Welcome to My Nightmare: Horror Fiction, Poetry and Film

Each spring, I teach an English 102 (Introduction to the genres of short fiction, poetry, novel and film with writing and oral assignments based on the readings and viewings), but with a twist: we immerse ourselves in all things horrific.

Our classroom is a place where you can talk about Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street, Twilight, Zombieland in an academic setting where the discussion and analysis of films and fiction go way beyond the "I-liked-it; I- didn't-like-it" stage.

The course culminates in your individual study of a text related to the course.  Maybe you'd like to do your documented essay on the role of vampires in fiction or on the idea of the apocalypse in zombie films, or maybe you'll want to stick to the classics and research a story by Edgar Allan Poe or Stephen King: your choice.

I'm very particular about the prose and poetry for this course, so I'm compiling a few course packets at no cost to you.  Please make sure to attend the first class since I will explain not only the philosophy of the course but also the mechanical workings of it. It's NOT smart to miss the first class.  As the course materials are a mix of web-gotten items and print items, I cannot upload entire packets.  If you miss the first class or misplace your packet, come to my office during office and/or conference hours for a replacement packet.

The two Eng. 102 classes I teach are Tues and Fri and Wed and Fri As I know that life gets in the way of school, I have, for the past ten years or so, made the following option possible for my students: you can attend the other Eng. 102 class if it suits you whenever you'd like to.  The only thing I'd ask is that you tell me that you are from the other class. (Got that?) In other words, let's say you're in the Tues/Fri morning class and have to miss Tues. morning class.  You'd come to Wed's afternoon class instead.  Or if you're in Wed. afternoon class and know you have to miss class, you'd have to come to the class before, as in Tues. morning, to make up the Wed.  So, in a nutshell:

If you miss Tues., come to Wed. If you miss Fri. morning, come to Fri. afternoon, BUT: if you miss Wed.afternoon, there's no makeup; if you miss Fri. afternoon, there's no make up: in other words, those of you in Wed/Fri 12:30 pm class have to plan to be absent; those of you in Tues/Fri. morning class can make a spontaneous decision to be absent from the earlier class.