Foreshadowings: Batman

This week is another first for the Gothic Reading Group as we turn our attention to not one, but two new media and consider the role played by the long-running Batman franchise in defining a kind of popular Gothic. Batman may seem an odd place for a group of (predominantly) eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary specialists to end … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Batman

Foreshadowings: Le Fanu’s Carmilla

The next meeting of the Gothic Reading Group will tackle some fiction by J.S. Le Fanu, as we head into the nineteenth century and look at some classic 'Victorian Gothic.' Le Fanu has been on the cards for some time, having been one of the first authors suggested by GRG members in the 2012-13 year; … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Le Fanu’s Carmilla

Recollections – 2013-14 Session Six: Selections from John Stagg’s The Minstrel of the North

Last week the Gothic Reading Group met to discuss a selection of pieces by the largely forgotten Romantic poet, John Stagg. Much of the conversation revolved around Stagg's place in relation to an existing scholarly understanding of the 18th and 19th century Gothic. This has lead Mark to produce a longer blog post than usual, … Continue reading Recollections – 2013-14 Session Six: Selections from John Stagg’s The Minstrel of the North

Foreshadowings: John Stagg, A Forgotten Gothic Poet

This week the Gothic Reading Group will boldly go where (to the best of our knowledge) no scholars have gone before as we tackle the forgotten Romantic-era poet, John Stagg. Ahead of the session Mark has been pondering where best to situate Stagg in our existing sense of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Gothic writing and doing … Continue reading Foreshadowings: John Stagg, A Forgotten Gothic Poet

Recollections – 2013-14 Session Five: Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

The Gothic Reading Group met for our first session last week, with a screening of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and an accompanying discussion of its source novella, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? As always, we were keen to break some new ground. This was our first meeting discussing two different media and, perhaps, our … Continue reading Recollections – 2013-14 Session Five: Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)

Foreshadowings – Do Goths Dream of Electric Bats?

We've a little over a week to go until our first session of 2014. As usual, we're kicking off with a film: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, but this time we'll also be reading the film's source material: Philip K. Dick's short novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Both 'texts' are famous within the canons of … Continue reading Foreshadowings – Do Goths Dream of Electric Bats?