Exploring the Gothic for A2

Your summer project involves using your blog as much as possible to share your independent reading with others and to post visual representations of the Gothic as well as written ones.  By your first lesson back, you need to have done all of the following:

• read at least 3 Gothic texts (see Mr Scott’s independent reading post below) and posted a review of each one on your blog
• Uploaded more pictures and images of the Gothic – art, architecture, landscape, settings, weather etc, together with comments on what makes them Gothic.
• Added any more useful links you find to your blogroll – and if they’re really good, do a post telling everyone what they’re all about as well.
• Visited everyone else’s blog at least once and posted a new comment on something they’ve done (comments you’ve already made don’t count!)

The last point obviously means that you need to be adding to your own blog regularly, not leaving it all to the last minute!

You have done all of the things detailed above already – but we’re looking for new stuff to be added over the summer.  If you still don’t know how to do any of the above (eg add links, create new posts, or upload pictures) you need to see me before the summer so I can show you.  If you have any additional difficulties during the summer, you can always contact me via this blog, by posting a comment, or by replying to the email address that you’ll find on the emails you get with my comments on.

Enjoy your reading and your investigating of the Gothic – and don’t have nightmares!

This week, we would like you to do the following:

1. Search the internet for some good sites relating to the Gothic that you think will help both you and others understand more about the Gothic.  These might be links to e-texts, or social and historical context, critical readings of the Gothic, Gothic art – the choice is yours, but try to get a range of different sites.  Then post links in your Blogroll to at least 3 useful sites.  Remember to give them a category or they won’t appear!
2. In preparation for your summer project, go out with a camera and take at least one picture of anything you consider to be Gothic.  This could be a building, a setting, a landscape, a work of art, or anything at all.  Upload it to your blog by attaching it to a post, and include a description of what makes it Gothic.

The deadline for both these posts is midnight on Sunday 15th July

Remember, you should be managing your time to read at least three Gothic novels by September, one from each of the main sections (not including Goosebumps, Emma!).

 Please post a review of each text as you read them, including:

• Gothic features and conventions;
• Links to other Gothic texts we’ve read;
• Your personal opinion of the text, including whether or not you think it has maintained the impact it had when it was written.

By the end of the summer, you should have commented on everyone else’s blog at least once, making a constructive and analytical response.

Now we’ve looked at a few extracts from Stevenson’s novel, and seen a clip from the current TV series ‘Jekyll’, I’d like you to write a post about both of these, including answers to the following questions:

• Would you class Jekyll and Hyde as a Gothic novel, from what you’ve seen so far?
• What elements of the Gothic does it contain?
• What similarities does it share with any other Gothic texts you’ve read about?
• Would you consider reading the whole text now or not?  Say why.
• Despite updating the setting and changing the story, how has the current TV series tried to maintain Gothic elements?  What elements of the clip we saw seemed Gothic and why?

Then go to the blogs of 2 people you haven’t already commented on, and comment on their answers to those questions – do you agree with them?  Would you add anything to what they’ve said?

Deadline for posting: midnight on Thursday 5th July

Deadline for comments: midnight on Saturday 7th July

Deadline for moderating comments so I can view them: midnight on Sunday 8th July