ENGL 103 A14: Case Studies in Research

C. Bracken

1) In this course, you will pursue original research through a case study of literature and film. The aim is to understand texts by situating them in the contexts of history, politics, and culture. Through hands-on practice, you will learn the basic steps in the research process: posing research questions; understanding the rhetorical context of research; engaging in dialogue with other researchers; finding and evaluating sources; integrating research into an argument; communicating research; citing and documenting sources.

2) This particular course undertakes a case study of the uncanny. The uncanny is an experience that causes a distinctive kind of fear. Not surprisingly, it has become a recurring, and strikingly popular, feature of the modern horror story. In 1919, Freud defined it as "that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar." One classic source of the uncanny is the double, especially the robot. (Think Westworld.) Since 1919, when Freud published his famous essay, a vast literature has accumulated around the uncanny. Your task is to suggest why it remains source of fascination for readers and viewers today.

TEXTS:

Booth, et. al., The Craft of Research (Chicago)

Erdrich, The Round House (HarperCollins)

Finney, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Touchstone)

Freud, The Uncanny (Penguin)

Hoffman, Tales of Hoffman (Penguin)

Levin, Rosemary's Baby (Pegasus)

Shelley, Frankenstein (Penguin)

Casson, Leslie. A Writer's Handbook (Broadview)