If we were to read aloud some of the lyrics of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” slowly, and without the feel-good music and images of food and gifts, the words quickly become ambiguous. Why must we watch out? Why mustn’t we cry? Unless, of course, Santa Claus is not all that he seems. If … Continue reading We Wish You a Scary Christmas
Category: Topics
The Devil Wore a Yellow Turtleneck and Trainers, or, Finding Fear in ‘The Wicker Man’
For our final meeting of the year, Sheffield Gothic sat down to watch the 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man. As with any GRG film viewing, The Wicker Man was met with a lot giggling and at least two Outlander comments.Warning: The following post contains SPOILERSDanny was not impressed with the opening sequenceWatching in 2015, … Continue reading The Devil Wore a Yellow Turtleneck and Trainers, or, Finding Fear in ‘The Wicker Man’
The Hogg Blog: ‘The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’
Welcome to the complex, schizophrenic, and even (dare I say it) metafictional world of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. This is a world where nothing is exactly as it first appears, and it continues to puzzle new readers just as much as it’s contemporary nineteenth century ones. Is the text based … Continue reading The Hogg Blog: ‘The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’
Samhain in the Great South Land
It is commonly believed that the celebration of Halloween is a uniquely American practice, and, in a certain sense, this is true: it is highly unlikely that the celebration, as we know it today, with its canon of costumes, colours, and commercial impact, would have grown to its cultural reach and significance anywhere else.When we … Continue reading Samhain in the Great South Land
Forshadowings: Religious Gothic and ‘The Monk’ by Matthew Lewis
Last week, Sheffield Gothic had its first meeting of the new semester, screening the 1947 film Black Narcissus, based on Rumer Godden's 1939 novel of the same name. It was a brilliant film about madness and desire in an isolated convent full of troubled nuns. Afterwards we discussed surveillance within convent life and how the … Continue reading Forshadowings: Religious Gothic and ‘The Monk’ by Matthew Lewis
Forshadowings: ‘No Place for a Nunnery’: the Powell and Pressburger’s Sublime "Black Narcissus"
On asking my tutorial group ‘what makes Wuthering Heights a Gothic novel’, I rediscovered just how much the popular conception of the Gothic is rooted in aesthetics. Ghosts were mentioned, someone touched on morality – but the dead giveaway, the ultimate indicator of Gothicness, was the setting. As a Gothic scholar, and one who is … Continue reading Forshadowings: ‘No Place for a Nunnery’: the Powell and Pressburger’s Sublime "Black Narcissus"
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