21st-Century Fantasy: The Dark Fantastic
Spring 2010
3-5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Nott Hall basement computer-lab classroom (up the ramp)
Teacher: Andy Duncan
E-mail: andy.duncan@ua.edu (and via Facebook)
Home phone: (301) 689-5059
Office phone (301) 687-4241
All students in this class must be enrolled in the University Honors Program.
Texts:
Course Description: Deal-making devils, microscopic madmen, vengeful Elder Gods, monsters in the mist, mannequins that come to life, and any number of ghosts, vampires and other revenants all haunt this interdisciplinary seminar on the literature of the weird, the supernatural, the horrific, the uncanny. Our texts range from illustrious ancestors such as Irving, Hawthorne, and Poe to some of the most acclaimed and influential purveyors of contemporary nightmares.
Course Objectives: The class is designed to deepen students’ understanding of the Dark Fantastic in all its modes, including short stories, novels, movies and comics. By semester’s end, students will be more sophisticated consumers of the Dark Fantastic, better able to speak and write about it with depth and insight and to understand how this genre engages with the world and vice versa. No previous obsession with the topic is assumed or required.
Neil Gaiman’s Visit: Students are urged to attend the performance by visiting author Neil Gaiman at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, at the Bama Theatre in downtown Tuscaloosa. That’s the day after our class discussion of his novel The Graveyard Book. Admission is free, but you must register for a ticket beginning Feb. 1 at www.crimsonartstickets.com. This will be a standing-room-only event, so don’t delay. For more information on Gaiman in Tuscaloosa, visit http://www.uacreativecampus.org/projects/neil-gaiman.
A Technology Note: Your teacher lives in the mountains of western Maryland and interacts with the class in real time via webcam with the exception of one in-person visit per semester, generally for the final class meeting. Student conferences during the rest of the semester are encouraged; they will take place via phone, e-mail, or Facebook, as the student prefers.
Attendance Policy: Attendance and class participation (in class and online) are required. After two absences, your final grade will be lowered one letter for each subsequent absence. After five absences, you will receive an F for this course. Arriving late or leaving early counts as half an absence. In case of illness, injury or crisis, let your teacher know as soon as possible. Don’t just vanish.
Papers: You will write two non-fiction papers, each at least 2,000 words long, on topics of your choosing that are approved in advance by your teacher. Papers should specifically illuminate one or more of the texts being discussed in this class, but they may extend their focus beyond those texts as well. You will lead a five-to-10-minute class discussion of each topic as you are working on it. Papers handed in late will be docked one letter grade for each day they’re late. Papers more than a week late will not be accepted and will receive a zero. Format Requirements: Both your papers will be handed in electronically. Send them as PC-compatible Word attachments to andy.duncan@ua.edu. Papers must be in 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with ragged right margins and page numbers in the upper-right corners. Papers that don’t fit this format will be returned unread for correction.
Blog: Each of you will receive (and accept) an invitation to join Blogger and the class blog at http://darkfantastic2010.blogspot.com/. Here our class discussions will continue beyond Wednesday class meetings. Participating on the blog – through original posts and replies to others’ posts – is an important part of your semester grade, so get in the habit of visiting daily and contributing frequently. The minimum class requirement is three posts per week per student, at least one of which must start a new topic or thread, and at least one of which must be a response to a classmate’s post. More frequent posts are highly encouraged. Also chiming in from time to time may be invited guests from the world of fantasy publishing.
Other Assignments and Expectations: You will keep up with all the reading and will participate in all class discussions, orally and online. You will lead at least one class discussion of a text that has been assigned you.
Grade Formula:
Two 2,000-word papers @ 20% each: 40%
Two 5-to-10-minute informal presentations on paper topics @ 10% each: 20%
Blog participation: 20%
In-class participation: 20%
We will follow the UA guidelines for plus-minus grading.
Disabilities: In accordance with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, your teacher, the University Honors Program and the university are committed to providing appropriate support for students with disabilities, including learning disabilities. Any student who wants to request disability accommodations need only contact UA’s office of disability services at 348-4285 and get the paperwork to me.
Academic Misconduct: Academic misconduct includes all acts of academic dishonesty and any knowing attempt to help another student commit academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: (1) Cheating – using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids. (2) Plagiarism – representing words, data, works or ideas as one’s own when they are not. (3) Fabrication – presenting as genuine any invented or falsified evidence. (4) Misrepresentation – falsifying, altering or misstating the contents of academic documents such as schedules, prerequisites and transcripts. Cases of academic misconduct will be turned over to the University Honors Program for disciplinary action that could be as severe as suspension from the university.
Schedule of class meetings, reading assignments and due dates. All texts will be discussed on the days listed. This is a living document, subject to change. Any changes will be announced in class and via the class blog.
Jan. 13. Getting acquainted.
Jan. 20. Straub, Volume One: Irving, “The Adventure of the German Student”; Poe, “Berenice”; Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”; O’Brien, “What Was It?”; Morrow, “His Unconquerable Enemy”; Jewett, “In Dark New England Days”; Gilman, “The Yellow Wall Paper”; Crane, “The Black Dog”; Bangs, “Thurlow’s Christmas Story.”
Jan. 27. Straub, Volume One, continued: Chambers, “The Repairer of Reputations”; Atherton, “The Striding Place”; Freeman, “Luella Miller”; Hearn, “Yuki-Onna”; Crawford, “For the Blood Is the Life”; Bierce, “The Moonlit Road”; White, “Lukundoo”; Brown, “Golden Baby.”
Feb. 3. Straub, Volume One, concluded: Francis Stevens, “Unseen—Unfeared”; Fitzgerald, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Keller, “The Jelly-Fish”; Howard, “The Black Stone”; Lovecraft, “The Thing on the Doorstep”; Smith, “Genius Loci”; Bloch, “The Cloak.”
Feb. 10. Straub, Volume Two: Collier, “Evening Primrose”; Leiber, “Smoke Ghost”; Williams, “The Mysteries of the Joy Rio”; Jackson, “The Daemon Lover”; Finney, “I’m Scared”; Bradbury, “The April Witch”; Ellison, “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”; Matheson, “Prey”; Carroll, “Mr. Fiddlehead”; Oates, “Family.”
Feb. 17. Gaiman, The Graveyard Book.
(Thursday, Feb. 18. Gaiman’s reading in Tuscaloosa.)
Feb. 24. Discussion of paper ideas.
March 3. First paper due. Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage.
March 10. Straub, Volume Two, concluded: George Saunders, “Sea Oak”; Kiernan, “The Long Hall on the Top Floor”; Hill, “Pop Art”; Brite, “Pansu”; Rickert, “The Chambered Fruit”; Link, “Stone Animals.”
March 17. Spring break. No class.
March 24. Ford, The Shadow Year.
March 31. Link, Pretty Monsters.
April 7. Hill, Heart-Shaped Box.
April 14. Moore and Campbell, From Hell.
April 21. Discussion of paper ideas.
April 28. The Mist (King’s novella and Darabont’s movie). Course wrap-up.
Second paper due Thursday, May 6 -- the day we would have had our final, had this been one of those classes. No final exam.
About your teacher: My collection Beluthahatchie and Other Stories (2000) won a World Fantasy Award, as did my story “The Pottawatomie Giant” (2000). My novella “The Chief Designer” (2001) won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best science fiction story of the year. I contributed essays to the Hugo Award-winning Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (2003) and the Stoker Award-winning Horror: Another 100 Best Books (2005). With F. Brett Cox, I co-edited the anthology Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic (2004). I have taught at the Clarion and Clarion West writers’ workshops (2004 and 2005, respectively). Works published in 2009 included the second edition of my non-fiction book, Alabama Curiosities; a new supernatural novelette, The Night Cache, from PS Publishing; and a new Appalachian fantasy, “The Dragaman’s Bride,” in the Ace anthology The Dragon Book. My own blog is http://beluthahatchie.blogspot.com/.
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