum', 'The Tell-Tale Heart', and 'The Black Cat'. We will focus on psychological and sociological readings of these tales, in terms of the emergence of detective, Gothic and fantasy literature in the nineteenth century.

4 - 5.

Bram Stoker, Dracula, with particular emphasis on sociological and psychological approaches to this text, and the wider tradition of "Vampire" literature. We will also consider successive film adaptations of the novel and consider some of the contexts have informed the appropriations of this tale.

6.	R.L. Stevenson, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, looking at psychological and social approaches, and with reference to literature of the double.

7.	Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, and the ghost stories of M.R. James

8 - 9.

H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine

10 - 11.

The 50s B-movie horror film (examples to include Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Them)

13.

Stephen King, Carrie, with reference also to Brian de Palma's film version.

Return to Introduction

Further Information

Critical Approaches	Edgar Allen Poe	Through the Looking Glass
Dracula	Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde	The Turn of the Screw
H.G. Wells	The 50s B-movie	A.C. Clarke: Childhood's End
Ursula le Guin	Carrie