Sheffield Gothic co-president, Sophie Haywood, introduces the theme of this term's reading groups and events: Gothic Wilderness. We often think of the wilderness as separate. It is a place outside of the civilised, somewhere to visit when we want to experience nature in its wilder form. But are these two spheres so separate? Where does … Continue reading Gothic Wilderness, or how the wild things creep up on you
Tag: landscape
Considering The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne
‘ON the north-east coast of Scotland, in the most romantic part of the Highlands, stood the Castle of Athlin; an edifice built on the summit of a rock whose base was in the sea. This pile was venerable from its antiquity, and from its Gothic structure; but more venerable from the virtues which it enclosed.’It … Continue reading Considering The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne
Pastoral Gothic: Ann Radcliffe and the Sublime
The Gothic Reading Group will be meeting on Wednesday 22ndMarch to continue this semester’s on-going discussion of all things Eco-Gothic. This time around we’ll be focusing on sublime pastoral landscapes.During the session we’ll be thinking about the pastoral mode in relation to the poetry of the Mistress of Udolpho herself, Ann Radcliffe. Radcliffe’s novels are … Continue reading Pastoral Gothic: Ann Radcliffe and the Sublime
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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