"tread once more familiar paths"
Feb. 9th, 2007 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eldritchhobbitHappy birthday wishes to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vonjuntz! I hope you have a wonderful day today and many more to come.
Aside from my two freshmen seminars next semester (Fall 2007), I will be teaching one upper-division seminar. This course will be online, thanks to the success of my online seminar this semester. I will post the list of texts once I've made my final decisions. I'm excited about it:
The Gothic literary tradition began in the mid-eighteenth century in Europe and lives on in various forms across the globe through contemporary fiction, poetry, art, music, film, and television. Mad scientists, blasted heaths, abandoned ruins, elusive ghosts, charming vampires, and even little green men people its stories. With ingredients such as a highly developed sense of atmosphere, extreme emotions including fear and awe, and emphases on the mysterious and the paranormal, Gothic works tend to express anxieties about social, political, religious, and economic issues of the time, as well as rejection of prevailing modes of thought and behavior. Using classic texts and the latest multimedia sources, this course will investigate the fascinating and subversive Gothic imagination (from the haunted castles of Horace Walpole to the threatening aliens of H.P. Lovecraft, from Frankenstein to The X-Files), identify the historical conditions that have inspired it, consider how it has developed across time and place and medium, and explore how it has left its indelible imprint on the modern genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
* The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards is now updated with all awards results through the end of 2006, as well as 2007 nomination lists so far announced.
* And R.I.P. to two science fiction authors:
-- Charles L. Fontenay (1917-January 27, 2007), author of three dozen stories in the 1950s, three novels from 1958 to 1964 including The Day the Oceans Overflowed, and numerous children's books after his retirement in 1978, one of which won a special Golden Duck Award (for its strong female character) in 1998.
-- Lee Hoffman (1932-February 6, 2007), publisher of SF fanzines Quandry and Science-Fiction Five-Yearly beginning in the early '50s, and four SF novels from 1967 to 1972, including The Caves of Karst. He was best known for numerous Western novels, including Spur Award-winner The Valdez Horses (1967), which was made into a film starring Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland.
...at times I almost dream
I, too, have spent a life the sages' way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by death,
That life was blotted out-not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again...
from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning, quoted in "The Field Where I Died" (The X-Files)
vonjuntz! I hope you have a wonderful day today and many more to come.Aside from my two freshmen seminars next semester (Fall 2007), I will be teaching one upper-division seminar. This course will be online, thanks to the success of my online seminar this semester. I will post the list of texts once I've made my final decisions. I'm excited about it:
The Gothic literary tradition began in the mid-eighteenth century in Europe and lives on in various forms across the globe through contemporary fiction, poetry, art, music, film, and television. Mad scientists, blasted heaths, abandoned ruins, elusive ghosts, charming vampires, and even little green men people its stories. With ingredients such as a highly developed sense of atmosphere, extreme emotions including fear and awe, and emphases on the mysterious and the paranormal, Gothic works tend to express anxieties about social, political, religious, and economic issues of the time, as well as rejection of prevailing modes of thought and behavior. Using classic texts and the latest multimedia sources, this course will investigate the fascinating and subversive Gothic imagination (from the haunted castles of Horace Walpole to the threatening aliens of H.P. Lovecraft, from Frankenstein to The X-Files), identify the historical conditions that have inspired it, consider how it has developed across time and place and medium, and explore how it has left its indelible imprint on the modern genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
* The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards is now updated with all awards results through the end of 2006, as well as 2007 nomination lists so far announced.
* And R.I.P. to two science fiction authors:
-- Charles L. Fontenay (1917-January 27, 2007), author of three dozen stories in the 1950s, three novels from 1958 to 1964 including The Day the Oceans Overflowed, and numerous children's books after his retirement in 1978, one of which won a special Golden Duck Award (for its strong female character) in 1998.
-- Lee Hoffman (1932-February 6, 2007), publisher of SF fanzines Quandry and Science-Fiction Five-Yearly beginning in the early '50s, and four SF novels from 1967 to 1972, including The Caves of Karst. He was best known for numerous Western novels, including Spur Award-winner The Valdez Horses (1967), which was made into a film starring Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland.
...at times I almost dream
I, too, have spent a life the sages' way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by death,
That life was blotted out-not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again...
from "Paracelsus" by Robert Browning, quoted in "The Field Where I Died" (The X-Files)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 02:25 pm (UTC)I take not just anyone can sign up to it?
Oh, I certainly would take part in such a course if I had the chance!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 02:37 pm (UTC)To sign up, you must be enrolled at Belmont. However, there are non-degree seeking and continuing education options for enrollment, if you only want to "drop in" for a class or two, and you don't plan to graduate from the university. For some online classes (including mine), you need not be in town or in state (or in the country, for that matter) in order to participate.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 03:49 pm (UTC)An mp3 of Mulder with the lovely Robert Browning quote. You probably already have it but I thought I would share anyway. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-10 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-10 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-10 09:31 pm (UTC)It would be lovely to have you in one of my classes! I have no doubt that you would make a great contribution to the course. But I do like the fact that there are options for auditing so people can "sit in" without actually taking a class for credit. That allows people who are interested to listen in without the pressure of grades and deadlines.
At any rate, your kindness is most appreciated. Thanks for the lovely feedback on my new course idea!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-10 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-11 06:14 am (UTC)I, too, have spent a life the sages' way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by death,
That life was blotted out-not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again...
References like this are a big reason I fell in love with The X-Files. Thank you for reminding me. *g*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 03:42 am (UTC)Me, too! :) I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.