Hogwarts Comes to Richmond

08/10/2010

Hogwarts Study Abroad, Fall 2011

Fall 2011 students on the AIFS/Richmond, The American International University in London Study Abroad program will be receiving letters shortly from the Owl Service about a new literature class which they can take examining the history of fantasy writing in Britain. Entitled 'LIT 3XX: British Fantasy Writing: Magic and Memory', the 3 credit class will look at the origins of fantasy traditions in these islands (Arthurian texts, Beowulf and selections from Shakespeare and Milton), as well as the evolution of the genre in the 19th century (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), 20th century (Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) and 21st century (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books).

Professor Dom Alessio, Richmond’s Study Abroad Director and a frequent writer on Science Fiction himself, has been working on developing the class for some time: “London is such a great place for a course like this. So many of the influential roots of the genre lie here". Indeed, students in this class will be using London as a kind of source or text. They will be visiting places like Horace Walpole’s Gothic mansion, Strawberry Hill - see Straw Berry Hill. They will even be taking a Harry Potter walking tour, designed to show the influences that the city had in the development of the books and how the books’ international popularity has fashioned a dynamic Harry Potter culture that has, in turn, shaped London - see:
Platform 9.75 . This will also complement parts of the course that examine fantasy fiction’s filmic counterparts and look at how movies reconfigure the original texts.”

The course will be taught by Adjunct Professor, Matthew Sangster, a specialist in Romantic Literature. Professor Sangster did his undergraduate degree in English at Cambridge University, an MA at King’s College, London, and is now near completing his PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London. According to Professor Sangster, “Fantasy writing is becoming increasingly recognized as a significant genre, both culturally and economically. Many of the biggest films of the past decade have been Fantasy films and the genre’s techniques and tropes are attracting increasing interest both from academics and from prominent writers. However, what is often neglected in thinking about modern Fantasy writing, are the many ways it draws on a rich and extensive tradition of imaginative and speculative writing, stretching back to the earliest works in English. So now is a good time for a course that explores this history and examines the particular significance and characteristics of fantasy.”

For details of Richmond’s Study Abroad program please go to: Study At Richmond

For a full list of classes, including timetables, please visit: Courses At Richmond

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/n/979.aspx