ENGL 1666: Tales of Terror
Dr. Sigler

Key Questions for ENGL 1666: Gothic Tales of Terror

1. How would you respond to the argument that an interest in horror is sick and perverted--the sign of a twisted society and mind?
That gothic tales are not serious literature but a waste of time at best and at worst an actual danger to society (like violent pornography)? Is there any "redeeming social value" in horror, or is it a peculiar (and even sick) indulgence? Is "Goth" culture responsible for the massacre at Columbine High School (Littleton, CO, 20 April 1999) and other atrocities?

2. Why do people read (and presumably enjoy) tales of terror when terror is usually considered a painful emotion? What function might these stories perform for their readers?

3. How do you define gothic literature? What elements do you expect to find in a tale of terror? What qualities or components or conventions distinguish it from other kinds of writing? Can a work simultaneously belong to several genres (e.g., sci-fi and horror, or more recently, romance and horror)?

4. What qualities make for great horror literature? What are the criteria you apply in deciding which stories are better than others?

5. Examine one of the conventional or "stock" characters that reappears throughout gothic literature--e.g., the over-reaching scientist, the vampire, the werewolf, the mad murderer, the ghost, the "thing with no name." How do various authors treat this stereotype, keeping it recognizable yet making it particular and unique to a specific story? How does the figure change over time? What do the changes suggest about the cultures from which it emerges?

6. How are women depicted and treated in gothic literature? Do you agree with those critics who find gothic fiction a particularly sexist and misogynistic genre? What female writers have produced horror fiction throughout literary history? Does their work differ from that of male authors?

7. Is humor antithetical to horror? Does humor diminish or increase the horror? What is the psychology involved? (In thinking about this topic, you might want to read Thomas De Quincey's famous essay "On the Knocking on the Gate in Macbeth.")

8. How does the point of view affect your reading of particular gothic tales? Why has each writer chosen this particular narrative perspective for the story? How would a change in the point of view alter the impact of the story?

9. Explore the role of human sexuality in gothic literature. How does it function? What does it have to do with terror? Do you agree with Joseph Twitchell (Dreadful Pleasures: AnAnatomy of Modern Horror, 1985) that horror literature and film are essentially explorations of adolescent sexuality?

10. What is your own position regarding the debate in the documentary Fear in the Dark between Clive Barker, who argues that horror is most effective when it shows readers/viewers something they have never seen before and could not conceive on their own, and Robert Bloch (among others), who argues that horror is more effective when it leaves the depiction of evil and monstrosity suggestive and shadowy, thereby tapping the readers' own imagination? What specific examples illustrate and support your position?

11. Analyze the use of religion and theology in gothic literature. In what ways do authors present an orthodox or conventionally religious view of the world? To what extent do they suggest some alternative vision of reality and of the supernatural as it influences human life? How do writers use religious symbols and motifs in their stories?

12. Examine the conclusion of particular gothic stories. How would you describe each writer's rhetorical strategy at the ending? Does
the tale provide a satisfying sense of closure, or does it disturb by its implications or incompleteness?

13. Explore setting in gothic literature. How much attention do specific authors give to setting, and why? To what extent does setting
become significant beyond providing a physical locale for the action--that is, what does it also contribute to mood, symbolism, characterization, and theme? To what extent do particular writers follow conventions of gothic setting or violate those conventions for unusual effects?

14. How do gothic stories change over time? Which conventions alter with shifts in literary history, and which remain the same? How do particular gothic stores reflect their historical-social-cultural-aesthetic milieu? In what ways do they mirror the culture that produced them? Are today's stories scarier, more violent, and less subtle than classic horror from the past?

15. Explore the nature of evil in particular tales of terror. How do various writer perceive evil in the scheme of things? Who or whatconstitutes evil for them? What remedies (if any) do they propose for evil? Does what a society considers evil change over time?

16. Referring to an excerpt from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Stephen King writes, "Analysis of such a paragraph is a mean and shoddy trick, and should almost always be left to college and university professors, those lepidopterists of literature who, when they see a lovely butterfly, feel that they should immediately run into the field with a net, catch it, kill it with a drop of chloroform, and mount it on a white board and put it in glass case, where it will still be beautiful . . . and just as dead as horseshit" (Danse Macabre [1981], p. 268). Do we spoil or enhance the experience of a story or film by analyzing it intellectually? Do we "murder to dissect"?

17. What kind of relationship(s) do our authors develop with their readers? What role(s) do they assume as narrator and assign to us as readers? How do they seem to want us to respond to their works? What exactly do they do to elicit particular responses from us? How would you describe their rhetorical strategy? How successful are they at implementing that strategy?

Use these questions to prepare for the examinations all during the semester. Take notes on these topics as you read each author, and get into the habit of comparing and contrasting writers. By doing so, you will be well prepared for class discussions, you will construct a valuable overview of the course material, and you will be ready for the examinations without having to "cram" at the last minute.

These questions are taken from Steve Adams' Web site for ENGL 1801: American Gothic