Honors Program: A pathway to excellence.

HON 102 Vampires

The language and images of vampirism permeates our culture -- lawyers are bloodsuckers as are ex-spouses (particularly women). People who stay up late at night are vampires, as are bad bosses and some hosptial workers. And have you ever heard that there's nothing that a sharp stake and some garlic wouldn't cure? Everybody knows something about vampires -- they don't appear in mirrors, they don't show up on film, they can only come out at night, you have to stake them through the heart with a wooden stake to kill them, and on and on. But why do you know that? And is it true (or at least universally accepted)? Where did the myth of the vampire come from and why does it hold such a powerful grip on our imaginations?

This course will examine the myth of the vampire around the world and examine its cultural flowering in Western culture in the last century. The course will require students to be available to attend viewings of films and to participate in their groups outside of the class period.
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Instructor: Dr. Diana Francis

Substitutions: Possible course substitutions (subject to departmental approval): ENG 162, 163, 166, 167, 168 169

Time: Fall 2007, Block 2, afternoons