Supernatural Literature

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This lecture only course introduces students to the origins and development of Supernatural Literature throughout the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. We will study key texts by writers of the Supernatural such as M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, William Peter Blatty, Toni Morrison, Shirley Jackson and Koji Suzuki. Students will be introduced to the work of key critics and theorists dealing with the supernatural as a literary form and encouraged to consider the ways in which classic supernatural themes and tropes have been updated to reflect modern anxieties and preoccupations. They also be asked to consider the way in which supernatural literatures from around the world (the USA, Wales, Spain Japan and England) differ in their approach to depicting the otherworldly and the uncanny. In addition, the ways in which supernatural narratives have been depicted in contemporary horror cinema and on the internet (in the form of so called 'Creepypasta' such as the controversial Slender Man meme), will also be considered.