English R1B

Book List

Carrington, Leonora: The Complete Stories; Carrington, Leonora: The Hearing Trumpet; Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland; Gaiman, Neil: Coraline

Other Readings and Media

We will watch a number of movies, likely including: Alice (1988); Alice in Wonderland (1933, 1951, and 2010); The Blood of a Poet (1930); Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974); The Matrix (1999); Orpheus (1950); Pan's Labyrinth (2006); Repulsion (1965); Spirited Away (2001); Tideland (2005); Us (2019); and The Wizard of Oz (1939). We will also consider illustrations by artists including John Tenniel and Salvador Dalí.

Description

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, have wormed their way into how we talk and think about fantasy. In this course, we'll read these works along with some of their many adaptations and reimaginings for the light they shed on the opportunities and dangers of escaping into imaginary worlds.

There will be a number of shorter written assignments and revisions of those assignments, culminating in a longer research paper.