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Stirling launches its first ‘massive open-access online course’

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Dr Dale Townshend and Dr Peter Linfield
Dr Dale Townshend and Dr Peter Linfield

The University of Stirling, recognised as the leading centre for Gothic Studies in the UK, is launching its first ever massive open-access online course’ (MOOC) on the Gothic Revival.

Starting on Monday 29 February, Stirling academics Dr Dale Townshend, Literary Critic, and Dr Peter Linfield, Architectural Historian, will deliver the online course and examine; Gothic history, Gothic literature, architecture, interiors and visual art.

Dr Townshend, said: “We’re expecting the University’s first MOOC to have very wide appeal because the Gothic Revival pervades so much of our popular culture, from contemporary films and novels like the Twilight Saga and the recent Sherlock Victorian special to classics like Frankenstein. Our MOOC serves as an introduction to this exciting period, allowing people to gain a more in-depth understanding of the multi-disciplinary dimensions of the Gothic Revival.”

The six-week course is open to all and will offer an exciting and intensive exploration of the Gothic aesthetic in British culture of the long eighteenth century. The course will involve a mix of mini-lectures, quizzes, reflective diaries and peer discussion. Lectures are filmed in the University’s Airthrey Castle, an example of gothic architecture designed by Robert Adam one of the most fashionable architects of the 18th century.

This MOOC is part of a broader, Stirling-based research project entitled Writing Britain’s Ruins, 1700‒1850: The Architectural Imagination, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK).

Media enquiries to Rachel MacBeath, Communications Officer on 01786 467 760 or r.a.macbeath@stir.ac.uk

Notes for editors
Background information

The Gothic Imagination at the University of Stirling

The Gothic Imagination at the University of Stirling provides an interdisciplinary forum for lively discussion and critical debate concerning all manifestations of the Gothic mode, be it historical or as manifested in more modern and contemporary cultural events. It seeks to establish an internet-based community of Gothic scholars and enthusiasts, and to serve as a platform for the dissemination of information relevant to our mutual Gothic interests.

 

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