“It was a dark and stormy night…” This course wanders into the darkness of “Gothic” literature: haunted houses, gloomy landscapes, knotty wildernesses and stormy seas, where we’ll encounter a variety of famous literary monsters, ghosts and mysteries. The course will explore the history of the “Gothic” genre in order to identify its conventions, forms, and thematic preoccupations. By understanding this history, we can draw connections between the ways the genre has evolved over time to how it continues to evolve today. Together we’ll explore the Gothic imagination and critically think about why its horrifying images, plots and characters resonate with the human experience.