What’s your story?
And what’s your narrative twist?
You’re a spunky heroine, but you’re on your last legs.
The dastardly enemy has been pursuing you for 173,245 pages, and you’re tired, enraged, and scared. And utterly unwilling to fall into his clutches.
You’ve run through dank dungeons, climbed the tallest towers, and endured infuriating candlelit dinners where you’re monologued at and underestimated.
Despite the long chase, you’re scrappy as hell, and you’ve evaded him. Once, you even got out of the manor and into the woods. You could taste freedom, but then his black carriage came thundering through the trees.
Sometimes, it’s hard not to feel like it was all for naught.
But you’re a spunky heroine.
It’s time to gather a band of like-minded miscreants, plot your next steps, and, most importantly, to understand the rules of the story… so you can make it yours.
You’re trapped in a gothic novel...
And you know it.
So it’s time to find the way out.
Welcome to
TRAPPED IN A GOTHIC NOVEL
Trapped in a Gothic Novel is a four-week live course created to bring you levity, joy, fellowship, excellent books, and a sense of fellowship and actionable quests tailored to the present moment.
In other words, it might be dark out there, but we can make the darkness a little more sparkly and navigable. And the Gothic is the best way we know how to do that.
We’ll meet live every week to nerd out about books, strategize about our quests, and light up our little community with stories, magic, and connection.
It’s a cliche at this point to say that stories have power.
But stories do have power... and so do cliches.
People have long dismissed the Gothic as a stale genre with stock characters, outdated gender roles, and a tendency to reinforce the status quo. But we think they’re missing the point.
The Gothic is wily, rebellious. At its best, it illuminates unspoken dangers…and the path through them. Self-consciously Gothic stories - what we in nerdland might call the meta-Gothic - are all about drawing attention to patterns and reclaiming agency.
In other words, all of the books we're going to be talking about in this course KNOW they're Gothic. Which means they open an avenue right into humor, playfulness, and CHANGE.
It's all very postmodern, darling. And in this broken, mess of a world we're in right now, we are here for it.
The Gates of Carterhaugh Are Open:
Please Note:
In order to fully participate in this course, you will need to purchase/borrow four books - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand, The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen, and Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan.
You will also need access to the 2007 Northanger Abbey film (currently available on Amazon Prime and YouTube.)
Lastly, we strongly recommend that you read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson before Week Three if you have never read it before!
Our Modules:
For this course, we have four anchor texts.
Northanger Abbey:
Fun with Gothic Parody
First up is Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Is it Gothic? Satire? Meta-Gothic? Any which way, it leans into melodrama and provides a reliable roadmap for how the Gothic works. Why does our heroine read the world through the lens of the Gothic? What does she learn and where does she go astray?
The Daughters of Block Island:
Trapped by Tropes
In The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen, we'll explore characters that are super familiar with all the tropes of Gothic novels... and fall for them anyway. What happens when the tropes become too real? Is it ever possible to save yourself from a seemingly inevitable fate?
A Haunting on the Hill:
Adaptation and the Classics
We'll then move to A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand's authorized sequel to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. This is a novel that very much knows it's the sequel to a classic, and we'll experience its struggle with ideas of adaptation, legacy, and competition. What does it mean to play in someone else's Gothic world, and how can you make it your own?
Long Live Evil:
Into the Gothic
Lastly, in Sarah Rees Brennan’s Long Live Evil, we're going to follow a character who actually goes into a Gormenghast-like Gothic novel! Our heroine embraces villainy with gusto, humor, and resourcefulness. Truly, #goals.
PLUS!
BONUS #1!
Come chat with Christa Carmen, author of The Daughters of Block Island!
On Friday, December 27th at 12PM ET, we're going to host a Q&A and reading with the amazing author Christa Carmen!!
She'll answer your questions about her novel, writing the Gothic, and more - plus read from her brand-new book, Beneath the Poet's House!
PLUS!
BONUS #2!
Come watch a movie with us!
On Saturday, December 28th at 7PM ET, we're going to gather as a group and watch the (truly excellent) 2007 film version of Northanger Abbey!
We'll have a Zoom chat going while we each watch the movie on our individual devices (it's available to watch on Amazon Prime, and there's a full upload on YouTube as well!)
Here's Everything That's Included:
Please note that the schedule has slightly shifted!
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Four LIVE video lectures with us! Our lectures and discussions are college-level… but definitely not snooze fests! Each session includes a live lecture with us and a Q&A section and have been known to go for more than two hours each! These lectures will take place on December 19th, December 26th, January 2nd, and January 9th at 7PM ET. They are also recorded, so no worries if you have to miss a session!
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Four Sets of discussion questions for learning and self-discovery - These questions will help guide your reflections and determine how the folklore we discuss applies to your own journey.
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Four Quests - Quests are special assignment for each week of the course. These vary widely, but they're always fun, related to a weekly theme, achievable, and enlightening. Plus you get feedback from us AND your fellow students! These aren't mandatory or anything (and you certainly won't be graded!) but we highly recommend giving them a shot to get the most out of the course.
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Four of our course-exclusive Grimoire pages - these are both lesson summaries and beautiful keepsakes. Some of our students even print them out and make their own Carterhaugh spell books / course notebooks!
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A dedicated and exclusive Teachable Community space to chat with each other outside of lecture times!
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A BONUS Q&A and Reading with Christa Carmen, author of The Daughters of Block Island!
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A BONUS movie night to watch the 2007 film adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, which is ridiculously delightful. We'll all hop on a Zoom and chat live while watching the film on our individual devices.
Your Teachers
We, Dr. Sara Cleto and Dr. Brittany Warman, are award-winning folklorists, teachers, and writers with a combined 26 years in higher education and over three dozen publications. Together, we founded The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, teaching creative souls how to re-enchant their lives through folklore and fairy tales. In 2019, Carterhaugh won the Dorothy Howard Award from the American Folklore Society.
When we aren’t teaching at Carterhaugh, we're scholars, writers and best friends who have published peer-reviewed articles, appeared on podcasts, sold stories and poems, written book introductions and encyclopedia entries, and written for magazines and blogs. (We’ve also been known to crush “Total Eclipse of the Heart” at karaoke.) We're regular writers for Enchanted Living Magazine, and we also deliver sold-out lectures at venues like the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Profs & Pints series, the Maryland Renaissance Festival, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, and FaerieCon.
We love teaching. Our classes reflect the joy we get out of the strange and delightful world of folklore, so expect lots of gifs and terrible puns in our lectures. We'll occasionally make horrible faces at each other and laugh like drunken pixies… and we want you to join us!
Curious What Our Lectures Are Like?
Here's a clip from our signature Enchant course that gives a good idea!
We also have several full lectures available to watch for FREE on YouTube!
Search "Carterhaugh School" to find them :).
FAQ
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"Um, what exactly IS Carterhaugh?" - The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic is an award-winning online school dedicated to classes on fairy tales, folklore, and all things fantastic. It was created by Sara and Brittany in 2016 as a place for those who dreamed of elven battles while studying economics, those who have always sworn they could see ghosts, and those who longed for a school of magic to send them an unexpected acceptance letter. We aim to use our knowledge and passion for these subjects to share their wonder, solidify their importance in society, and spread a bit of magic into the world. Want to know more? Check out our "About" page by clicking
here!
- "When will I hear from you/get access to the first lesson?" - You will get access to the first lesson on December 14th, our official start day, and then the Saturday prior to each live lecture on December 19th (Northanger Abbey), 26th (The Daughters of Block Island), January 2nd (A Haunting on the Hill, plus The Haunting of Hill House if you've never read it before), and January 9th (Long Live Evil) at 7PM ET. Some of the books are quite long, so we do recommend getting started right away and not waiting for the lecture materials to drop before starting to read! They're best consumed after you finish the books in question anyway :).
- “I’m just a literature/folklore fan. I don’t want to ruin my enjoyment with a bunch of academic stuff.” - We are the last people in the WORLD who would ruin your enjoyment of folklore and literature!! Believe us, we’re just as passionate about the beauty and wonder of these tales, and we know that part of that wonder lies in their mystery. We will never tell you what a tale “means." These tales are meant to be explored, meant to inspire personal meaning. We’ll never tell you what you “have to” believe about any story and we’re CERTAINLY not the kind of professors who are gleeful about “ruining” texts for people!
- “Guys, I love this, but money is SO tight right now….” - We understand this feel so hard. Money is tight for so many. This is why we’ve made this course as affordable as possible, offered a huge Black Friday discount, set up several payment plans, AND packed in all the enchantment, gothic glamour, stories, and community you crave right now. Our school is an investment, and it’s one that you deserve - we know our community and the magic we make together is worth it, and we would love for you to join us.
As always, if you have additional questions at any time,
don't hesitate to get in touch with us at [email protected]!
We Have Given Lectures For...
The Smithsonian Associates, The Great Courses, Profs & Pints, The Library of Congress, FaerieCon, The Cambridge Research Network for Fairy-Tale Studies, The Dublin Irish Festival, The Maryland Renaissance Festival, The American Contemporary Theater Festival, Readercon, and others.
And Have Been Featured In/By...
Enchanted Living Magazine, The Fairy Tale Magazine, Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, #FolkloreThursday, The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, Folkwise, Haute Macabre, Once Upon a Blog, Speculating Canada, The Not Old, Better Show, Digital Folklore, The Skiffy and Fanty Show, and others.
Okay, time for some real talk
Our community - the students and friends and magic seekers that have found their way into our courses - have been the biggest surprise and the best part of Carterhaugh. It's not something we anticipated, but it's not an exaggeration to say that it's why we're still here, teaching courses online in a job that's better than anything we could have imagined. It's because of YOU.
If you want connection, if you want to hang out and learn in a low-key way with other wonderful people, this community is for you. If you love fairy tales, and you're looking for others who are enthusiastic, creative, imaginative, and kind, welcome home.
Carterhaugh grew from our love of fairy tales and our own friendship with each other. Carterhaugh is still here and thriving because of the what came after: our community.
Also?
We are feminists and disability scholars who support the LGBTQ+ community and believe that Black lives matter.
Period.
The gates of Carterhaugh are open...
Please Note:
In order to fully participate in this course, you will need to purchase/borrow four books - Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand, The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen, and Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan.
You will also need access to the 2007 Northanger Abbey film (currently available on Amazon Prime and YouTube.)
Lastly, we strongly recommend that you read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson before Week Three if you have never read it before!
If You've Read This Far...
If you've read this far, clearly something about our school resonates for you. You feel it in your spirit.
You can be the magical soul you want to be. Art and stories can help you get there - yes, even the spooky ones.
Join us at Carterhaugh - you won't regret it.
