Author Archives: Sam George

About Sam George

Associate Professor of Research, School of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire Co-convenor OGOM Project

Gothic Blooms: The Dark Poetics of Botany

It is quite hard to combine my two research strands on botany and the gothic but I do like to experiment with gothic blooms in my garden. I grew this red chocolate sunflower as a  dark counterpart to the sunshine yellow variety! … Continue reading

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Blood and Mermaids: Limerick 2016

If our bodies are books of blood, then they can be read; we invite such readings and contributions where blood is the signifier. We are also interested in the analyses and representation of the literal presence of blood in our … Continue reading

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Monstrous Blooms: The Amazing Corpse Lily

It is not often that the two strands of my research, botany and the undead, come together and I get very, very excited when they do (it is even less frequent that botany makes front page news).  Enter the Corpse … Continue reading

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The Wolf: BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories Programme

Brett Westwood meets a wolf and considers the role of the wolf in our culture in this BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories programme which also features OGOM Company of Wolves plenary Garry Marvin and the UK Wolf Trust which we … Continue reading

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‘Some Curious Disquiet’: Troubled Teens Turn Vampire in St Albans @AbbeyTheatreStA

I was at the Abbey Theatre in St Albans last week with a friend to see a play entitled  ‘A Vampire Story’ written by Moira Buffini and directed by Phillip Reardon.  Buffini has collaborated with Damon Albarn and this play was … Continue reading

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How Old Are Vampires Really? Body of 500 Year Old Vampire Inspires New Debate

The body of a five hundred year old ‘vampire’ will go on display in an ancient cemetery in the town of Kamien Pomorski this month. The vampire corpse was discovered two years ago in Northern Poland and is currently being … Continue reading

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Travels in Transylvania: Bram Stoker’s Ambiguous Legacy

Last week I was in Romania at the University of Timisoara for the Beliefs and Behaviours in Education and Culture conference. My keynote was on the representation of Romanian folklore in British and Irish fictions of the undead. Stoker never travelled … Continue reading

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Folk Horror: Blood Sucking Vampire Goat Terrorises Village

Following my recent post on folk horror and the appearance earlier this year of the Hull Werewolf Old Stinker, who sparked a folk panic in the UK, stories are breaking that a legendary Chupacabra has been caught and killed in the Ukraine … Continue reading

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Folk Horror for Beginners

I am increasingly intrigued by ‘folk horror’ and it was one of the sections in the British Library’s Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination exhibition  that I spent longest pondering over. The BFI’s recent article is a must read therefore, … Continue reading

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Generation Dead: Students Respond to YA Gothics

My level six undergraduate module Generation Dead: Young Adult Fiction and the Gothic has featured heavily on the blog since its beginnings in 2014. The module was inspired by my research for OGOM and the students have been engaging with the … Continue reading

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