CFP: Utopias, Realities, Heritages. Ethnographies for the 21st century, SIEF2015 12th Congress Zagreb, Croatia 21-25 June 2015

This looks like a fabulous conference, hosted by the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore. There are opportunities to share research on the fairy tale, particularly their utopian content (and including, I would think, contemporary adaptations).

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‘Witches and wicked bodies’, British Museum, 25 September 2014 – 11 January 2015

This looks a marvellous and thrilling exhibition on the representation of witches in the visual arts through the ages. I really do want to see this myself!

This exhibition will examine the portrayal of witches and witchcraft in art from the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century. It will feature prints and drawings by artists including Dürer, Goya, Delacroix, Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, alongside classical Greek vessels and Renaissance maiolica.

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Roger Luckhurst, ‘Perversion and degeneracy in The Picture of Dorian Gray’

An excellent short essay on Oscar Wilde’s classic exploration of aesthetics and morality in The Picture of Dorian Grey by Professor Roger Luckhurst of Birkbeck, University of London.

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Rachey Taylor: A Review of Xavier Aldana Reyes’ Body Gothic (2014)

Rachey Taylor, PhD candidate at the University of Newcastle, enthusiastically reviews OGOM contributor and member of The Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies Xavier Aldana Reyes‘s new book, Body Gothic here; it looks fascinating.

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‘Christmas’ leaflet distributed in Cambridge claims homosexuals are like vampires

The monstrous vampire has longed served to represent the Other, the repulsive outsider that society shuns. And it continues to play this role, despite the ascent of the sympathetic vampire and demonic lover. As OGOM contributors have charted in the book and the Gothic Studies special issue, the vampire has been used as a political metaphor by both left and right. Here’s a contemporary case of the vampire image employed to unfortunate and reactionary ends, in a polemic against gay and lesbian people.

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Buffyology Lessons in the Academy: Buffy V Shakespeare?

Given we had some papers on Buffy at the original Open Graves, Open Minds conference in 2010 and that she made an appearance in both the OGOM book and the special issue of Gothic Studies on vampires (and that we have just had a session on her and Twilight in the ‘Reading the Vampire’ MA module)  I thought this article was worth linking to.

I am all for Buffyology in the academy but the MA students are well versed in Shakespeare too having completed undergraduate degrees in literature and that is precisely the point, having engaged with the canon it can successfully be broadened and developed and Buffy can be invited in (hooray).

Is Studying Buffy more important than studying Shakespeare ?

Has Buffy slayed the bard? Have you studied Buffy? Let me know….

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The Company of Wolves at Riverside Valley Park 29th – 30th August 2014

This sounds like an exciting event: an interactive adaptation of Angela Carter’s Company f Wolves tales, reviewed by Belinda Dillon–a shame it’s over now, but perhaps it will occur again. Some interesting thoughts on the appeal of the werewolf here, and it should provoke thought on the nature of adaptation (in two phases here, of course, because of Carter’s own adaptation of the fairy tale).

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LA Weekly’s ‘Twenty Best Vampire Movies 1979 to the Present’ – prepare to be underwhelmed

LA Weekly’s Twenty Best Vampire Movies 1979 to the Present is  a tad underwhelming… Kristy Swanson as Buffy in 1992 anyone? Only redeemed by Shadow of the Vampire 2000 but the synopsis seems to misunderstand the entire premise of the film for me…not top of my list of lists….anyone agree?

shadow-of-the-vampire

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CFP: Daughter of Fangdom:A Conference on Women and the Television Vampire

Deadline for this is pending…..looking forward to seeing people in April

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Folk Gothic: Polish Vampires Helped into their Graves by Hoards of Villagers and Their Pitch Forks

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