Foreshadowings: Bloodlust; or The Enduring Appeal of the Vampire

Vampires are arguably the chicest of all revenants. They never get old. Literally. Like the Gothic genre, vampires have endured numerous transmutations over the centuries, progressing from primitive folklore phantasm to Byronic aristocrat. Christopher Frayling’s anthology of Vampyres (1991) charts this metamorphosis and illustrates the upward social mobility of the vampire as it is adapted … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Bloodlust; or The Enduring Appeal of the Vampire →

Foreshadowings: Edgar Allan Poe

At the risk of sounding cliche I'd like to posit that Edgar Allan Poe is one of those authors so crucial to Gothic studies that he can almost never be over-examined. What's more he's very distinct in that you can't help but enjoy his work, be it one special story or the whole collection. Maybe … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Edgar Allan Poe →

Forshadowings: The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus

Considering its date of origin (which in itself is hotly debated as the play was certainly performed during Christopher Marlowe’s lifetime but it was not published until sometime after his death) The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus may not initially seem like an appropriate text for the Gothic reading group given … Continue reading Forshadowings: The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus →

Foreshadowings: The Woman in Black and Reading Group Announcements

How quickly the year flies by! This week will be our last Gothic Reading Group meeting of the 2014 academic year – we’ve covered all sorts of topics from post-colonialism to comic books, Alfred Hitchcock to Sleepy Hollow! We’re going to wrap up our year with another film: The Woman in Black (2012) film starring … Continue reading Foreshadowings: The Woman in Black and Reading Group Announcements →

Foreshadowings: Early American Gothic

Is it that time already? The Gothic Reading Group meets for its third session of 2014-15 on Wednesday and this time the subject is early American Gothic: a sub-genre of sorts that has generated plenty of critical discussion, but isn't always as central as it might be to the historical development of the Gothic and … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Early American Gothic →

Foreshadowings: Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea

The new academic year is still young, but the Gothic Reading Group is well underway. Our first meeting two weeks ago was a big success, with lots of new and old faces, including students and staff. This Wednesday we meet again for our first text: Jean Rhys's 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea. Famous as a … Continue reading Foreshadowings: Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea →