1:00 PM The Gothic Novel – Evergreen Forum (SPB)

THE GOTHIC NOVEL

LEADER: Betty Lies taught for many years at Stuart Country Day School, and was a poet in the schools for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, which named her a Distinguished Teaching Artist.
THURSDAYS: 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., 8 weeks: February 28 through April 18
LOCATION: PSRC

Considering its relatively recent appearance in the world of literature, the Gothic novel has proved extremely popular. A child of the late eighteenth century, it has flourished into the present. In this class we will read what is considered to be the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, Jane Austen’s spoof, Northanger Abbey, and two or three examples from modern times. In considering this genre, we’ll ponder why tales of mysterious houses, ghosts, madness, and doom appeal so widely to the human consciousness.