Fall 2015 I taught a section of Writing about Literature on Haunted Ireland. This course explored the supernatural in Irish literature and culture. Highlights included holding a mock-trial about a witch burning, reading Sheridan LeFanu’s lesbian vampire novella Carmilla, and exploring Irish-language mermaid poems. For their final, student completed a research project on the supernatural in another culture of their choosing. Students wrote about La Llorona in Mexican culture and dragons in Chinese culture. While students appreciated the opportunity to bring their own cultural backgrounds into our discussion, they also loved spending a semester studying all things spooky and Irish. When asked what I could do to improve my “Haunted Ireland” course, one student responded, “Take us to Ireland! But otherwise I think it was amazing.”
Cover image from the serialized version of Carmilla in The Dark Blue by D. H. Friston
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