About the Institute

With its focus on the cultural legacy of the Puritans, this institute will contribute to the NEH’s “A More Perfect Union” initiative with its goal of pursuing the national values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in conversation with the challenges of our complex, and sometimes contentious, national story. In particular, we will examine the ways that the Puritans’ religious worldview manifests itself in New England Gothic literature as what literary scholar Paul Giles calls a “residual cultural determinant” through the lenses of place, race, and gender (American Catholic Arts and Fictions 1).  Additionally, we will examine how a focus on this regional literature and these themes continues to resonate with contemporary American discourses.

We will place these three focal points in conversation with a variety of New England authors--including female, indigenous, and Black perspectives--whose works range from the origins of Gothic in the eighteenth century to the present.  We will also view film adaptations of some of our stories to examine the ways that these themes are translated to popular visual media.  Our through line throughout this institute will be the work of Maine author Stephen King, whose almost 50-year literary canon is inextricably intertwined with these themes.  Additionally, King's status as a writer of popular fiction, as well as H. P. Lovecraft and Shirley Jackson, raises the question about whether or not popular literature has a place in the academy.