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The English department is offering an alternative class for juniors and seniors next semester due to over-enrollment in other classes.
English and European Literature 2: Gothic Literature is available for any students, but is also an attempt to compensate students who signed up for Science Fiction and Fantasy but can’t take it because it is full. English department head Svein Arber said the class was put on the schedule “to offer an attractive, somewhat similar alternative to students who will not have an opportunity to take Science Fiction and Fantasy.” This class has been taught before, although not recently.
The class curriculum will be centered on Gothic literature, novels, poems and some films. Gothic fiction is a type of literature with a focus on horror and romance that has been around since the 1700s. The primary texts will be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Students were enthusiastic about the content of the course. “I would like to take this class,” sophomore Olivia Pollak said. “The subject seems both original and spooky. It would be interesting to analyze books that on the surface seem purely thrilling, but actually have deeper meanings.”
However, some students did not see the literature as high-interest. “I’m probably going to take American Lit 2,” senior Brian Qiu said. “Dracula and Frankenstein sound cool, but those books are actually mind numbingly boring.”
Some students saw the addition as contributing to the self-selection process. “Gothic literature is definitely a good idea because it is always beneficial to provide more choices for students when they are forming schedules,” senior Andrew Huang said.
Gothic Literature has been popular among students on their updated class request forms, and is now three quarters full, according to Arber. |
