ENGL 265-02, Imperial Horrors, Postcolonial Hauntings, Spring 2009

Abstract

This course examines the Gothic horrors and hauntings that issue from the imperial and postcolonial experience. We'll begin with imperial writers who use the Gothic to explore the terrors of empire as well as the boundaries between civilization and savagery, reason and irrationality, self and other. Our imperial Gothic texts include Heart of Darkness, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Dracula, and "The Mark of the Beast." Then we'll turn to postcolonial texts, where the ghosts of colonization make their uncanny return. By reading Gothic fiction from Africa, the Caribbean, America, and Canada, we'll examine how postcolonial spaces, worldviews, and literatures are haunted by the trauma and darkness of colonization. Our postcolonial Gothic texts include A Bend in the River, Beloved, and Brown Girl in the Ring, among others. Throughout the semester, we'll consider issues of racial difference, national identity, and the re/writing of history in relation to the Gothic mode.