S Wetlands: Coastal Gothic and New Folk Horror in English Literature

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COURSE OUTLINE

3.02.130: S Wetlands: Coastal Gothic and New Folk Horror in English Literature

  • [Module] ang613 - Regional Literatures and Cultures
  • [Credits] 6 KP
  • [Instructor] Dr. Christian Lassen
  • [Time] Tuesday, 10-11 am: weekly chat (via "Meetings" on our Stud.IP page); Tuesday, 11-12 am: video conference for presentation groups, designed to discuss the presentation scheduled for the following week
  • [Room] online; until further notice: weekly chat; video conferences for presentation groups (via "Meetings")
  • [Description] The sublime English wetlands, arguably most strikingly brought to mind by the Cornish coast, the North York Moors, and the Fens of East Anglia, traditionally represent liminal spaces where the boundaries between the land and the sea, the earth and the sky are unstable, impermanent, and constantly blurred. Construed in often bleak and uncanny ways that emphasise the liminal notion of the in-between, these landscapes have for a long time served as the settings for traditional horror genres, such as the ghost story or gothic literature more generally. These time-honoured literary and cultural constructions have been revived recently through the emergence of a number of postmodern genres - coastal gothic, new folk horror, or the English eerie – that continue traditional genre conventions, even as they parody, question and re-write them. In this seminar, then, our aim is to analyse literary representations of the English wetlands as we follow them chronologically through a number of different materials, from M.R. James's ghost stories to more recent texts by Daisy Johnson (Fen), Wyl Menmuir (The Many), Andrew Michael Hurley (The Loney), and Robert Macfarlane (Ness).
  • [Office Hours] see Stud.IP; until further notice, office hours will be held via video conference. Please sign up for a time slot on my Stud.IP profile ("Sprechstunden") and use the link you find there in order to enter the virtual conference room.


PRIMARY TEXTS (MANDATORY READING)

  • James, M.R. Collected Ghost Stories. 1931. Oxford: OUP, 2013. Print. [selected short stories]
  • Johnson, Daisy. Fen. London: Vintage, 2016. Print. [selected short stories]
  • Menmuir, Wyl. The Many. Cromer: Salt, 2016. Print.
  • Hurley, Andrew Michael. The Loney. London: John Murray, 2014. Print.
  • Macfarlane, Robert and Stanley Donwood. Ness. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2018. Print.


ASSIGNMENTS

  • [Prüfungsleistung] asynchrones (Gruppen-)Referat (max. 4 Personen; ca. 25-30 Folien) mit Schriftlicher Ausarbeitung (10 Seiten) [oder in Ausnahmefällen: Hausarbeit (15 Seiten)]
  • [Aktive Teilnahme] 4 Abstracts, jeweils inklusive Thema, Forschungsstand, These und Outline des Arguments (je 1 Seite insgesamt)

Please note that written assignments (abstracts, short term papers, long term papers) need to be composed according to the style sheet ("Leitfaden")of the University of Oldenburg, which can be accessed via the 'Institutswiki'-page of the English department. The style sheet not only provides relevant information on how to write a correct bibliography but it may also help you to structure your work according to academic standards.

Please make sure to sign the "Erklärung zum 'Plagiat'" and to attach it to your research papers.

  • [Abgabefrist] 15. März 2022.



Session One, October 19, Introduction

Organisational Matters

  • Assignments

Assignments are graded and mandatory. In order to obtain 6 credits (KP), you will have to give a (group) presentation (Referat, 25-30 Folien) on one of the presentation topics specified in the syllabus. In addition to that, you will have to hand in a short term paper (Ausarbeitung, 10 Seiten) by the end of term (March, 15). In exceptional cases, you may hand in a long term paper (Hausarbeit, 15 Seiten) instead of the above. However, an exception is only granted upon consultation.

  • Presentation Topics, Presentation Groups, Video Conferences for Presentation Groups

Presentation Topics are specified on your syllabus. In order to prepare your presentations, please pick a topic, get together in groups (see below) and write up a power-point presentation. Add your audio commentary to the presentation, save the file and send it on to me so that we can discuss your presentation in the video conference for presentation groups (see below). After that, you make your file available on Stud.IP on the Friday before your presentation so that all participants can read/ watch the presentation in time, i.e. before the session/ weekly chat.

Requests regarding your choice of presentation topics can be send to me via e-mail, starting on Monday, October 11. I will sign you in in the order of the requests' arrival. Please check this page regularly to see if your requests have been met.

Video Conferences for presentations take place in the second part of the weekly sessions, i.e. Tuesday 11-12 am. Please make sure that you attend the video conference the week before your presentation is due.

  • Active Participation

Active Participation is ungraded but mandatory. In order to fulfil the requirements, you will have to write four abstracts, each including a topic, a state of research, a thesis statement, and a brief outline of your argument (approx. 1 page), in the course of the seminar. You can choose your own topic; however: all abstracts have to address different primary texts. In other words, your abstracts will have to cover four out of five primary materials. They are due by the end of the week (i.e. Friday) that marks the ending of the respective sections, i.e. due date Ghost Stories: November, 19; due date Fen: December, 03; due date The Many: December, 17; due date The Loney: January 14; due date Ness: January 28.

  • Weekly Chat

In order to discuss the presentations and related topics, I will be in the chatroom Weekly Chat ("Meetings" on our Stud.IP page) during the first part of each session, i.e. Tuesday 10-11 am. Please make sure to read/ watch the presentations before you join the chat. The second part of each session, i.e. Tuesday 11-12 am, is booked for the respective presentation groups (see video conference for presentation groups) 

   Summary: Presentations

1. Pick a presentation topic and contact me via e-mail (starting October 11). Check below for available places. Presentation groups may consist of a maximum of 4 people. (This number may change, depending on the number of participants.)

2. Contact the other members of your group and prepare your presentation, i.e. power-point presentation with audio commentary.

3. Send me your presentation 8 days before your presentation is scheduled.

4. Discuss your presentation with me in a video conference 7 days, i.e week, before your presentation is scheduled. Video conferences take place on Tuesday, 11-12 am.

5. Upload your file on the Friday before your presentation is scheduled.

6. Join the weekly chat and be ready to answer questions on the day of your presentation. Weekly chats take place on Tuesday, 10-11 am.

Session Two, October 26: Theory Session - Space: Regionalism and Liminality

Theory Texts

Further Reading

Guiding Questions

  • What does the term regional refer to and in what ways has the meaning of the term changed over the years?
  • How can a region be defined as a space? Is it independent, self-sufficient, a world in and by itself? Or is it interdependent and part of a whole? Is it 'natural' and 'authentic' or 'man-made' and 'construed' - both figuratively and literally?
  • What are the effects of the dichotomy regional/local/rural versus national/international/global/urban, etc.?
  • How do regional representations relate to global phenomena, e.g. particularising representations like the tides, coastal erosion, silt and siltation vs. universalising representations like global warming, rising sea levels, climate change?
  • How is the coast construed in regional literature? In what ways does the geographical (and geological) specificity of the coast also ascribe meaning - in a literary/cultural sense - to this place?
  • How are wetlands construed in regional literature? In what ways does the geographical (and geological) specificity of wetlands also ascribe meaning - in a literary/cultural sense - to this place?
  • Why would the term liminality lend itself to the cultural construction of the coast, or wetlands more generally?
  • What characterises liminality and the liminal? What concept(s) does it serve to describe? How can liminality be defined in a relational structure?
  • How can the analysis of the following aspects benefit from the concept of liminality: identity; form/genre; setting; life/death distinction; human/animal distinction; gender; sexuality; etc.? You may also come up with examples from our primary texts.

Session Three, November 02: Theory Session - Genre: The Gothic, New Folk Horror and the English Eerie

Theory Texts

Further Material

Guiding Questions

  • Thinking of genres, where do you come across wetlands? Are some genres more prone to using wetlands as their setting than others? Which genres come to mind?
  • Has the representation of wetlands changed over time? Do they still "mean" the same? Is there a coherence in terms of the cultural construction of wetlands? And what has changed in terms of representation?
  • How have these representations been realised - textually, visually, etc.?

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Michelle Lammerich, Joschka von Lienen, Iana Marta Bormann, Alina Dillmann

Session Four, November 09: Sexuality and Horror in M.R. James's Ghost Stories

Primary Material

  • James, M.R. "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad." 1904. Collected Ghost Stories. Oxford: OUP, 2013. 76-93. Print.

Secondary Material

Further Material

Presentation

  • Haunted by the Queer Double: Homosexual Panic and Coastal Gothic in M.R. James's "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad."
  • Presentation Group: Michelle Lammerich, Joschka von Lienen, Iana Marta Bormann, Alina Dillmann

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Sandra Wilken, Melvin Friedrichs

Session Five, November 16: Nationhood and Horror in M.R. James's Short Stories

Primary Material

  • James, M.R. "A Warning to the Curious." 1925. Collected Ghost Stories. Oxford: OUP, 2013. 334-57. Print.

Secondary Material

Further Reading

Presentation

  • Invasion Scare Reloaded: National Identity and the Decline of the British Empire in M.R. James's "A Warning to the Curious."
  • Presentation Group: Sandra Wilken, Melvin Friedrichs

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Bennet Keller, Wiebke Bünning, Zuzanna Paradowska 
   November, 19: Abstract Ghost Stories due

Session Six, November 23: Language and Horror in Daisy Johnson's Fen

Primary Material

  • Johnson, Daisy. "Blood Rites." Fen. London: Vintage, 2016. 15-26. Print.
  • Johnson, Daisy. "Language." Fen. London: Vintage, 2016. 72-90. Print.

Secondary Material

Further Material

Presentation

  • Uncanny Incorporations: Phallo(go)centrism, the Language of Horror, and the Horror of Language in Fen
  • Presentation Group: Bennet Keller, Wiebke Bünning, Zuzanna Paradowska

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Carina Bakenhus, Antonia Wemken, Wiebke Stumpe

Session Seven, November 30: Gender and Horror in Daisy Johnson's Fen

Primary Material

  • Johnson, Daisy. "Starver." Fen. London: Vintage, 2016. 3-14. Print.
  • Johnson, Daisy. "The Lighthouse Keeper." Fen. London: Vintage, 2016. 177-92. Print. [optional]

Secondary Material

Further Material

Presentation

  • Becoming Eel: Posthumanism, Zoomorphism and the Subversion of Normative Femininities in Fen
  • Presentation Group: Carina Bakenhus, Antonia Wemken, Wiebke Stumpe

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Johanna Loos, Stefan Gottschalk, David Zander 
   December, 03: Abstract Fen due

Session Eight, December 07: Environmental Issues in Wyl Menmuir's The Many

Primary Material

  • Menmuir, Wyl. The Many. Cromer: Salt, 2016. Print.

Secondary Material

Further Material

  • Byron, Glennis, ed. Globalgothic. Manchester and New York: Manchester UP, 2013. Print.

Presentation

  • The End of the World as We Know It: Globalgothic and the Disintigration of Local Communities and Identities in The Many
  • Presentation Group: Johanna Loos, Stefan Gottschalk, David Zander

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Kathy Götjen, Klara Plenio, Katja Voß, Celine Viergutz

Session Nine, December 14: Trauma in Wyl Menmuir's The Many

Primary Material

  • Menmuir, Wyl. The Many. Cromer: Salt, 2016. Print.

Secondary Material

Further Material

  • Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1996. Print.
  • Caruth, Cathy, ed. Trauma: Explorations in Memory. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1995. Print.

Presentation

  • No Future: Traumatic Responses to the Loss of the Child in The Many
  • Presentation Group: Kathy Götjen, Klara Plenio, Katja Voß, Celine Viergutz

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Marius Behrends, Amke Postma, Fabian Buschen 
   December, 17: Abstract The Many due

Session Ten, December 21: Space and Horror in Andrew Michael Hurley's The Loney

Primary Material

  • Hurley, Andrew Michael. The Loney. London: John Murray, 2014. Print.

Secondary Material

Presentation

  • Encounters of the Peripheral Kind: Landscape Construction, Community Formation, and Intercommunal Hostility in The Loney
  • Presentation Group: Marius Behrends, Amke Postma, Fabian Buschen

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Romy Meine, Rafaela Cristea, Marie Mc Kenzie, Hakon Dorn

Session Eleven, January 11: Religion and Horror in Andrew Michael Hurley's The Loney

Primary Material

  • Hurley, Andrew Michael. The Loney. London: John Murray, 2014. Print.

Secondary Material

Presentation

  • Losing My Religion: Catholicism, Anti-Catholicism, and Folk Religion in The Loney
  • Presentation Group: Romy Meine, Rafaela Cristea, Marie Mc Kenzie, Hakon Dorn

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Justin Laub, Tabea Bleßmann, Linda Tappe, Elisabeth Kheikhel 
   January, 14: Abstract The Loney due

Session Twelve, January 18: Nature Writing and Horror in Robert Macfarlane's Ness

Primary Material

  • Macfarlane, Robert and Stanley Donwood. Ness. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2018. Print.

Secondary Material

Further Material

Presentation

  • After the Anthropocene: Post-apocalyptic Wilderness, Non-human Agency, and the Eeriness of Contemporary Nature Writing in Macfarlane and Donwood's Ness
  • Presentation Group: Justin Laub, Tabea Bleßmann, Linda Tappe, Elisabeth Kheikhel

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group: Ole Westphal, Marvin Loer, Sofie Friedrich, Santje Wilkens

Session Thirteen, January 25: Intertextuality in Robert Macfarlane's Ness

Primary Material

  • Macfarlane, Robert and Stanley Donwood. Ness. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2018. Print.
  • Sebald, W.G. Die Ringe des Saturn. Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1997. Print. (Excerpts)

Secondary Material

Further Material

Presentation

  • Construing Literary Landscapes: Intertextuality and the Uses of Visual Elements in Macfarlane and Donwwod's Ness and W.G. Sebald's Die Ringe des Saturn
  • Presentation Group: Ole Westphal, Marvin Loer, Sofie Friedrich, Santje Wilkens 
   January, 28: Abstract Ness due

Session Fourteen, February 01: Work-in-Progress Session

Guidelines for finding your topic:

Your topic needs to be related to at least one of the primary texts 

   March, 15: Term Paper due

Please upload your paper to the folder "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" on our Stud.IP page and send a printed copy to the address below.

Bitte stellen Sie Ihre Prüfungsleistung in den Ordner "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" auf unserer Stud.IP-Seite ein und senden Sie eine gedruckte Fassung an die untenstehende Adresse.

Dr. Christian Lassen

Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Fakultät III: Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118

26129 Oldenburg

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