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Here's a first:
I happened to find the following on the Web; apparently it's a class schedule for Vermont University:
<<ENGLISH 1106: ANALYTICAL READING AND WRITING
TOPIC: THE BYRONIC VAMPIRE IN LITERATURE AND FILM
SPRING 2002
MR. MANN
TEXTS:
Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice.
The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories - Ed. Alan Ryan.
Byron's Poetry - Ed. Frank D. McConnell.
Dreams of the Dark - Stephen Mark Rainey and Elizabeth Massie.
FILMS:
Bram Stoker's Dracula
House of Dark Shadows
Interview with the Vampire
COURSE FOCUS:
The short stories, poems, films, and novels we will focus on all deal with the vampire in one way or another. Why is this fictional creature so perennially fascinating? How has the literary figure of the Byronic hero influenced many depictions of the undead? How have authors and filmmakers used it as a metaphor for human interactions? How similar is the fictional vampire to its folkloric antecedents? Why has the vampire metamorphosed from a hideous monster to a romantic hero? This course will concentrate on research and class discussions in an attempt to answer some of these questions. In doing so, we will learn more about analytical reading and writing, intertextuality, and our own culture.>>
What I'd give to have been able to listen in on that class. Far as I know, it's the only time something I've written has been part of a college course. ;)
[shadow=black,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]
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Congratulations Mark! [thumb]
I also would have like to sat in on this course...
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I never went to college, but that sounds like a class I wouldn't mind attending!
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Dear Mark,
That is so cool that Dreams of the Dark is part of
the reading material for that college class!
Congratulations :) Those lucky students are most
likely happy as clams to have a great novel to read.
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That sounds like a great class--one I really wish that I could have taken in college.
Congratulations on being included on the class reading list. [hello]
Bette [read]
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Wow Mark that's cool![coolb]
finishing up my BSN and need to one more elective
think i can commute from Boston to take this one!
jennifer
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Good show, Mark!
You should contact the university and see if they'd like a guest speaker sometime.
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Wonderful, exciting news! I couldn't be more happier for you... congratulations!!
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Who says, We don't need no Edumacation anyhow? Looks like you and Beth have made your "Mark" on higher edumacation! Mucho Congrats!!!![/color]
[shadow=purple,left,300]Always, Minja [thumb][/shadow][/size]
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That's great news, Mark! Way to go! [thumb]
ProfStokes
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Thanks for all the congratz. What I find most interesting is that there's a whole semester course devoted to literary vampires (and a pretty decent range of literature to draw from). I see that the course is numbered English 1106, so I'm guessing this may be for a graduate elective course or something such. I wish I'd been able to have such a choice when I was in college! At least in my regular lit courses I did get to read some really interesting stuff, and did actually discover (and re-discover) a few of my all-time favorite novels and short stories in them, such as The Three Musketeers (to this day my favorite novel) and various works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Flannery O'Connor, Voltaire, and the inevitable Edgar Allan Poe.
[shadow=navy,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]
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WOW!! That is great news Mark!! Congratulations!!
Gee, why couldn't school topics be this interesting when I was there?? Sounds like a facinating topic!
Way to go!! [hello] [hello]
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Mark...
That must have been quite a rush - seeing your book listed! [thumb]
Ah! We have a famous author in our midst. (Growing famous-er and famous-er every day).
And it just goes to prove...
Once you learn to write good, can't nobody change it!
-CLC ;)
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!
How did you ever happen to find that?!!! You ought to drop in some day. Sounds like a fun course.
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Oh, wow, Mark, that's fab-u-lous! I agree--you should offer yourself as a guest speaker--not only are you the author of one of their class texts, you're a DS expert.
Why didn't we have classes that interesting when *I* went to college?
Then again, "Sex in Cinema" sure was a goodie! I almost forgot that one. And "Human Sexuality"--also known to us as "Nuts 'n' Sluts"!
Love, Robin
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Congratulations, Mark!
I recently began my new career teaching law school. Although my current course assignment is legal writing, give me enough time (and imagination), and I'm sure I can find a way to sneak your book into the required reading list ... and nab you to be a guest speaker in my class!
Ben
(wondering why the font options and emoticons are missing from my reply box today -- were they given Labor Day off?)
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Heh heh... any university that wants to pay all my expenses to talk about DS can have me. ;)
(wondering why the font options and emoticons are missing from my reply box today -- were they given Labor Day off?)
Ben -- See MB's topic on bandwidth-saving measures. What I do anyway is keep a text file with the most common Yhbb code I use, cut and paste, and re-enter values to suit.
[shadow=green,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]
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Ben -- See MB's topic on bandwidth-saving measures. [shadow=green,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]
Oops ... slap me for overlooking an instructive post by the omnipotent MB!
Ben
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Very cool, exciting news, Mark!
Good work & big congrats!! [beer]
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Oh, wow, Mark, that's fab-u-lous! I agree--you should offer yourself as a guest speaker--not only are you the author of one of their class texts, you're a DS expert.
Why didn't we have classes that interesting when *I* went to college?
Then again, "Sex in Cinema" sure was a goodie! I almost forgot that one. And "Human Sexuality"--also known to us as "Nuts 'n' Sluts"!
Mark, I'm surprised that the teacher of that course never attempted to contact you once your book was chosen! I agree you should certainly contact him/her!!
Robin...did you take those courses at Hofstra? [winkb]
Raineypark
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When I was in college in 1971, English majors had the chance to attend something called "the fourth hour program." These were one hour talks given by the English professors that, if attended, counted for one unit of credit toward the major. One of my favorite profs had just returned from a six-month sabbatical in England, where he was researching that nineteenth Century British newspaper serial vampire called "Varney the Vampire." The profs talk was wonderful, very funny. Old Varney's trials and tribulations seemed far worse than the problems of Barnabas. These tales have been compiled into book form and I know there are some of you out there who are familier with him.
Bette
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Congratulations Mark! I am going to ask my two college children if they have any friends going to U. of Vermont. I will suggest they take that course. Maybe they will offer at U-Mass next semester. I will be able to help my son with the course, and enjoy it.
Birdie
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No, Raineypark, I took Human Sexuality at Nassau Community College (on Long Island), and "Nuts 'n' Sluts" at Brockport, in upstate NY.
Then again, I was always one of those students who tried to interject sexual topics into EVERY class. I helped make our Social Studies courses fun because I always asked the profs about the personal lives of the emperors, queens, kings, etc. Many of our teachers had really fascinating tales to tell, too!
You'd be great, Mark!
Love, Robin
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That is great news, Mark. Congratulations!
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Neat course...congratulations, Mark!
I wish I could have taken a class like that way back when I was in school...
MrsJ.
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Mark,
At the university where I am, grad English students have the option of proposing their own versions of the freshman comp course, and students can take these specialized courses if they so choose.
Right now, we have a few courses being offered that are similar to the one you found: "Vampires: An American Love Affair," "Fear and Loathing in America: The Horror Genre and Cultural Anxiety," and "Gothic Monsters and Damsels in Distress: American Pop Culture and the Gothic Imagination."
The vampire course is geared toward looking at how presentations of vampires as of the 20th century have become more sympathetic. They're reading Stoker and Rice, but they're primarily looking at a lot of tv and film.
The course you've found is the same sort of specialized version of freshman comp that we teach here. It's actually Virginia Tech, not U of Vermont. :)
If it had about 20 novels and various critical texts listed, the reading of which would most likely lead to blurred vision and bifocals prior to the age of 30, then it would be a grad course. ;)
As for why the instructor hasn't contacted you, that is probably because s/he is a grad student who never really considered the possibility.
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The course you've found is the same sort of specialized version of freshman comp that we teach here. It's actually Virginia Tech, not U of Vermont.
Now that's interesting. (I had assumed the VT in the address stood for Vermont, since there was no other reference in the document that I could find.) I used to frequent Blacksburg, VA, since my brother graduated from Virginia Tech and then lived there for 12 years afterward. Beth Massie and I still camp out in the Jefferson National Forest not far from Tech. So it's within easy traveling distance.
I dunno if they're still offering that particular course, but I suppose I might give 'em a holler. ;)
Actually, a few years ago, at the invitation of the department chairman, I went to speak to the language arts dept. at Ferrum College, VA (which I attended back in the dark ages). They told me they'd have a nice dinner for me when I got there. What I didn't expect was a first-class catered dinner and a check for a hundred bucks (for which the professor apologized -- "It's all we can swing for guest speakers"). Frankly, I thought it was a wonderful gesture and the payment was quite unexpected.
Naturally, since it was me old alma mater, I was feeling fairly charitable; for other institutions, I'd certainly have to hold out for at least a meal that doesn't originate from the campus cafeteria. ;)
[shadow=navy,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]
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Congratulations Mark!
I had a college course that was Horror Literature. We covered Dracula & Frankenstein besides Edgar Allen Poe. They only had one class on Dark Shadows but that was long ago.
Enjoy your honor cos it is an honor.