COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Whether set in a castle, in a city, or even in cyberspace, Gothic fiction occupies a shadowy space between reason and unreason, challenging sharp divisions between mind and spirit, self and other.  Many writers have been intrigued by the possibilities of the Gothic, and the results vary widely—from the subtle psychological complexities of “realists” such as Henry James and Edith Wharton to the downright terrifying worlds of Anne Rice and Stephen King.  In this course, we will discuss the American Gothic, focusing especially on the ways in which the Gothic illuminates cultural anxieties in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America.  For course policies and guidelines, click here.  For Gothic links, click here.  For eportfolio information, click here.  To review the University of Denver Honor Code, click here.

TEXTS/FILMS: 
American Gothic Tales, Ed. Joyce Carol Oates
Opening Doors: Guide to First-Year English, 13th. ed., Ed. Margaret Whitt, Bryan Walpert, and Janet Black
Sleepy Hollow
What Lies Beneath
The Blair Witch Project

SCHEDULE:

LINKS TO EXPLORE:
English Gothic Fiction (1764-1840)
Gothic, Novel, and Romance: Brief Definitions
The Literary Gothic (pre-1950)
The Sickly Taper, A Gothic Bibliography
Sublime Anxiety

COURSE POLICIES & GUIDELINES
Attendance: You are a vital member of our community, and regular attendance is essential. You are allowed two absences with no penalty; additional absences and chronic late arrivals will affect your final grade adversely (-25 points each instance after the first two). I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences, so use your absence allotment wisely. If you have an emergency medical absence, please obtain documentation. Any student eligible for accommodation of special learning needs should speak with me during the first week of class. The best way to contact me outside of class is to send an email; I will respond as soon as I receive your message. 

Assignments: Please bring American Gothic Tales to class every day that we’ve had a reading. If you have a question about any assignment, ask me—I'm happy to help. Assignments are due in class, at the beginning of class, on the due date to receive full credit. Assignments will be accepted one class period late (this will result in a reduction of five points) but not after that. Please do NOT email or fax assignments. 

Academic Responsibilities: All work must be your own, generated this quarter. Turning in work that you have completed for another class is academic dishonesty. Plagiarism involves using all or part of a source (words or ideas) without correctly citing the source (this would include representing another person's work as your own or using a source without correct documentation). You are responsible for asking me if you are not sure how to document something. Academically dishonest or plagiarized work will receive an "F" and may be grounds for further disciplinary action (see Guide 39-40 for more information). 

Workshop Guidelines: We will be working as a community of writers in this course, and you will take part in several workshops. Workshops provide the important opportunity for you to give and to receive feedback within a group of writers familiar with your writing goals. In order to receive full credit for workshops, you must bring the requested amount of copies of your draft in progress and give written feedback to all of your group members: you will receive 30 points if you have 2 copies of your draft and you give feedback to others, 20 points if you have 1 copy of your draft and you give feedback to others, and 10 points if you only give feedback. If you are present at all three workshops, you earn an extra 10 points. If you are not here for workshops, you cannot make up the points. 

Response Paper Guidelines: Response papers should be 1 page long and typed (double-spaced). A response paper should reflect your critical reading of a text: after reading the text at least twice, take a position on something by exploring one specific topic in detail. This is not a summary of the plot or a discussion of whether or not you liked the text—it is a short position paper, so take a clear stand in your thesis and support it throughout your paper. The following list may help you focus on a direction for discussion:

• Choose a section that is important to your interpretation of the text and explain why it’s significant.
• Trace a pattern that you notice and examine/speculate about its function.
• Explore the structure or point of view of the text if it is unusual or surprising--and explain the result.
• Discuss a specific point of comparison to another text we’ve read and draw a conclusion.
• Discuss the implications of the text’s main "issue."

Essay Guidelines: With each essay, your goal is to take a stand (defined in a clear thesis), and support it with lively, well-developed and well-organized discussion using relevant textual examples. Your topic may be extension of ideas you wondered about in your response papers, a response to an issue discussed in class, or a new idea altogether. While you are welcome to make connections to texts or to films outside of our syllabus, you must FOCUS your discussion on a text we’ve read for class. You are also welcome to read ahead if one of the stories we are reading later in the quarter seems like something you’d like to work on for an essay. 

Essays should be approximately 4-5 pages long (except for your final critical essay, which should be 7-8 pages long). You should integrate some paraphrases and/or short quotations where appropriate—documented, of course, with parenthetical citations and a works cited list in MLA format (see Guide 191-195 and 215-216). Do NOT incorporate block quotations—in other words, quotations should be less than four lines long. Workshop drafts and final versions of your essay should be word processed in a 12-point standard font (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial, etc.). Your name and page number should appear on every page in the upper right-hand corner (see upper right-hand corner of this syllabus), and you do not need a title page. See Guide for manuscript format guidelines, standards for grades, and a revision checklist (41-46). Aim for the length requirement; half a page over or under is acceptable. Please proofread carefully. When you turn in a final version of an essay, please include all of the drafts leading up to your final version in your folder, and keep all materials—you’ll need to include them in your final portfolio. 

Final Portfolio: Please divide the different sections below with a sheet of paper (titled/designed or not), and have all the materials spiral- or coil-bound. Your portfolio will include the following.

• Cover Page: Include your title, your name, the course, my name, and the date. Design is completely up to you. Graphics are welcome. Have fun with this!
• Introduction (40 points): In a page or two, please reflect upon how working with literature has affected you as a reader, writer, and thinker. What are the most important things you have learned as a result of thinking, reading, and writing about literature for ten weeks? What texts or activities might you recommend to others—and why?
• Critical Essay with Articles (200 points): Choose a topic generated by one of your essays or your response papers and substantially revise and develop it into a critical essay. Find and use at least three critical (journal) articles on your selected text/topic (you may use articles downloaded from academic databases available through E-Resources at Penrose—and you may use website material, but websites do not count as critical articles). Your primary goal should be to take a position, develop your idea, and support it, taking into consideration other scholarly or critical views on your topic. Use evidence where appropriate and be scrupulous about paraphrasing, quoting, and citing sources. This essay should be approximately 7-8 pages long, with correct format, documentation, and works cited list. Please include both the workshop versions of your essay and the articles you used after the final version of essay in this section. 
• Film Reviews (50 points): Include a review of each of the three films we watched in class. As with response papers, your review should take a position on a specific idea or element and should clearly connect the film to the ideas of "the gothic" that we’ve discussed in class.
• Response Papers (10 points): Include a copy of all of your response papers in chronological order from 1-10. You do not need to revise them or print out a new clean copy (unless you want to). 
• Extra Credit (optional): You may include two drawings, poems, or short stories inspired by the literature we’ve read for ten extra points each.

• engaging introduction,
• identification of your topic and clear statement of your position, 
• description of what interested you about the topic (could be part of introduction), 
• discussion of your most persuasive evidence, 
• strong conclusion.

Final Grade Framework: You determine your grade from this day forward, so do ask me if you have any questions about the assignments or anything else. To earn the most possible points, come to class prepared and on time, do your own work to the best of your ability, turn in the work on the due date, and participate in class—your grade will reflect your efforts! Your final grade will be based on the following framework (adjusted for absences/lates/participation if necessary).
 

ten response papers: 200 two short essays: 200  workshops: 100 presentation: 200 final portfolio with critical essay: 300 total points: 1000

930-1000 = A 830-879 = B 730-779 = C 630-679 = D  900-929 = A- 800-829 = B- 700-729 = C- 600-629 = D- 880-899 =B+ 780-799 =C+ 680-699 =D+ 0-600 = F

GOOD THINGS TO KNOW

Writing Assistance: The Write Place, staffed by English instructors, is a valuable resource for you. The Write Place operates on a walk-in basis, and the instructors can help you develop or revise your writing assignment (note: the Write Place is not a proofreading service). The Write Place is located in Penrose Library and in the residence halls (see Guide 35 for more information). 

Some Important Dates: Last day you may drop class without signature: May 3, 2002; last day you may drop class with signature: May 17, 2002.