Course schedule for the Interdisciplinary Studies for Literature Certificate Program, Northwestern University School of Professional Studies - Northwestern School of Professional Studies

Course Schedule

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LIT 492-DL : Special Topics in Lit: Early Modern Horror

Description

This seminar will bring together literary texts from the English Renaissance, ancient and Renaissance theories of spectatorship and catharsis, and academic criticism and theory on contemporary horror fiction and film. Through these juxtapositions, we will interrogate the con- and divergences between contemporary horror fiction and film and horror-adjacent examples of early modern writing, including revenge tragedies, treatises on witchcraft and histories of its punishment, and fantastical and “real” accounts of monsters. Building on Aristotle’s theory of catharsis, we will ask: what psychological, cultural, or civic functions are served by the publication and performance of horror, in the early modern period and in our own? What sorts of events, language, and ethical crises characterize early modern horror, and how do they compare to the preoccupations of contemporary horror? What was the allure of horror literature in early modern England, and what is its allure now? Texts may include: Aristotle, Poetics; Henricus Institor, Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches); Marie de France, Bisclavret (English translation); Julia Kristeva, The Powers of Horror; William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus;Thomas Middleton, The Revenger’s Tragedy; John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi; James I, Daemonologie; Thomas Potts, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster; Ambroise Paré, excerpts from On Monsters and Marvels (English translation); Fortunio Liceti, On Monsters: Their Causes, Nature, and Differences (English translation).

(This course may count towards the British Lit, Comparative and World Literature, Film, Literature, and Visual Culture, or Interdisciplinary Studies specializations in the master of arts in literature program. This course may count towards the Interdisciplinary Studies specialization in the master of arts in liberal studies program. It may also count as a literature course or elective in the creative writing program. Additionally, this course may count towards certificates of graduate studies.)

Note: This course meets weekly online.