A Ghost Story For Christmas

There is probably a smell of roasted chestnuts and other good comfortable things all the time, for we are telling Winter Stories— Ghost Stories, or more shame for us—round the Christmas fire Charles Dickens, ‘A Christmas Tree’, Household Words (1850) The association between Yuletide cheer and seasonal fear emerged from the Victorian era’s appetite for … Continue reading A Ghost Story For Christmas →

What does The Haunting of Bly Manor owe to The Turn of the Screw?

Bly Manor. Netflix. The Netflix series, The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), is a reimagining of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (1898). Initially set in the twenty-first century, it looks back to 1987 and the story of a young woman who takes on the role of au pair to two orphaned children living … Continue reading What does The Haunting of Bly Manor owe to The Turn of the Screw? →

A Brief Celebration of Witches

(This is a special Halloween post by Sophie Barber) There is no character we are guaranteed to see at Halloween more than the witch. A favourite fancy dress costume for children and adults alike, we have come to associate witches with the frivolity of Western Halloween celebrations. But the pointy hats and broomsticks of our modern-day witches have a rich history that has not always been so light-hearted...

An American Gothic Nightmare: Stephen King’s The Mist

This is a guest post by Yaroslav Marichev. The United States is full to the brim with political, social, and thus literary potential for writers of the Gothic mode, and particularly as a Puritan experiment which has, over the course of several centuries, laid a foundation to a genre which literature experts denote as the American Gothic.

Servants and the Gothic (UWP)

University of Sheffield and Sheffield Gothic alum Kathleen Hudson has recently published the academic monograph Servants and the Gothic, 1764-1831: A half-told tale through the University of Wales Press. This monograph is now widely available through UWP and on Amazon.com. Students are also free to request copies of the book through their university library. Servants … Continue reading Servants and the Gothic (UWP) →

Vampires in Romantic Literature

His peculiarities caused him to be invited to every house; all wished to see him, and those who had been accustomed to violent excitement, and now felt the weight of ennui, were pleased at having something in their presence capable of engaging their attention. In spite of the deadly hue of his face, which never … Continue reading Vampires in Romantic Literature →