Difference between revisions of "S Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Coastal Gothic and New Folk Horror in English Literature"

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(Session Four, November 11: Regionalism and Liminality in Ghost Stories from East Anglia and the Fens)
(Session Three, November 02: Theory Session - Genre: The Gothic, New Folk Horror and the English Eerie)
 
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__TOC__
 
__TOC__
  
==Session One, October 21, Introduction==
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==Session One, October 19, Introduction==
  
  
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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.
 
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==
'''On East Anglia and the Fens: A Brief Introduction'''
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*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkdqdWjAvz0 Ralph Vaughan Williams. ''In the Fen Country''. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.]
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*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DeT3DkyXc8 Ralph Vaughan Williams. ''Norfolk Rhapsody No.1''. London Philharmonic Orchestra.]
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*[https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/a-short-history-of-the-fens/ Frank Meeres. "A Short History of the Fens." ''The History Press''.]
+
 
+
==Session Two, October 28: Theory Session - Regionalism==
+
  
 
'''Theory Texts'''
 
'''Theory Texts'''
* Boyce, James. ''Imperial Mud: The Fight for the Fens.'' London: Icon, 2020. Print. [Selected Chapters]
 
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Hart_regionalism_in_english_fiction_between_the_wars_gesichert.pdf Hart, Matthew. "Regionalism in English Fiction Between the Wars." ''The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century English Novel''. Ed. Robert L. Caserio. Cambridge: CUP, 2009. 89-101. Print. (especially 89-93)]
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Hart_regionalism_in_english_fiction_between_the_wars_gesichert.pdf Hart, Matthew. "Regionalism in English Fiction Between the Wars." ''The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century English Novel''. Ed. Robert L. Caserio. Cambridge: CUP, 2009. 89-101. Print. (especially 89-93)]
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Head_mapping_rural_and_regional_identities_gesichert.pdf Head, Dominic. "Mapping Rural and Regional Identities." ''The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction since 1945''. Ed. David James. Cambridge: CUP, 2015. 13-27. Print.]
 
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Head_mapping_rural_and_regional_identities_gesichert.pdf Head, Dominic. "Mapping Rural and Regional Identities." ''The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction since 1945''. Ed. David James. Cambridge: CUP, 2015. 13-27. Print.]
 +
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Turner_Betwixt_and_Between_gesichert.pdf Turner, Victor. "Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in ''Rites de Passage''." 1967. ''Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach''. Eds. William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1979. 234-43. Print.]
  
 +
'''Further Material'''
 +
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000xf2l BBC Radio Three. "Free Thinking: Cornwall and Coastal Gothic." ''BBC Radio Four'', June 29, 2021. Web.]
  
 
'''Guiding Questions'''
 
'''Guiding Questions'''
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* 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?
 
* 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.?
 
* What are the effects of the dichotomy regional/local/rural versus national/international/global/urban, etc.?
* What are its specific effects with regard to conflicting narratives and histories? Local narratives and grand narratives? In the Fen Country, what role does 'draining' play in this context?
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* What are its specific effects with regard to conflicting narratives and histories? Local narratives versus 'grand' narratives?
* In what ways do specific regions shape the people who live in them, i.e. their identities? What do these people identify with? And what about disidentification? (Think about Scottish identites and their respective links to their 'own' space, to Britain, or Europe?)
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* 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?
* According to the secondary texts, how is East Anglia/ how are the Fens construed in regional literature? In what ways does the geographical (and geological) specificity of this region also ascribe meaning - in a literary/cultural sense - to this place?
+
* 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?
* In view of next week's session, why would the term ''liminality'' lend itself to the cultural construction of the Fens, or indeed the East Anglian wetlands more generally?
+
* Why would the term ''liminality'' lend itself to the cultural construction of the coast, or even 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 4: Theory Session - Liminality==
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==Session Three, November 02: Theory Session - Genre: The Gothic, New Folk Horror and the English Eerie==
  
 
'''Theory Texts'''
 
'''Theory Texts'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Bergmann_LiminalityShortStory_gesichert.pdf Bergmann, Ina. "Nature, Liminality, and the Short Story: An Analytical Triad." ''ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment'' 24.3 (2017): 477–81. Print.]
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* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Gearey2020_Chapter_WetlandsAsLiterarySpacesOffKil_gesichert.pdf Gearey, Mary, Andrew Church and Neil Ravenscroft. "Wetlands as Literary Spaces: Off Kilter, Off Grid, Off the Wall." ''English Wetlands: Spaces of Nature, Culture, Imagination''. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 91-118. Print.]
[For a more extensive account of this approach, see: Achilles, Jochen, and Ina Bergmann. "'Betwixt and Between': Boundary Crossings in American, Canadian, and British Writing." ''Liminality and the Short Story: Boundary Crossings in American, Canadian, and British Writing''. Eds. Jochen Achilles and Ina Bergmann. New York and London: Routledge, 2014. 3–31.]
+
* Giblett, Rod. ''Postmodern Wetlands: Culture, History, Ecology.'' Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1996. Print. [selected chapters]
* Turner, Victor. "Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in ''Rites de Passage''." ''The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual''. Ed. Victor Turner. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1967. 93–111. Print.
+
 
Reprinted in: [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Turner_Betwixt_and_Between_gesichert.pdf Turner, Victor. "Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in ''Rites de Passage''." ''Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach''. Eds. William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1979. 234-43. Print.]
+
'''Further Material'''
 +
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000xf2l BBC Radio Three. "Free Thinking: Cornwall and Coastal Gothic." ''BBC Radio Four'', June 29, 2021. Web.]
  
 
'''Guiding Questions'''
 
'''Guiding Questions'''
* What characterises ''liminality'' and ''the liminal''? What concept(s) does it serve to describe? How can ''liminality'' be defined in a relational structure?
+
* TBA
* What is the difference between the terms ''liminal'' and ''liminoid''?
+
* 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; etc.? You may also come up with examples from our primary texts.
+
* In what ways does the short story as a narrative form meet the conceptual demands of ''liminality''? Is the short story particularly apt to express liminal structures? And if so, why? Do your findings hold true for the ''liminoid'' as well? Or does it change the form of the short story?
+
* Think about ways to correlate and/or connect ''regionalism'' and ''liminality''. How do regional observations (particularising representations like draining, coastal erosion, silt and siltation vs. universalising representations like global warming, rising sea levels, climate change) relate to concepts of ''liminality''?
+
  
==Session Four, November 11: Regionalism and Liminality in Ghost Stories from East Anglia and the Fens==
+
==Session Four, November 09: Sexuality in M.R. James's Ghost Stories==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''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.
 
* James, M.R. "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad." 1904. ''Collected Ghost Stories''. Oxford: OUP, 2013. 76-93. Print.
* James, M.R. "A Warning to the Curious." 1925. ''Collected Ghost Stories''. Oxford: OUP, 2013. 334-57. Print.
 
*[http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/ArchiveFenstanton.html James, M.R. "The Fenstanton Witch." Globalnet. Web. Retrieved September 17, 2020.]
 
*[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605461h.html Malden, R.H. "Between Sunset and Moonrise." ''Nine Ghosts''. London: Edward Arnold & Co, 1943. Project Gutenberg Australia. Web. Retrieved September 17, 2020.]
 
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
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'''Further Material'''
 
'''Further Material'''
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000xf2l BBC Radio Three. "Free Thinking: Cornwall and Coastal Gothic." ''BBC Radio Four'', June 29, 2021. Web.]
+
* Murphy Patrick J. and Fred Porcheddu. "Amateur Error, Templar Terror, and M.R. James's Haunted Whistle." ''Philological Quarterly'' 92.3 (2013): 389-416. Print.
  
'''Group Work'''
+
'''Presentation'''
* Group 01: James, M.R. "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad."
+
* TBA
* Group 02: James, M.R. "A Warning to the Curious."
+
* Group 03: James, M.R. "The Fenstanton Witch."
+
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':  
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* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
    November, 13: Abstract ''Ghost Story'' due
+
==Session Five, November 16: ''Invasion Scare'' in M.R. James's Short Stories==
 
+
==Session Five, November 18: Exploring Genres - New Folk Horror and Other Experimental Genres in ''Fen''==
+
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Johnson, Daisy. "Blood Rites." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 15-26. Print.
+
* James, M.R. "A Warning to the Curious." 1925. ''Collected Ghost Stories''. Oxford: OUP, 2013. 334-57. Print.
* Johnson, Daisy. "Language." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 72-90. Print.
+
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Cox_LiminalTerritoryInTheFenlandSt_gesichert.pdf Cox, Alisa. "Liminal Territory in the Fenland Stories of Jon McGregor and Daisy Johnson." ''Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story''. Eds. Barbara Korte and Laura Ma Lojo-Rodríguez. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 225-43. Print. (esp. 233-43)]
+
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Armitt__Lucie_Ghost-AL_Erosion_doppelseitig_gesichert.pdf Armitt, Lucie. "Ghost-Al Erosion: Beaches and the Supernatural in Two Stories by M.R. James." ''Popular Fiction and Spatiality: Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies''. Ed. Lisa Fletcher. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 95-108. Print.]
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Gearey2020_Chapter_WetlandsAsLiterarySpacesOffKil_gesichert.pdf Gearey, Mary, Andrew Church and Neil Ravenscroft. "Wetlands as Literary Spaces: Off Kilter, Off Grid, Off the Wall." ''English Wetlands: Spaces of Nature, Culture, Imagination''. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 91-118. Print.]
+
  
'''Further Material'''
+
'''Further Reading'''
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0bbnrct BBC Radio Four. "Open Book: Daisy Johnson, the literary appeal of the Fens." ''BBC Radio Four'', July 26, 2018. Web.]
+
* Hynes, Samuel. ''The Edwardian Turn of Mind''. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. 15-53. Print.
 +
* Murphy, Patrick J. and Fred Porcheddu. "Lay of a Last Survivor: ''Beowulf'', Great War Memorials, and M.R. James's "A Warning to the Curious." ''The Review of English Studies'' 66.274 (2014): 205-22. Print.
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
*Uncanny Incorporations, or: the Language of Horror and the Horror of Language in ''Fen''
+
* TBA
  
* ''Presentation Group'':
+
* ''Presentation Group'':  
  
 
'''Video Conference'''
 
'''Video Conference'''
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
==Session Six, November 25: Exploring Gender - Re-writing the Female in ''Fen''==
+
    November, 19: Abstract ''Ghost Stories'' due
 +
 
 +
==Session Six, November 23: Language and Horror in Daisy Johnson's ''Fen''==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Johnson, Daisy. "Starver." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 3-14. Print.
+
* Johnson, Daisy. "Blood Rites." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 15-26. Print.
* Johnson, Daisy. "A Heavy Devotion." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 105-17. Print.
+
* Johnson, Daisy. "Language." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 72-90. Print.
* Johnson, Daisy. "Birthing Stones." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 155-66. Print.
+
* Johnson, Daisy. "The Lighthouse Keeper" ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 177-92. Print. [optional]
+
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 +
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Cox_LiminalTerritoryInTheFenlandSt_gesichert.pdf Cox, Alisa. "Liminal Territory in the Fenland Stories of Jon McGregor and Daisy Johnson." ''Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story''. Eds. Barbara Korte and Laura Ma Lojo-Rodríguez. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 225-43. Print. (esp. 233-43)]
 
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Packham_GothicCoastFen_gesichert.pdf Packham, Jimmy. "The gothic coast: Boundaries, belonging, and coastal community in contemporary British fiction." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 60.2 (2019): 205-221. Print.]
 
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Packham_GothicCoastFen_gesichert.pdf Packham, Jimmy. "The gothic coast: Boundaries, belonging, and coastal community in contemporary British fiction." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 60.2 (2019): 205-221. Print.]
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Gearey2020_Chapter_WetlandsAsLiterarySpacesOffKil_gesichert.pdf Gearey, Mary, Andrew Church and Neil Ravenscroft. "Wetlands as Literary Spaces: Off Kilter, Off Grid, Off the Wall." ''English Wetlands: Spaces of Nature, Culture, Imagination''. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020. 91-118. Print.]
 
  
 
'''Further Material'''
 
'''Further Material'''
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'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* Becoming Eel and Birthing Stones, or: Deterritorialization, Posthumanism and Anthropomorphism/Zoomorphism in ''Fen''
+
*Uncanny Incorporations, or: Phallogocentrism, the Language of Horror, and the Horror of Language in ''Fen''
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
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* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
    November, 27: Abstract ''Fen'' due
+
==Session Seven, November 30: Gender and Horror in Daisy Johnson's ''Fen''==
 
+
==Session Seven, December 02: Exploring Form - Genre, Hybridity, and (Meta-)Poetics in ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing''==
+
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* McGregor, Jon. "In Winter the Sky." ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''. 2012. London: 4th Estate, 2017. 5-35. Print.
+
* Johnson, Daisy. "Starver." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 3-14. Print.
* McGregor, Jon. "New York." ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''. 2012. London: 4th Estate, 2017. 107-12. Print.
+
* Johnson, Daisy. "The Lighthouse Keeper." ''Fen''. London: Vintage, 2016. 177-92. Print. [optional]
* McGregor, Jon. "Wires." ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''. 2012. London: 4th Estate, 2017. 160-75. Print.
+
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Cox_LiminalTerritoryInTheFenlandSt_gesichert.pdf Cox, Alisa. "Liminal Territory in the Fenland Stories of Jon McGregor and Daisy Johnson." ''Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story''. Eds. Barbara Korte and Laura Ma Lojo-Rodríguez. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 225-43. Print. (esp. 226-33)]
+
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Cox_LiminalTerritoryInTheFenlandSt_gesichert.pdf Cox, Alisa. "Liminal Territory in the Fenland Stories of Jon McGregor and Daisy Johnson." ''Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story''. Eds. Barbara Korte and Laura Ma Lojo-Rodríguez. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 225-43. Print. (esp. 233-43)]
 +
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Packham_GothicCoastFen_gesichert.pdf Packham, Jimmy. "The gothic coast: Boundaries, belonging, and coastal community in contemporary British fiction." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 60.2 (2019): 205-221. Print.]
 +
 
 +
'''Further Material'''
 +
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0bbnrct BBC Radio Four. "Open Book: Daisy Johnson, the literary appeal of the Fens." ''BBC Radio Four'', July 26, 2018. Web.]
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* Hybrid Aesthetics, or: The Function of Genres, Maps, and Poetics in ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''
+
* Becoming Eel, or: Posthumanism, Zoomorphism and the Subversion of Normative Femininities in ''Fen''
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
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* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
==Session Eight, December 09: Exploring Landscapes - Speculative Fiction and the Construction of Space in ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing''==
+
    December, 03: Abstract ''Fen'' due
 +
 
 +
==Session Eight, December 07: Environmental Issues in Wyl Menmuir's ''The Many''==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* McGregor, Jon. "If It Keeps On Raining." ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''. 2012. London: 4th Estate, 2017. 57-74. Print.
+
* Menmuir, Wyl. ''The Many''. Cromer: Salt, 2016. Print.  
* McGregor, Jon. "Supplementary Notes to the Testimony of Appellants B & E." ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''. 2012. London: 4th Estate, 2017. 147-56. Print.
+
* McGregor, Jon. "I Remember There Was a Hill" ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''. 2012. London: 4th Estate, 2017. 215-7. Print.
+
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Cox_LiminalTerritoryInTheFenlandSt_gesichert.pdf Cox, Alisa. "Liminal Territory in the Fenland Stories of Jon McGregor and Daisy Johnson." ''Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story''. Eds. Barbara Korte and Laura Ma Lojo-Rodríguez. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 225-43. Print. (esp. 226-33)]
+
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Packham_GothicCoastFen_gesichert.pdf Packham, Jimmy. "The gothic coast: Boundaries, belonging, and coastal community in contemporary British fiction." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 60.2 (2019): 205-221. Print.]
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* Dystopian Landscapes, or: Representing Environmental Issues in ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You''
+
* TBA
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
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* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
    December, 11: Abstract ''This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You'' due
+
==Session Nine, December 14: Trauma in Wyl Menmuir's ''The Many''==
 
+
==Session Nine, December 16: Exploring History - ''Waterland'' as Historiographic Metafiction==
+
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Swift, Graham. ''Waterland''. 1983. London: Picador, 2010. Print.
+
* Menmuir, Wyl. ''The Many''. Cromer: Salt, 2016. Print.  
  
'''Secondary Material'''''
+
'''Secondary Material'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Cooper_ImperialTopographiesHistoryWaterland_gesichert.pdf Cooper, Pamela. "Imperial Topographies: The Spaces of History in ''Waterland''." ''MFS: Modern Fiction Studies'' 42.2 (1996): 371-96. Print.]
+
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Packham_GothicCoastFen_gesichert.pdf Packham, Jimmy. "The gothic coast: Boundaries, belonging, and coastal community in contemporary British fiction." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 60.2 (2019): 205-221. Print.]
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Landow_HistoryHisStoryStoriesWaterland_gesichert.pdf Landow, George P. "History, His Story, and Stories in Graham Swift’s ''Waterland''". ''Studies in the Literary Imagination'' 23.2 (1990): 197-211. Print.]
+
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* (Re-)Writing the Past, or: Historiographic Metafiction and the Desintegration of History and Its "Grand Narratives"
+
* TBA
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
'''Group Work'''
 
* Group 01: Tom's Narrative and Personal History
 
* Group 02: The Cricks, the Atkinsons, and Regional History
 
* Group 03: World History and Its "Grand Narratives"
 
  
 
'''Video Conference'''
 
'''Video Conference'''
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
==Session Ten, January 06: Exploring Guilt - ''Waterland'' as Confession and Trauma Narrative==
+
    December, 17: Abstract ''The Many'' due
 +
 
 +
==Session Ten, December 21: Landscape and Horror in Andrew Michael Hurley's ''The Loney''==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Swift, Graham. ''Waterland''. 1983. London: Picador, 2010. Print.
+
* Hurley, Andrew Michael. ''The Loney''. London: John Murray, 2014. Print.
  
'''Secondary Material'''
+
'''Secondary Material'''''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Acheson_HistoryGuiltWaterland_gesichert.pdf Acheson, James. "''Historia'' and Guilt: Graham Swift’s ''Waterland''." ''Critique'' 47.1 (2005): 90-100. Print.]
+
*[https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Packham_GothicCoastFen_gesichert.pdf Packham, Jimmy. "The gothic coast: Boundaries, belonging, and coastal community in contemporary British fiction." ''Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction'' 60.2 (2019): 205-221. Print.]
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Russell_HistoryConfessionTraumaWaterland_gesichert.pdf Russell, Richard Rankin. "Embod(y)ments of History and Delayed Confessions: Graham Swift's ''Waterland'' as Trauma Fiction." ''PLL: Papers on Language and Literature'' 45.2 (2009): 115–49. Print.]
+
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* Narrating the Self, or: Trauma and the Struggle for a Coherent Self-Narrative
+
* TBA
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
Line 281: Line 261:
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
==Session Eleven, January 13: Exploring Nature - Ecocriticism and the Representation of the Environment in ''Waterland''==
+
==Session Eleven, January 11: Religion and Horror in Andrew Michael Hurley's "The Loney"==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Swift, Graham. ''Waterland''. 1983. London: Picador, 2010. Print.
+
* Hurley, Andrew Michael. ''The Loney''. London: John Murray, 2014. Print.
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/Bracke_WaterlandEcocriticismNarratology_gesichert.pdf Bracke, Astrid. "'Man is the Story-Telling Animal': Graham Swift's ''Waterland'', Ecocriticism and Narratology." ''ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment'' 25.2 (2018): 220–37. Print.]
+
* Greenaway, Jonathan. "Reconfiguring Gothic Anti-Catholicism: Faith and Folk-Horror in the Work of Andrew Michael Hurley." ''Horror and Religion: New Literary Approaches to Theology, Race and Sexuality.'' Eds. Eleanor Beal and Jonathan Greenaway. Cardiff, Wales: U of Wales P, 2019. 159-78. Print.
* [https://uol.de/f/3/inst/anglistik/download/Lehre/Lassen_Lehrmaterialien/AM_Fen_Country/McKinney_GreeningPostmodernismWaterland_gesichert.pdf McKinney, Ronald H. "The Greening of Postmodernism in Graham Swift's ''Waterland''." ''New Literary History'' 28.4 (1997): 821–32. Print.]
+
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* Against Nature, or: Rising Sea Levels, Liminality and the Futility of Human 'Achievements'
+
* TBA
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
Line 298: Line 277:
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
     January, 15: Abstract ''Waterland'' due
+
     January, 14: Abstract ''The Loney'' due
  
==Session Twelve, January 20: Exploring Culture - Space, Literature and and the Processes of Meaning-Making==
+
==Session Twelve, January 18: Nature Writing and Horror in Robert Macfarlane's ''Ness''==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Parnell, Edward. ''Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country''. London: William Collins, 2019. Print.  
+
* Macfarlane, Robert and Stanley Donwood. ''Ness''. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2018. Print.
[selected chapters: "Prologue", "1. Lost Heart", "2. Dark Water", "8. Lonlier than Ruin", "9. Who Is this Who Is Coming?", "10. Not Really Now Not Any More", "12. Ancient Sorceries"]
+
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
* Varia
+
* Bajada, Jasmine. "Mapping a Post-Literary Geography: Orford Ness, Non-Human Agency, and More-Than-Human Writing." ''CounterText'' 6.1 (2020): 204-216. Print.
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* Construing Literary Landscapes, or: Intertextuality, Referentiality, and Visual Culture as Meaning-Making Devices
+
* TBA
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
Line 317: Line 295:
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
 
* ''Video Conference Group'':
  
==Session Thirteen, January 27: Exploring Healing - Memoirs, (Anti-)Pastoral Elegies and the Comfort of Ghosts==
+
==Session Thirteen, January 25: Intertextuality in Robert Macfarlane's ''Ness''==
  
 
'''Primary Material'''
 
'''Primary Material'''
* Parnell, Edward. ''Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country''. London: William Collins, 2019. Print.  
+
* Macfarlane, Robert and Stanley Donwood. ''Ness''. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2018. Print.
[selected chapters: "Prologue", "1. Lost Heart", "2. Dark Water", "8. Lonlier than Ruin", "9. Who Is this Who Is Coming?", "10. Not Really Now Not Any More", "12. Ancient Sorceries"]
+
* Sebald, W.G. ''Die Ringe des Saturn.'' Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1997. Print. (Excerpts)
  
 
'''Secondary Material'''
 
'''Secondary Material'''
* Varia
+
* TBA
  
 
'''Presentation'''
 
'''Presentation'''
* The Haunted Self, or: Reclaiming and Reinventing Literary Spaces and Genres of Loss
+
* TBA
  
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
 
* ''Presentation Group'':
  
     January, 29: Abstract ''Ghostland'' due
+
     January, 28: Abstract ''The Loney'' due
  
==Session Fourteen, February 03: Work-in-Progress Session==
+
==Session Fourteen, February 01: Work-in-Progress Session==
  
 
'''Guidelines for finding your topic:'''
 
'''Guidelines for finding your topic:'''

Latest revision as of 15:36, 1 September 2021

!!!Currently Under Construction!!!


COURSE OUTLINE

3.02.130: S Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: 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]
  • [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; 45-60 min.) 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, 45-60 min.) 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)

  • Seminarapparat

Relevant secondary material will be made available on Stud.IP. Please note that, additionally, the syllabus includes an extensive bibliography that may be helpful with regard to your presentations and written assignments (abstracts; short/ long term papers).

   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 Material

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.?
  • What are its specific effects with regard to conflicting narratives and histories? Local narratives versus 'grand' narratives?
  • 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?
  • Why would the term liminality lend itself to the cultural construction of the coast, or even 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

  • TBA

Session Four, November 09: Sexuality 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

  • Murphy Patrick J. and Fred Porcheddu. "Amateur Error, Templar Terror, and M.R. James's Haunted Whistle." Philological Quarterly 92.3 (2013): 389-416. Print.

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:

Session Five, November 16: Invasion Scare 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

  • Hynes, Samuel. The Edwardian Turn of Mind. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. 15-53. Print.
  • Murphy, Patrick J. and Fred Porcheddu. "Lay of a Last Survivor: Beowulf, Great War Memorials, and M.R. James's "A Warning to the Curious." The Review of English Studies 66.274 (2014): 205-22. Print.

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:
   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, or: Phallogocentrism, the Language of Horror, and the Horror of Language in Fen
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:

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, or: Posthumanism, Zoomorphism and the Subversion of Normative Femininities in Fen
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:
   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

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:

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

Primary Material

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

Secondary Material

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:
   December, 17: Abstract The Many due

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

Primary Material

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

Secondary Material

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:

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

  • Greenaway, Jonathan. "Reconfiguring Gothic Anti-Catholicism: Faith and Folk-Horror in the Work of Andrew Michael Hurley." Horror and Religion: New Literary Approaches to Theology, Race and Sexuality. Eds. Eleanor Beal and Jonathan Greenaway. Cardiff, Wales: U of Wales P, 2019. 159-78. Print.

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:
   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

  • Bajada, Jasmine. "Mapping a Post-Literary Geography: Orford Ness, Non-Human Agency, and More-Than-Human Writing." CounterText 6.1 (2020): 204-216. Print.

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:

Video Conference

  • Video Conference Group:

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

  • TBA

Presentation

  • TBA
  • Presentation Group:
   January, 28: Abstract The Loney 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.

Bitte stellen Sie Ihre Prüfungsleistung in den Ordner "Ausarbeitungen und Hausarbeiten" auf unserer Stud.IP-Seite ein.