This course, which focuses on contemporary American literature of the disturbing and uncanny, will begin with a brief look at the evolution of the "horror" genre in Victorian and Modern literature. Then we'll move on to consider more recent examples of horror fiction, with a particular focus on the relationship among postmodern theory, epistemological uncertainty, and horror. The course texts will include Richard Wright's _Native Son_, Toni Morrison's _Beloved_, Shirley Jackson's _The Haunting of Hill House, and Noel Carroll's _The Philosophy of Horror_. We'll also use a course pack with stories by Joyce Carol Oats, William Faulkner, and others.