Key facts
UNE unit code: ENGL302
*You are viewing the 2027 version of this unit which may be subject to change in future.
- Not offered in 2027
- Yes
- No
- No
- 6
Unit information
From wild, remote landscapes and ruined castles to the ‘dark nature’ of post-industrial eco-catastrophe; from violent and erotic fantasies to supernatural and uncanny happenings, in this unit you will explore the Gothic novel from its eighteenth-century origins to its present-day incarnations.
You will explore the conventions that have allowed this popular and evolving genre to remain at once relevant and recognisable. In the unit, you will focus on how writers have deployed and reworked the conventions of terror, haunting, contagion and transgression in key literary and historical moments in the genre’s development such as the end of the eighteenth century, the ‘fin de siècle’, post-war America and the millennium.
You will consider the Gothic within the social, political and cultural contexts that inform the genre’s engagement with gender, sexuality, race, class, species and the environment.
Intensive schools
There are no intensive schools required for this unit.
Enrolment rules
Notes
Please refer to the student handbook for current details on this unit.
Unit coordinator(s)
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
- demonstrate academic literacy in reading and writing about the literary techniques, formal conventions and thematic preoccupations of Gothic fiction;
- critically evaluate some of the key social, cultural and political contexts with which the Gothic genre engages;
- identify some of the major ways Gothic fiction changed and developed in the 19th and 20th centuries; and
- formulate and defend independent arguments and ideas that demonstrate proficiency in critical thinking and writing skills.
Assessment information
Assessments are subject to change up to 8 weeks prior to the start of the teaching period in which you are undertaking the unit.
| Title | Must Complete | Weight | Offerings | Assessment Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take-Home Examination | Yes | 50% | All offerings | No. Words: 2000 |
| Written Essay | Yes | 50% | All offerings | No. Words: 2500 |
Learning resources
Textbooks are subject to change up to 8 weeks prior to the start of the teaching period in which you are undertaking the unit.
Note: Students are expected to purchase prescribed material. Please note that textbook requirements may vary from one teaching period to the next.
Frankenstein or 'The Modern Prometheus'
ISBN: 9780198840824
Shelley, M., and N. Groom, OUP 3rd edn 2019
Text refers to: All offerings
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
ISBN: 9780141191454
Jackson, S., Penguin Books 1st ed. 2009
Text refers to: All offerings
The Hunter
ISBN: 9780143565215
Leigh, J., Penguin Books Australia 1999
Text refers to: All offerings
The Turn of the Screw
ISBN: 9780393420371
James, H., W.W. Norton 3rd Norton Critical ed. 2021
Text refers to: All offerings
Dracula
ISBN: 9780199564095
Stoker, B., and R. Luckhurst, OUP 2nd edn 2011
Text refers to: All offerings
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