All About Our Authors
This is our author with the oldest publication date
Who is Mary Shelley?
Sinners was directed by this man, along with other films like Black Panther and Creed
Who is Ryan Coogler?
Which basic fictional element is especially important in gothic fiction?
Setting (think of Castle Dracula, or Cormac McCarthy's careful, detailed descriptions of nature)
What science fiction is for the future, gothic fiction is for the _______
Past (Bram Stoker making Vlad the Impaler, a real historical figure, into Dracula)
This is the OTHER Dr. Backer who teaches English at UT.
Who is Melinda?
Which of our writers wrote these lines: "The artist is the creator or beautiful things./ To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim./ [...] All art is quite useless."
Who is Oscar Wilde?
Michael B. Jordan won best actor for his portrayal of two twins in Sinners. What are the characters names?
Who are Smoke and Stack? (fun fact: Jordan wore shoes a half size too small to play Smoke and he wore shoes a half size too big to play Stack)
A character pairing where qualities of one character reflect poorly (or well) on another character, like Amy's kind nature vs Ben's cruelty in The Fifth Child
Of the following writers, which would you consider gothic? A) James Baldwin B) Toni Morrison C) Charlotte Bronte and D) Mark Twain
What other subject do I teach about at UT (other than poetry, fiction, and composition)?
Silvia Moreno Garcia did her Master's thesis on this gothic writer, who inspired the racist, eugenics obsessed character Arthur Doyle:
Who is H.P. Lovecraft?
Delroy Lindo was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of this piano player who sacrificed himself to vampires so others might escape.
Who is Delta Slim?
The most common Point of View in fiction is...
Third person limited (both first person and third person objective impose interesting limitations on the writer, third person limited is the most natural POV)
The clergy or the church.
The name of this wonderful creature is...
Fred
James Baldwin exchanged a lot of letters with this notable black painter from Knoxville:
Who is Beauford Delaney?
The scene near the end of the film where Smoke confronts the clan the morning after the vampire attack is a good example of this plot device:
Two acceptable answers: 1) a denouement or 2) catharsis
Doris Lessing's work is mostly known as this type of literature (it has to do with where she's from)
What is post-colonial (born in Iran, raised mostly in Zimbabwe)?
The first notable American gothic writer is named...
Edgar Allen Poe
What big life event happened for me this semester?
I bought a house! Let me know if you have questions about the process or the house.
This is the only one of our books to have a sequel.
What is Doris Lessing's The Fifth Child? The sequel is called Ben, In the World.
List the two main characters that survive the night at Club Juke (without becoming vampires).
Who are Preacherboy Sammie and Smoke?
Who is the writer we read in this class with the most RECENT publication date?
Silvia Moreno Garcia, 2020
Who is one of the most prolific, Southern gothic writers we didn't read in this class?
William Faulkner
Of all the writers we've read, if I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with...