EN2L8/EN3L5 Tales of Terror: Gothic and the Short Form
NEXT RUNNING 2026/27
Any resit students needing information pertaining to the 15 CAT version EN2L8/3L5 from 2022-23 can click hereLink opens in a new window or visit the moodle page for that course/year.
Any resit students who took the 30 CAT version from 2023/24 or 2024/25 should visit the moodle page for that course/year.
Anyone wishing to take the module 2026/27 can find a sample outline below. This is subject to change, but note also that there have been slight amendments to the assessment requirements for the forthcoming year - please see below.
Some highlights from module feedback 2023/24 on what had the most impact on learning:
"I really took a lot from how focused the various different weeks were on a particular topic/theme, made every week feel important and different. I really took away a lot from learning about eco & colonial Gothic in particular, as well as just learning about the origins and development of the Gothic short form more broadly from folkloric tradition to publication in the periodicals."
"Seminar discussions are productive and informative, and delivered in a supportive environment."
"The Library Workshop with the periodicals. It was the first time I had done something like that and added a new skill."
"This module has been really useful in helping me understand more about the Gothic genre within the 19th century as well as how the gothic developed within the short form of stories, poems, etc. I've really enjoyed the module and its something I would love to continue pursue learning in the future. I especially really enjoyed the use of theoretical texts to support our understanding of fictional texts throughout the year. I also really enjoyed the diverse range of topics studied in relation to the Gothic i.e. the weeks done on topographies, colonial gothic, queer gothic were all really engaging in terms of reading and discussions in the seminar"
"The theory that speaks on topics of production, translation and anthologies was particularly helpful in expanding my own criticism and applied well to other modules."
" I really enjoyed all the content and I feel there was a good balance between all the seminars, so much was covered that one is bound to find a week they would love to work on. Seminars were organised in the best way possible as well. The only thing that would have been nice, would be to have even more of it in Term 3!"
Notes
- 1.5 hour seminars for 17 weeks (and one reading week per term) PLUS One x 2 hour library-based workshop in Term 1. It will be an extra 30 mins added on the usual slot (i.e. if class is 9.30-11 this workshop will be 9-11, or if 1-2.30pm it would be 1-3pm and so on), but you will need to check for timetable clashes when devising your schedule in Sept / if it's a one off clash we can work something out)
- 8 lectures - four per term - in weeks 2, 4, 7, and 9 (again you will need to check for timetable clashes).
- PLEASE NOTE that ECLS modules, including this one, start in WEEK 1.
Module Description
Engaging with a range of "Tales of Terror" from the Anglophone world/ in English translation in the long nineteenth century c.1770 – 1920, this module will introduce you to the relationship between "the Gothic" (in its various meanings) and "the short form" - from the oral and transcribed folktale; the literary ballad; to the narrative poem, through to illustrated sensation tales and to the high-literary Gothic tale and the non-fiction tales and contexts with which they intersected. You will encounter tales of the supernatural, of psychological uncertainty, that are uncanny, and which sometimes include visceral horror. As well as strengthening your close-reading skills, this module will enable you to critically evaluate a developing form in its material, historical, visual, and transnational context; enhancing your understanding of the literary networks in which Gothic tales participated, were transcribed, circulated, appropriated, received, reviewed, and theorised. Material and print cultures and the modes and effects of changing publication contexts will be a key component throughout. Thinking also about the aesthetics of these works, you will consider why and how the Gothic (whatever that may mean) was a particularly influential mode in the rise of the Short Story.
Learning outcomes
- Demonstrate an understanding of the socio-religious and/or oral/literary traditions from which many tales derived or were influenced by.
- Describe and explain the formal and stylistic characteristics of selected tales and their adaptations and appropriations produced in the long nineteenth century.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the publication contexts and material forms in which tales were transcribed, circulated, and experienced over the course of the long nineteenth century and how the rise of the anthology reshapes the tales in our own time.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the Gothic as a fashionable and controversial mode through which social anxieties were expressed and through which literary experiments were enacted and theories of literary form were shaped.
- Analyse the Gothic tale’s relationship to notions of nation, gender, and class in terms of authorship and readership.
- Formulate original arguments to do with an aspect of the module based on independent research (to be demonstrated through an essay or creative-critical project).
- Demonstrate the ability to critically reflect on the aims, process, and outcomes of their own research.
Sample Syllabus (from 2024/25)
There will be some minor amendments to the themes for 2026/27 but this is roughly what to expect. The week 1 reading will be put on here in case of moodle access issues, but generally an outline of the confirmed syllabus will be given to you in hard copy in week 1 and all materials and assessment info will be on moodle as soon as you are enrolled.
Everything will be accessible as weekly reading packs on moodle that are made up of a selection of short stories/forms and extracts from secondary reading.
TERM 1
Week 1: Introduction to "Gothic" and "The Short Form" In this introductory week we will use short set secondary reading on “the short form” and on “the Gothic” to tease out the stylistic aspects that characterise the works and the wider theoretical issues we will encounter and consider on the whole module.
Week 2: Tales of Terror and/or Horror: Early Craft and Reception [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 3: From the Streets to the Parlour: Gothic Ballads
Week 4: Gothic Fragments [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 5: Evolutions and Experiments in Prose: Chapbooks, Tales of Terror, The Short Story.
Week 6: READING WEEK -Close-Reading is due Term 1, week 7 (see tabula for specific date)
Week 7: Folklore and the Gothic [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 8: Periodical Publishing – A Library Workshop [2hours]
Week 9: Death, Spirituality, and the Afterlife [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 10: “Ghost Stories” for Christmas
Practical and Critical Reflection is due Thursday of Term 1, week 11 (see tabula)
TERM 2
Week 1: Queer Tales
Week 2: The Science of/and the Supernatural [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 3: Tales of Trauma
Week 4: Anthologies and Collections [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 5: Terror in Translation
Week 6: READING WEEK
Week 7: Topographies of Terror [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 8: Colonial and Imperial Gothic
Week 9: Visualising the Gothic Short Form [LECTURE WEEK]
Week 10: Studies in Sub-Genre and Form
Critical Introduction or Review is due Tuesday of week 11 of Term 2.
EASTER BREAK
Main Essay is due Thursday of week 3, Term 3.
Assessments 26/27
The assessments will test your ability to perform comprehensive and thorough examples of some or all of the following: critical Close reading; analysis of genre, form, and style; capacity to understand, judge, compare, and employ different critical approaches; Comparative and close analysis, research, and the formulation of original and informed arguments.Details of each assessment will be on the 2026/27 moodle but will also be given in hardcopy.
If you are retaking this module from 2024/25 you should use the assessment pattern for that specific year, found on the moodle page for that year.
If you are required to resit in the summer of 2026/27 or as Resit Without Residence (RWR) in the following academic year thenplease note that the "Independent Research Essay" requirements are the same but reassessment for the "Practical and Critical Reflection" and "Group Anthology & Individual Reflection" are different - see here.
EN2L8 Intermediate Assessment:
- Close Reading (Formative)
1000 words by 12pm Mon of Term 1.7 via email to me - Practical and Critical Reflection (20%)
1400 words by 12pm Tues of Term 1, week 11 via Tabula - Group Anthology (1500 words) & Individual Reflection (800 words) (30%* total)
both by 12pm Tues of Term 2.11 via Tabula - Independent Research Essay (50%)
3000 words by 12pmThurs of Term 3, week 3 via Tabula
- Close Reading (Formative)
1000 words by 12pm Mon of Term 1.7 via email to me - Practical and Critical Reflection (20%)
1400 words by 12pm Tues of Term 1, week 11 via Tabula - Group Anthology (1500 words) & Individual Reflection (800 words) (30%* total)
both by 12pm Tues of Term 2.11 via Tabula - Independent Research Essay (50%)
3800 words by 12pmThurs of Term 3, week 3 via Tabula
***For the 30% assessment, the total will be the combined mean mark of Group work - where everyone gets the same mark - and Individual mark - where everyone gets their own mark. So you may all, for example, receive 74 for the group work (50% of the total mark), but one person receives 68 for the individual component (the other 50% of the total mark) and so their mark for that 30% assessment is 71. Another person receives 62 for the individual aspect and so, with the 74 for group work, their total for the 30% assessment is 68.
Exchange students with us for the full academic year will adhere to the same assessment methods detailed above according to the module code assigned to them (if unsure, email ugenglish@warwick.ac.uk).
Exchange students with us for one term only, will submit a 2,000 word independent research essay on the last Tuesday of the term they complete [see your tabula] and should discuss with me around week 4 or 5.
SUMMER READING
I would definitely recommend reading Minor Hauntings before term starts because it will feature heavily throughout a number of term 1 and 2 seminars and lectures. The Le Fanu and Hearn collections are used in term 2.
Texts to Acquire for 2024-25 (2026/27 TBC)
Recommended for Purchase or Borrow from library (see TalisAspire). MUST BE THESE SPECIFIED EDITIONS.
Sheridan Le Fanu, In a Glass DarklyLink opens in a new window, edited by Robert Tracy (Oxford World's Classics, 2008)
This is a set text that we will explore across a couple of sessions. Ensure to read pretty much the entire thing (introduction, notes on text and the prologues etc), but note that Carmilla is NOT a short story. It is a novella and cannot be used (as a stand alone text) in your assessments and you can skip reading it if you wish (but do read its prologue).
MUST BE THIS EDITION.
Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales of Spectral YouthLink opens in a new window, edited by Jen Baker (British Library Publishing, 2021).
Ensure to read the Introduction and all main contents, look at the packaging the paratexts (i.e. cover to cover). Set reading used in a number of sessions and lectures throughout the year so try and read in advance of term (and no, I don't get your money, it all goes to the publisher!).
If you wish to become a collector there are lots of books in this series sometimes on offer 3 for 2.
MUST BE THIS EDITION. The Kindle version is NOT recommended because it misses components.
Lafcadio Hearn's Japanese Ghost StoriesLink opens in a new window, edited by Paul Murray (Penguin, 2019).
Ensure to read pretty much cover-to-cover, especially the Introduction, the "notes on text", and as many of the stories as you can. Set reading used in a couple of sessions.
MUST BE THIS EDITION.