memes

I signed up for a gothic class my frosh year that was described as American gothic-- vampires, werewolves, all that good stuff. I dunno if the prof didn't write the course description or if it got changed later but it was English gothic, which apart from the origins of the genre (Walpole, which ended up being hilarious because tons of modern tropes originated there, like the maiden in the castle using the subterranean staircase to flee from the mad king when a gust of wind blows her candle out) and some of the more satirical stuff (Austin), it was incredibly boring to read.

There was one called The Mysteries of Udolpho that's this meme times 10, where during a wagon trip there are literal 30 page descriptions of tress. I get if we'd been warned that this sort of thing was largely historical and we could pretty much skip the sweeping depictions of scenery that only existed because most people in the 19th century didn't get to travel much so it was exciting to read about exotic landscapes, but the assignment merely amounted to "Here's a 650 page novel, go read it for next week."

At least we got to do Frankenstein and I think there was one Poe story thrown in as well (despite being American).