History: Literary Monsters Adapted

Literary Monsters Adapted

Grendel. Frankenstein. Dracula. Monsters have long fascinated us, appearing in many of our most popular stories. In “Monster Culture (Seven Theses),” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen describes the monster as “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment—of a time, a feeling, and a place.” In this course we will look at several famous literary monsters and then read or view contemporary works that invoke or reinvent them in different contexts. If monsters represent the fears, anxieties, and projections of the culture that constructs them, how can we read their multiple and varied adaptations through time? Why do monsters retain such a powerful hold on the cultural imagination?

This course will be delivered synchronously online. This is a writing intensive class, requiring 4,000 words of formal writing (16 pages). Assignments will include short responses to the readings, a close reading assignment, a formal paper, a creative adaptation exercise, and a take-home final.

 

Possible texts (subject to change):

Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headey

Grendel by John Gardner

Frankenstein (selections) by Mary Shelley

Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (graphic novel) by Roy Thomas

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014 film)

 

 

The SLOs for this courses are as follows:

1. Students will improve their ability to ask questions of and to read, analyze, and interpret complex literary texts, using relevant literary terminology critically and creatively.

2. Students will augment their knowledge of how literature is organized by historical periods, genres, cultures, and cultural formations.

3. Students will improve their ability to express ideas by organizing, developing and supporting a description, analysis, or argument in written formats, within the conventions of academic writing.

4. Students will produce a significant amount of writing such that the course fulfills the requirements of its mandatory W Focus designation (i.e. 4,000 words).