English A Level Literature Summer Assignment

(1) You must obtain the following texts for this course. Your editions must be these exact ones:

  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Penguin Classics. ISBN-13: 978-0141439471
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The New Cambridge Shakespeare. ISBN-10: 0521532523
  • The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter, Vintage Classics. ISBN-10: 0099588110
  • Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, NHB Modern Plays. ISBN-10: 1848420501

(2) You must do an initial read of all of the texts before we study them in lessons. You should start with Frankenstein and Hamlet as these are the first texts we will study. You might prefer to watch a production of Hamlet instead of reading it.

(3) Furthermore, A Level students will be doing an in depth study of the Gothic genre throughout Year 12 and 13. The wider your reading in this genre, the more prepared you will be to discuss and write about the Gothic in lessons and on the exam. Choose 1-2 texts from the following list to supplement your reading of the Gothic. Or if you have any other Gothic texts in mind, read those!

  • Dracula by Bram Stoker
  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  • Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  • The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter
  • The Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
  • Beloved by Toni Morrison
  • The Shining by Stephen King
  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1) by Anne Rice
  • The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  • The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
  • We Have Always Lived in This Castle by Shirley Jackson
  • Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
  • The Monk by Matthew Lewis
  • The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
  • The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
  • The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
  • The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  • The Wasp Factory by Iain M Banks
  • Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Please also complete this Gothic Literature Pack 2023 as part of your summer assignment. HHere is the suggested reading list.

Year 13 summer assignment:

Reading Guide: Things Fall Apart - Google Docs