Category: Announcements

I can tell everyone came to class prepared and excited to move through our reading material together. It shows in the quiz results! Keep it up, and consult the in-class board notes for tips on how to get the most out of annotations.

As mentioned on the schedule, please read ch. 10-15 of Dracula, as well as the highlighted portions of the Felluga essay on abjection. It’s dense, but you’ll find that Felluga defines a concept that’s very useful for understanding images of violence and degeneration in Gothic fiction.

Group 3 (EDITED), please post your comments on this week’s blogs within the hour (if you haven’t already!). Also, Group 3, looking forward to reading your critical response prompts on Tuesday.

best,

Professor Kwong

Dear class,

Thank you for engaging today, both on Dracula and on the subject of our class’ progress. I am confident that, as our class gets a handle on the readings, our written and spoken explorations will be even more fruitful than they have been so far.

Please note for Thursday:

–Quiz on Dracula 1-9, Usher, the fantastic, Radcliffe’s definition of terror. 7 questions, multiple choice.

–Annotations: only 10-20 words each, but at least 1 per chapter from everyone; at a minimum, please cover different lines/passages from other students (though you can overlap if you do more than the minimum)

–Blog Group 2, please look over the prompts + decide who will respond to which one. (Actually, everyone, please look at the prompts, as they will give you a sense of the shape of the reading!) As usual, please post 250 words by 11 am on Thursday.

-Please note that the Felluga reading on abjection has been moved to next week. Don’t worry about it for Thursday’s class!

-Finally, I’ve posted the clips from today’s class under Videos.

Hi class,

Just a follow up to the previous announcement, to note that you can find the tips for annotations, comments, and critical responses available online. I handed these out on Thursday. If you’re feeling a bit lost, use the tips to guide your thinking and dig deeper into what we’re reading!

Dear class,

Thank you for engaging with Poe’s weird and wild text yesterday.

Thank you also for engaging on the topic of bringing hard copies of the readings. Whenever there are readings that need to be printed, please use your daily quota to print, staple, and bring to class. As you could tell yesterday, a lack of hard copies makes it really hard to get through the lesson – and also to get the most out of this class experience! If for whatever reason you have issues printing, please contact me in advance.

Please note that I did not count the first quiz towards your grade. There will be a second quiz, in the same format, on Thursday, Sept. 19. [UPDATED 9/14) The quiz will cover Dracula 1-9, the highlighted sections of the Radcliffe essay, and “Usher.” Quizzes will usually happen on Thursdays this semester.

For homework, please enjoy the first 4 chapters of Dracula! Read the prompts to get a sense of the content in these chapters. Group 1, you’re up for the next round of critical responses. Please contact me if/when you have questions about the prompts.

Also, Blog Group 1, comments for this week will be due by 5 pm tomorrow.

See you soon!

Thanks for engaging in today’s class and pushing past our “uncanny” experience of a malfunctioning computer…!

Here’s a recap of tasks for Thursday:

–Read + annotate “Fall of the House of Usher.” Even if you’re not writing a critical response, read the prompts (hover over “Critical Response Prompts”) before you start reading Poe’s story.

-Bring one important fact about American history 1800-1839. It could be a key battle, the passing of a law, an acquisition of a state, a politician coming to power, etc.

-Blog group 3 members write a 250 word response to one of the prompts by Thursday at 11 am.

–Blog group 1 members have comments on this week’s responses due Friday at 5 (2 comments minimum)

Finally, I decided not to count today’s quiz! Hopefully now you have a sense of the format for next time.

 

Thanks for a stimulating discussion today!

Please consult the class schedule for the readings due next week. Post 2-3 annotations of “Frankenstein” to the shared Google doc. Use the Critical Response prompts as a pre-reading guide, and consult the Annotation instructions for further guidance.

Comments on Blog Group 1 are due Friday, 9/6 at 5 pm (2 per student, 20-30 words each)*. As always, comments are due only from everyone who *didn’t* write a blog post this week.

*Information updated. Sorry for confusion!

For next class 9/3:

-Read ch. 3-5 of The Castle of Otranto. Even if you’re not doing a blog post next class, read the critical response prompts before you read, as they will highlight key themes or motifs to guide you through the reading. (1.5 hrs)

-Read the excerpt from Godwin’s “Caleb Williams” (30 mins)

-Visit the Columbia University virtual tours of Gothic cathedrals.  Observe where you see concrete examples of parts of Gothic architecture. How does the experience of being in such a space compare with the experience of reading Walpole’s novel? (To what extent is the cathedral “sublime,” as defined in today’s lecture?) (2o mins)

-3 annotations, 1 in each chapter of our shared text of Walpole. Note at least 1 moment that invites comparison to your experience of touring the Gothic cathedral, and 1 moment that invites comparison to a character or scene description from the Godwin excerpt (be specific!).  (20 mins)

–Blog group 1 (Sierra, Brian, Kerri, Jeremy), pick one of the prompts and write your 250-word response by 11 am on Monday. See “Critical Response Prompts” for more instructions. (30 mins)

Dear class,