LFU:online

Institut für Amerikastudien Institut für Amerikastudien

Mag. Dr. Claudia Schwarz Mag. Dr. Claudia Schwarz

610005

American Literature: Ghost Stories

PS 2

5

wöch.

semestral

Englisch

In many societies around the world, ghosts are very much part of everyday life. If not from real encounters, ghosts are familiar to people from folklore, literatur, and popular culture. In literature, classics like Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_, Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol," and Henry James’s "The Turn of the Screw" have introduced ghosts as prominent characters that haunt the protagonists, offer insights, or bring hidden truths to light. Even though in American literature ghosts appear most prominently in Gothic fiction they are also frequently found in stories by and about African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans. Depending on the cultural context, ghosts are depicted as the scary ‘other’ or as a natural part of everyday life. In this course we will therefore discuss basic features and characteristics of ghost stories, identify different types of ghosts and their purposes, and talk about their impact on the characters in the story as well as the effects on readers/audiences. Moreover, the sociological aspects of haunting in terms of race, gender, and class will be addressed. We will work with ghost stories by authors like Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Toni Morrison, Maxine Hong Kingston, examine films like _Ghost_, _The Others_, _Ghostbusters_, and look at other examples from popular culture. Warning: This class may haunt you.

Lecture inputs, presentations, group discussions

Active class participation, reading and writing assignments, term paper

Primary sources and selected secondary sources will be made available on e-campus

Anmeldungsvoraussetzung/en im BA: positive Beurteilung der Pflichtmodule 3 und 16 Entspricht im Lehramtsstudium (344): PS2: American Literature
Beginn: 8.3.2011