Machen, “The White People”

Performance

• Class median grade: B (82.7%)
• Spread: 12.7%
• No curve

What did the multiple-choice questions test?

• Did you comprehend the reading?
• Do you recall details from the reading?
• Do you recall details from lecture and discussion?
• Given context from a story (quote, plot), can you make good inferences?

What did the short-answer questions test?

• Can you connect a story to its historical context?
  • Question 53
• How well can you interpret a specific textual detail (i.e., close reading)?
  • Question 54 about interruptions in “The Comet”
• Can you apply theoretical concepts to specific texts?
  • Question 55 on the function of impossibility in fantasy

Recommendations for the final

• Final will be similar to the midterm (will also be on Canvas)
• Keep up with the reading
  • Take notes by hand as you read
• Read questions carefully
  • e.g., Several students lost points on #53 because they missed the requirement to cite specific historical contexts for each story in their written response.
• Treat practice quizzes like real exams
• Check your quiz answers against the ones that are posted after class
• Review old quizzes and slides while studying

Other recommendations?

• What worked for you?
• What did not work?
• What do you plan to do differently for the final?

Reminder: Extra Credit Book Club (ECBC)

• Extra Credit Book Club participation is worth +2% to final grade per meeting you prepare for and attend
• Only about 1 in 4 students registered for ECBC
• If you are interested in ECBC after your midterm, email me
• I will ask existing book clubs if they would be willing to take new members

Schedule changes

• Dec 1: Disco Elysium (moved up)
• Dec 3: Practice exam for final. No in-class meeting (new)

If you are planning to play Disco Elysium for free at the New Media Game Lab, I recommend trying to play between November 16 and 25.

On-call schedule

• Due to Disco Elysium change and the practice final, the on-call schedule has been updated
• You should have received it as an announcement on Canvas at the start of class.
• Let me know if you have any questions about your days.

Horror and SF

• Horror can involve science fictional or fantastical elements
  • Vampires are a fantastical element in supernatural horror derived from folklore
  • Alien (1979) and Backrooms (2026) are science-fictional horror stories
• But horror can be distinct from sci-fi and fantasy because it does not necessarily have to depart from consensus reality, though it continues to estrange readers
  • Cults and the occult are a recurring horror trope for this reason
• Psychological horror (as opposed to supernatural horror) need not depart from consensus reality
  • e.g., Psycho (1960), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Black Swan (2010)

“The White People” and horror

• Arthur Machen influenced subsequent horror writers
• Major influence on H.P. Lovecraft
• “The White People” also influenced folk horror works like The Wicker Man (1973/2006), The Witch (2015), and Midsommar (2019)

Literary difficulty and horror

• This is the most challenging story to comprehend that we have read thus far in the class
• That’s a function of the structure of the story (within a story, within a story) as well as Machen’s different writing styles
• But it’s also part of how horror works: The monster is always scarier before you can see it.
• Incomprehension makes horror horrifying
  • Perfectly understanding motives and deeds suggests that things are in our control, at least insofar as they are comprehensible
  • Horror demonstrates that there are things we cannot comprehend and cannot control

Strategies for reading difficult texts

• Take them on their own terms (e.g., the definition of sin)
• Look for connections between different parts
  • e.g., repeating words, images, ideas
• “Don’t miss the forest for the trees”

For Thursday

• “The Aunt and Amabel” by E. Nesbit (BBCF 426)
• “Through the Dragon Glass” by A. Merritt (BBCF 523)
• “Friend Island” by Francis Stevens (BBCF 565)