摘要：The setting: an old, brick building with a tall,stately clock tower from which bells peal periodically.Darkness pervades the room I enter and makes onlyshadows of the slumped and eerily silent bodies seatedbefore me. My sweaty and tentative fingers grope forthe light switch; suddenly the bodies snap to attentionas light floods the classroom. Gothic Fiction is aboutto begin.I spy 24 bodies before me, embracing 12 differentmajors and as many different reasons for havingchosen this course. Twelve of them are here to fulfillthe "L" perspective; 4 are here to fulfill their 200-levelWomen's Studies requirement, and 8 of them areEnglish majors taking the course as a general electivebecause they have an interest in the literature. Mytask as their professor will be to meet the needs ofeach student. This is not going to be easy. How willI convey to them the basic, but often complex, con-cepts inherent in Gothic fiction. Is there a commondenominator for these students.
