Short Talk and Film schedule for Fall 2010: Reading and Writing about Texts: Exploring the Gothic

• English 201.026 (Fri, 7:30-10:10, East Building 121)
• English 201.028 (Fri, 4:30-7:10, East Building 121)

Fri, Sept 3rd

• The class watches the film Afterward.

Fri, Sept 10th

• The class watches the film The Woman In Black.

Fri, Sept 17th

• Short Talk 1: Compare the way the ghost in "Afterward" and the vampire in "Mr Jones" are presented Brittany Carey/Aaron Isaacman
• Short talk 2: Discuss the role of the house and landscape in Edith Wharton's "Afterward" (you may use the film Afterward) and "Mr Jones". Oye Dodi/Chris Elliot
• Short Talk 3: Discuss the presentation of the workings of capitalism and women's lives in "Afterward." Zohal Saboor/Sariyu Marfo
• Short Talk 4: Discuss the lack of relationship between wrong done to Jennet Humphry as a mother and the destruction of Arthur Kidd's first family in Susan Hill's The Woman In Black: are we shown a just or malign universe in the film and book (why did the film omit Arthur Kidd's second family so important in the book? . Megan Holmes/________________________________

Fri, Sept 24th

• Short talk 5: Discuss the terrifying in Hill's The Woman in Black and the film The Woman in Black: what roles do the marsh, the toys and dog, Spider play? Sarah Ramey/________________________________
• Short Talk 6: In both "Olalla" and "Mr Jones" except for the heroine, Lady Jane Lynk, the woman are kept offstage; discuss how the poignancy of the Lady Juliana's crippled imprisoned plight and the fearfulness and desperation of the possibly vampiric daughter, Olalla, and her mother are conveyed Nouria Sharifi/Gabe Fite
• Short Talk 7: Discuss the treatment of the narrator's journey, physical place in the household and the larger setting of "Olalla" Lorraine Lundren-Soter/Joe Gajewski
• The class watches the film Mary Reilly.

Fri, Oct 1st

• Short talk 8: Discuss how in Martin's Mary Reilly the characters are set up along class and gender, and money lines as parallels and contrasts Jose Lopez/________________________________
• Short Talk 9: How do the objects (e.g, not just things like cups, kitchen tool, or books, but labyrinthine stairways, the kinds of rooms, and shots in the film, Frears's Mary Reilly, combine to make a frightening & melancholy gothic melodrama? Hannah Nguyen/Inderbir Bal
• Short talk 10: Discuss the dual selves in Mary Reilly (not just Dr Jekyll's, but also Mary's and her father's). Stephen Chill/Alex Irvine

Fri, Oct 8th

• Short talk 11: In Suzy McKee Charnas's Vampire Tapestry what in "The Ancient Mind at Work" and "The Land of Lost Content" make us admire and sympathize with Dr Weyland. For example, who has the ancient mind in story or Chapter 1? Who are the brutes, who the victims in story of Chapter 2? James Meredith/Hector Simpson
• Short talk 12: In Charnas's Vampire Tapestry, who seduces who in "The Unicorn Tapestry" (story or chapter 3) and what are the different strengths of the two antagonists, Flora and Weyland, the lady and unicorn? Kanokwan Taweechalsuntis/Pegah Sadeghi
• Short talk 13: In Charnas's Vampire Tapestry, "A musical interlude" is the story of an opera performance, and "The Last of Dr Weyland" of Dr Weyland's escape back into eternity: discuss the opera house and happenings as modern variants on the vampire myth. Tiffany Laseter/Brian Cheung

Fri, Oct 15th

• The class watches The Turn of the Screw.

Fri, Oct 22nd

• First hour and one half: Midterm.
• Then the class watches The Adventure of Abbey Grange

Fri, Nov 5th

• Short talk 14: Discuss the governess in Turn of the Screw as victim of an exploitative employer and conspiracy of silence around the ghost Peter Quint and whatever happened at Miles's school. ______________________________/Richard Strand
• Short talk 15: What in the story prevents us from thinking the governess in Turn of the Screw is totally a repressed woman with hallucinating fancies; what in the story makes us feel she could be? Leslie Berlin/Chris Elliot (second talk will be on the film cf to the book)
• Short Talk 16: Discuss wife abuse and male heroism in "The Adventure of Abbey Grange" and "Cardboard Box" Makda Gegregziaher/Syed Hasan
• The class watches "The Cardboard Box"

Fri, Nov 12th

• Short Talk 17: Discuss what is horrorifying in The Turn of the Screw and "The Cardboard Box" ________________________________/Pratik Patel
• Short talk 18: Discuss the Tilney family (e.g., the General's behavior towards Eleanor and probably his dead wife) and Thorpe (all three young adults as realistic versions of the brutality, deceit, and tyranny we find in the gothic (Northanger Abbey. ________________________________/Buddy Igboegwu
• Short Talk 19: Discuss the parodies and serious uses of gothic conventions in Northanger Abbey: Matt Giambra/Justine Watanbe
• The class watches Northanger Abbey.

Fri, Nov 19th

• Short talk 20: Social Satire in Bath: Catherine Morland as pupil or teacher and Henry Tilney as witty hero or man of sensibility/sensitivity in Northanger Abbey. ________________________________/John Schaffer
• Short talk 21: Did the Signalman commit suicide? If so, how does the story present him so this becomes an understandable reaction to his circumstances and surrounding? Danny Sawaf/Marzia Shabbir
• The class watches Atonement

Fri, Dec 3rd

• Short Talk 22: How do class, money & other social arrangements (e.g., war) operate in McEwan's Atonement to keep Cecilia and Robbie apart and make Robbie's destiny tragic? HongJae Jeon/Jahvon Locke
• Short talk 23: In McEwan's Atonement discuss Briony's need to achieve self-acceptance in writing of the novel and whether you feel she therefore atones for her deed? Is not the novel and Cecilia and Robbie all hard on Briony who was just a child? Marisa Hasan/________________________________
• Short talk 24: How do the uses of beauty and horrifying landscape, houses, prisons, and hospitals and London streets work to make Atonement a visionary film? Young A Richardson/Andrew Warner

Fri, Dec 10th

• Short talk 25: Discuss the art of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, or how Kate Summerscale recreates the 19th century world so expertly: tell some of the things she does and the different points of view she covers. Woo Jung Cheon/Masoud Wardak
• Short talk 26: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is another governess and family politics story: discuss sex, class, and children's relationships to parents connecting this to the two probable murderers of the little boy ________________________________/Veronica Zambrana
• Short talk 27: How did the real police force work in the 19th century (who was hired, how promoted, how paid): compare Mr Whicher who is not admired for his correct suspicions and the presentation of Sherlock Holmes who is (or why is the book named after Mr Whicher?) Peter Cannon/Oral Aydogu