English 1666: Gothic Tales of Terror

Dr. Carolyn Sigler



Fall 2006 syllabus

Fall 2006 reading schedule

Class handouts and supplemental readings

Online glossary of Gothic Literary Terms

Timeline of horror literature from the 13th century to the present

Scroll down for links to background information on writing, research, background on Gothic and horror literature, and information on individual authors.

 

WRITING AND DOCUMENTATION

LITERARY BACKGROUND AND CRITICISM

  • The Internet Public Library Online Literary Criticism Collection:  This literary metasite contains over 1,000 annotated metasites and articles devoted to literary criticism, biographical, and other information about 123 authors from Dante Alighieri to Arthur Miller to William Butler Yeats. The links to criticism information can be to sites or articles (some of which have access restrictions). Visitors can browse the site by author, title, or literary period (for British and American literature). In addition, both a literary criticism guide and a pathfinder are provided for those who wish to further explore web and print resources on the topic (from The Internet Scout Report).
  • Biographical and critical resources about many of the authors in this class can be found at the Literature Resource Center, a site that allows you to search through hundreds of Gale reference volumes, including the Dictionary of Literary Biography series as well as many other biographical and critical sources.
  • The Voice of the Shuttle literary resources
  • Key Literary Terms
  • A Glossary of Poetic terms
GOTHIC and HORROR RESOURCES

VICTORIAN BACKGROUND

ELECTRONIC TEXTS

OTHER SPOOKY STUFF

  • Obiwan's"UFO-free Paranormal Page" is a directory of ghostly Web links, sightings and sites, ghost hunting, and ghostly lore. The site describes itself as "home to the oldest true ghost story archive on the net (with stories dating back to 1993) as well as the net's original Ghosts and Hauntings FAQ. In addition, you will find hundreds of paranormal links, information on hauntings and publically accessible haunted places, a UFO-Free Message Board, one of the biggest Ghostlight Pages on the web, and more."
  • The Shadowlands site also offers a vast collection of ghost articles, reearch and sightings .
  • Check out the Shadowlands Index of Haunted Places (including many sites in Duluth). Before embarking on a ghost hunt, be sure to consult their Ghost Hunting 101 guide!
  • The Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained offers discussions of all manner of strange and unexplained phenomena, including a few, such as ghosts, which are related to the Gothic tradition in literature.

INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS

Charlotte Brontë
  • The Brontë Sisters Web
  • The Jane Eyre Page
  • Jane Eyre, An Introduction - Joyce Carol Oates
  • Jane Eyre (annotated text)
  • The Life of Charlotte Brontë - Elizabeth Gaskell (text)

    • E.F. Benson


    Mary Elizabeth Braddon

  • The Dickens Page
  • The Dickens Project - University of California
  • David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page
  • Charles Dickens: An Overview
  • Literary Gothic's page on Charles Dickens

    • Amelia Edwards
  • A biography of Edwards and bibliography of her work from the University of Pennsylvania site, A Celebration of Women Writers
  • Check out more of Edwards' stories at HorrorMasters' Women of Horror page


    Elizabeth Gaskell
  • The Elizabeth Gaskell Web
  • Check out more of Gaskell's ghost stories at HorrorMasters' Women of Horror page
    • Charlotte Perkins Giman
    •     The "Yellow Wallpaper" site
    • An annotated e-text of "The Yellow Wallpaper" with explanatory links for symbols
  • A site on Gilman with links to criticism and bibliography information
  • And another Gilman site with links to an audio dramatization of "The Yellow Wallpaper" as well as links to historical and literary contexts and critical resources
  • A Gilman site with links to online e-texts and critical resources
    Background and criticism on Gilman from The Domestic Goddesses site, devoted to nineteenth-century women writers
    Another Gilman site, with biographical, critical and research resources
    The PAL (Perspectives in American Literature) page on Gilman, includes bibliography and study questions.
  • The Yellow Wallpaper Site from the University of Texas
  • Check out more of Gilman's stories at HorrorMasters' Women of Horror page
    Shirley Jackson

    Stephen King

  • The Official Stephen King Web site
  • HorrorKing.com's Stephen King site
    • A comprehensive list of Stephen King Resources on the World Wide Web, inluding Web pages devoted to King and his works, academic works on King, biographies, and online essays and interviews by King.

    • Joyce Carol Oates

  • The Poe Museum in Richmond, VA contains links to biographical and literary resources
  • A research and reference guide from PAL (Perspectives in American Literature)
  • The Works of Edgar Allen Poe: "Edgar Allen Poe was only on this earth for an all-too brief forty years, but he crafted some fine poetry. Some have argued that with the 'Murders in the Rue Morgue,' he created the first detective story. On this site, visitors will see complete text versions of almost all of Poe's poems and short stories. Each piece begins by indicating the year of its first publication and the publication in which it appeared. Also, an extended biographical essay about Poe's life is available, as well as a helpful resource page that contains links to the Edgar Allen Poe Society of Baltimore and the Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site. One highlight of the site is the complete text of Poe's only novel, The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym, a truly horrifying account of one man's voyage on board an ocean-going vessel that concludes with the line, 'I have graven it within the hills, and my vengeance upon the dust within the rock.'" [from The Internet Scout Project]

    • Christina Rossetti

  • Christina Rossetti Archive
  • Christina Georgina Rossetti
  • Christina Rossetti Overview
    • Saki (H.H. Munro)
  • The Saki page contains links to e-texts, critical and biographical information
  • The Literary Gothic's Saki page also contains links to e-texts as well as other Saki sites
  • This site on Saki contains a biography and links to further biographical and bibliographic information

    Robert Louis Stevenson
    • The Robert Louis Stevenson Web Site:
      Perhaps best known for his novels "Treasure Island" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Robert Louis Stevenson receives a fine tribute on this site, which serves both as a compendium of links, and as a nice resource for primary documents and writings by, and about, this notable 19th century writer. Created and maintained by Richard Drury, a graduate of the University of Manchester and a professor at the Universita di Bergamo, the site contains a number of thematic sections that address Stevenson's life, available online electronic editions of his works, and extended bibliographies. Visitors unfamiliar with the life of this rather fascinating man may want to start by reading one of the online essays about his life, or by diving right into one of the electronic editions of his works. Of particular interest to Stevenson scholars and aficionados will be the "Critical Reception" area of the site that explores the ways in which his work has been received over the past century or so (from The Internet Scout Report).
    • Perspectives on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a supplement to Martin Danahay's Broadview edition of Stevenson's novel
    • The Literary Gothic's page on Stevenson
    • Robert Louis Stevenson: An Overview (from The Victorian Web

    Bram Stoker

  • Bram Stoker's Dracula pages
  • Dracula(text)
  • The Life of Bram Stoker
  • Dracula's Homepage - Fact and Fiction

    Edith Wharton

  • Background and criticism on Wharton from The Domestic Goddesses site, devoted to nineteenth-century women writers
  • A page on Wharton's supernatural fiction from the Literary Gothic site, includes background on Freeman as well as links to other sites and selected e-texts.
  • Another bibliographic page on Wharton's Gothic fiction from The Sickly Taper
  • The Perspectives in American Literature (PAL) page on Wharton includes an extensive bibliography and other critical and biographical resources.
  • Dee Shidler's Edith Wharton page offers biographical, critical and bibliographic resources and information on Wharton.

    • Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman