Research Resources

Fall Semester 2009

MWF 11:00-11:50, Grubbs Hall 312

Dr. K. Nichols: knichols@pittstate.edu

Gothic

• The Gothic Experience and Gothic Fiction--definition and short history of the term "gothic."
• An Introduction to the Gothic Tradition --a more detailed definition of "gothic," with illustrations.
• Society, Culture, and the Gothic --helpful definition of "gothic," including "racial gothic" and "female gothic."
• Female Gothic: Then and Now --scholarly overview of various approaches.
• Horror --good definition of "horror"; mostly modern exampes.
• Southern Gothic --short definition.
• The Gothic and American Literature --bibliography of academic studies of the gothic; our library may or may not carry many of these, but all should be available through Interlibrary Loan.

Louisa May Alcott

• Alcott, Louisa May | Introduction --biography and introductory comments on her fiction.
• 'Like a Wild Creature in its Cage, Paced that Handsome Woman': The Struggle between Sentiment and Sensation in the Writings of Louisa May Alcott --scholarly essay.

Alien (1979)

• Movie Review.

The Black Cat (1934)

• Movie Review.

Charles Brockden Brown

• Charles Brockden Brown --biography.
• Charles Brockden Brown --another helpful biography.
• Discussion Questions/Talking Points on Brown's Wieland --questions raising some challenging issues.
• Wieland, Charles Brockden Brown --short introduction to various interpretations of the novel.
• The Fantastic/Uncanny Horror Thriller --Chapter Four from the scholarly study The Delights of Terror; includes a good section on Wieland.
• Female Captivity and the Deployment of Race in Three Early American Texts --scholarly article; includes a discussion of Wieland.
• From Demon Possession to Magic Show: Ventriloquism, Religion, and the Enlightenment--scholarly article on some key 18th century ideas that influenced Charles Brocken Brown.
• Textual Surveillance, Social Codes, and Sublime Voices: The Tyranny of Narrative in Caleb William and Wieland --scholarly article; last half is about Wieland.
• 'The awe-creating presence of the deity': Some Religious Sources for Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland --scholarly article.
• Wieland, Othello, Genesis, and the Floating City: The Sources of Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland --scholarly article.

Emily Dickinson

• Gothic Undercurrents: Emily Dickinson --short biography.
• Emily Dickinson--Death --helpful student aid for interpreting "I heard a Fly buzz."
• Emily Dickinson: The Inner World --helpful student aid for interpreting "It was not Death, for I stood up."
• Emily Dickinson--Inner World --helpful student aid for interpreting "I felt a Funeral in my Brain."
• Finding Herself Alone: Emily Dickinson, Victorian Women Novelists, and the Female Subject --scholarly article.

William Faulkner

• Faulkner, William | Introduction --biography and some commentary on Faulkner as gothic writer.
• The Telltale Hair: A Critical Study of William Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'--scholarly study.
• 'That Evening Sun' Commentary --helpful study aid.
• 'That Evening Sun(g)': Blues Inscribing Black Space in White Stories --scholarly article.

Frankenstein (1931)

• Movie Review.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper' --Gilman's explanation of the origins of her story.
• Feminist Gothic in 'The Yellow Wallpaper' --good student discussion.
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper': A Poetics of the Inside --scholarly essay.
• Beside Myself: The Abject in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper' --scholarly article.

Nathanial Hawthorne

• An Interpretive 'Crux' in 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux' --helpful student aid; to laugh or not to laugh?
• Survey of Criticism of 'Rappaccini's Daughter' --summary of different scholarly interpretations.

Zora Neale Hurston

• Zora Neale Hurston --links to many study aids and scholarly articles on Hurston.
• Waste and Whiteness: Zora Neale Hurston and the Politics of Eugenics --scholarly article; includes some comments on Hurston's story "Sweat."

Shirley Jackson

• Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House: An Introduction --excellent introduction to a different edition of Jackson's novel.
• Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House --good general introduction to Jackson's novel and her life.
• Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and the Strange Question of Trans-Subjectivity --scholarly article.
• 'A Faithful Anatomy of Our Times': Reassessing Shirley Jackson --scholarly article on how Jackson's writings reflect the 1950s era; brief references to The Haunting of Hill House.
• The Haunting (1999) --movie review of the latest film based on Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.
• June Cleaver in the House of Horrors: Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House --chapter in a scholarly book.

Henry James

• Chapter Three: Apparitionists vs. Non-apparitionists: 1934-1948 --detailed scholarly discussion of the "ghosts/no ghosts" interpretations of The Turn of the Screw.
• Chapter Six: Culminations: 1970-1979 --detailed scholarly discussion of more recent interpretations of The Turn of the Screw.
• The Master's Trap: James's The Turn of the Screw--Chapter Nine from the scholarly study The Delights of Terror.
• Convention and Chaos in The Turn of the Screw --scholarly article.
• Folklore in James's Fiction: Turning the Screw --scholarly article.
• 'What's your title?' - 'The Turn of the Screw' --scholarly article.
• The Remembered Future: Neuro-Cognitive Identity in Henry James's The Turn of the Screw --scholarly article.

Herman Melville

• Herman Melville --links to many scholarly articles on "Benito Cereno."
• 'That First Comprehensive Glance': The Cinematic Suspense of Benito Cereno --scholarly paper by graduate student.

Toni Morrison

• Toni Morrison --links to many scholarly articles on Beloved.

Joyce Carol Oates

• Accursed Inhabitants of the House of Bly --Oates' story revising James' Turn of the Screw.
• Postgothic Fiction: Joyce Carol Oates Turns the Screw on Henry James --scholarly article.

Flannery O'Connor

• A Good Writer is Hard to Find --helpful biography, with emphasis on her religious beliefs.
• The Dark Side of the Cross: Flannery O'Connor's Short Fiction--introduction to O'Connor's themes and style.
• Flannery O'Connor --links to many scholarly articles on her fiction.

Sylvia Plath

• Lady Lazarus: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Sylvia Plath --helpful review of the inter-relationship of Plath's life and her poetry.
• Sylvia Plath --excerpts from scholarly articles on Plath's poetry.
• The Monster in Plath's 'Mirror' --scholarly article.
• On Sylvia Plath --discussion by Ted Hughes, Plath's ex-husband. Includes her poetry.
• Sylvia Plath Forum: The Moon and the Yew Tree --interesting on-going discussion/analysis of Plath's poem by forum members.
• Sylvia Plath Forum --links to interesting forum discussions/analyses of several different Plath poems.
• Sylvia Plath and the Gothic --thesis; see in particular Chapters II and III.
• Sylvia Plath Resources --links to many scholarly articles.

Edgar Allen Poe

• Edgar Allan Poe: The Artist of the beautiful --scholarly article on Poe's poetry.
• 'Sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature': The Brother-Sister Bond in Poe's 'Fall of the House of Usher' --scholarly article.
• House of Mirrors: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' --scholarly articles.
• Anticlosure: Poe's 'Ligeia' --Chapter Seven from the scholarly study The Delights of Terror.
• Poe's 'Ligeia' and the Pleasures of Terror --scholarly article.
• The Entrapped Critic: Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' --Chapter Eight from the scholarly study The Delights of Terror.
• Poe's 'The Black Cat' as Psychobiography: Some Reflections on the Narratological Dynamics --scholarly article.
• Dead or Alive: The Booby-trapped Narrator of Poe's 'Masque of the Red Death' --scholarly article.

Richard Wright

• Richard Wright --links to many scholarly articles on Native Son.

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