TEACHING
Current courses
英米文学基礎研究A・B
This course provides an introduction to the study of English literature. We look at a diverse range of writings from the British Isles and beyond, including novels, short stories, poems and even graphic novels and films. Students will learn to analyze texts, debate them critically and write about them at length in English. As well as improving their ability to express themselves clearly and fluently in English both orally and in writing, students will gain skills
in communication, problem solving and giving presentations. Discussion and writing will be in English.
英国映画を通して見る英国文化
This course examines British film and culture through the lens of Frankenstein adaptations and their global afterlives. Students will explore how the Frankenstein myth has been reimagined across cultures and media, with particular attention to British–Japanese dialogues. Through close analysis of six key films—Frankenstein (dir. James Whale, 1931), Bride of Frankenstein (dir. Whale, 1935), Blade Runner (dir. Ridley Scott, 1982), Ghost in the Shell (dir. Mamoru Oshii, 1995), and Ex Machina (dir. Alex Garland, 2014)—the course investigates themes of creation, technology, monstrosity, and cultural translation. Emphasis will be placed on intermediality—the ways in which texts and images, literature and film, Western and Japanese media forms interact. Students will develop skills in cross-media literacy, comparative cultural analysis, and critical thinking.
英米文学演習IV
This course examines the development of Gothic literature and culture from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day. Beginning with the publication of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, often called the first Gothic novel, we will trace how Gothic fiction evolved through the works of Mary Shelley, the Brontë sisters, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
We will then consider key transformations of the Gothic in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, including psychological Gothic, Southern Gothic, feminist Gothic, postmodern Gothic, and the global cinematic Gothic. We will also examine how Gothic themes—haunting, trauma, monstrosity, psychological terror, the supernatural, and the uncanny—continue to shape contemporary literature and film.
The course develops students’ abilities to analyse Gothic texts in relation to their cultural, historical, and theoretical contexts; to read closely and critically; to understand and apply complex theoretical writing; and to contribute original perspectives to advanced scholarly discussions in English.
Discussion & Debate
Discussion and debate course enables students (a) to develop their ability to give English-language presentations and (b) to engage in critical discussions in both spoken and written English.