Once there were seven Blackwoods in the family home, but then the murders happened—and the village has never forgotten. Now only eighteen-year-old Merricat Blackwood, practitioner of sympathetic magic, remains on the estate with her agoraphobic sister and frail uncle, ostracized by the townspeople, secluded in a separate world. When an outsider interjects himself into the story, he disrupts the fragile truce everyone has made with the past and the future.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), the final completed novel by master of Gothic storytelling Shirley Jackson, is a modern classic of mystery and psychological horror with a timely critique of gender, class, and community power dynamics. Join us as we explore Jackson’s haunting insights on isolation and identity, prejudice and paranoia, and memory and mob mentality.

The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Lecture 1: Shirley Jackson and the Gothic
	Discussion 1: Lecture 1 Discussion
Week 2	Lecture 2: Psychological Horror and Sympathetic Magic
	Discussion 2 Lecture 2 Discussion
Week 3	Lecture 3: The Mob and the Other
	Discussion 3: Lecture 3 Discussion
Week 4	Lecture 4: Themes and Resonances
	Discussion 4 Lecture 4 Discussion