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ENGL 265-02, Imperial Horrors, Postcolonial Hauntings, Fall 2008
Richards, Jason
Richards, Jason
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English, Department of, Syllabus, Curriculum, Academic departments, Text, 2008 Fall
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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 Wide Sargasso Sea, Beloved, 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.
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This syllabus was submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs by the course instructor.