Author Archives: Sam George

About Sam George

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

It’s A Kind of Magic: The Books of Renaissance Magician John Dee Go On Display

One of the courses I was teaching last semester was Renaissance Literature and the most enjoyable part was the exploration of magic on stage from Dr Faustus to The Tempest and the magical statue scene in A Winter’s Tale. The … Continue reading

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Magical Skins: The Selkie’s Transformation

As soon as the seal was clear of the water, it reared up and its skin slipped down to the sand. What had been a seal was a white-skinned boy George Mackay Brown ‘Pictures in the Cave’ In response to … Continue reading

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YA Shapeshifters: The Selkie

The ‘Animal Kinship’ panel at OGOM Company of Wolves included some discussion of the ‘Selkie’ or shapeshifting seal. This elusive creature was discussed in Peter Le Couteur’s paper ‘Sealskins: Finns, Seal Wives, and Mythmaking’. We were rather excited to receive … Continue reading

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The Alchemy of Young Adult Fiction

By some additional alchemy that this genre alone brings […] infusing the cankered souls of the rest of us – they will make me read as if I were young again – in one mad, open-minded, unstoppable rush. What delight. What … Continue reading

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Sexualising the Witch: Magic, Witches & Devils #jrlmagic

The majority of convicted witches in early modern Europe were women, and two female stereotypes became particularly powerful: the alluring young woman, and the dried-up old ‘hag’. Regardless of age, female witches were believed to be in sexual thrall to … Continue reading

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Young Adult Classes about Werewolves

As we have just begun the Generation Dead module which includes some werewolf texts and following the sad demise of Alan Rickman I thought I’d post a link to Severus Snape teaching the dark arts class about werewolves.  It seems … Continue reading

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OGOM: YA Fiction and the Gothic

I’ve given a lot of thought to the titles I want to teach on my ‘Generation Dead: YA Fiction and the Gothic’ module but it is hard not to become overwhelmed once you start looking at lists and series. Most … Continue reading

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The stars will look very different tonight

“your face, your race, the way that you talk. I kiss you, you’re beautiful, I want you to walk” Goodnight Star Man x  

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Generation Dead: Young Adult Fiction and the Gothic – Starts Jan 18th

My Young Adult Fiction and the Gothic module ‘Generation Dead’ begins on January 18th. The students are going to be following the blog and attending the workshops described below: All over the country in the world of young adult fiction … Continue reading

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CFP Disconnected Forms: Narratives of the Fractured Self @DisConnnectForms

This  original and pertinent conference  is organised by PhD students Sandie Mills and Gul Dag at the University of Hull. OGOM regular Dr Catherine Spooner is one of the plenaries and her paper ‘Asylum Chic or What to Wear to … Continue reading

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