At the end of this module, students will:
(a) have a critical understanding of the relationship between horror and modernity.
(b) have a discipline-specific knowledge of literary techniques, devices, and writing styles that are prevalent in the genre, and thus be able to conceptualise horror theoretically.
(c) be able to outline the evolution of horror through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, paying particular attention to literary and socio-historical contexts.
(d) be able to account for the role and function of horror in popular culture specifically, paying particular attention to the module’s key topics and themes.

Week 1: Introduction to Theories of Horror. Edgar Allan Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death” (1842 short story). Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Body Snatcher” (1884 short story).

Week 2: Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw" (1898 novella).

Week 3: M.R. James, “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” (1904 short story). H.P. Lovecraft, “The Outsider” (1926 short story). Daphne du Maurier, “The Birds” (1952 short story).

Week 4: Shirley Jackson, "The Haunting of Hill House" (1959 novel).

Week 5: Robert Bloch, "Psycho" (1959 novel).

Week 6 : Ira Levin, "Rosemary’s Baby" (1967 novel).

Week 7: William Peter Blatty, "The Exorcist" (1971 novel).

Week 8: Stephen King, "The Shining" (1977 novel).

Week 9: Clive Barker, “The Forbidden” (1985 short story). Joyce Carol Oates, “Haunted” (1994 short story).

Week 10: Koji Suzuki, "Ring" (1991 novel).

Week 11: Tananarive Due, "The Between" (1995 novel).

Week 12: Joe Hill, “The Black Phone” (2004 short story). John Ajvide Lindqvist, “Equinox” (2005 short story). Mariana Enriquez, “An Invocation of the Big-Eared Runt” (2016 short story).

Not applicable to this module.

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

Feedback is provided individually online through Brightspace, with the opportunity for face-to-face feedback