The full schedule for the Gothic Style(s), Gothic Substance conference (one of the many exciting events in the Gothic Manchester Festival) is now on line.
Both Dr Sam George and I will be representing OGOM; the other papers promise to be very interesting too.
I spent Tuesday at Broadcasting House recording ‘The Forum’ on Dracula. I was one of three guests representing Dracula scholars from around the world for an international audience for the BBC World Service. Joining me from Canada was Dacre Stoker, Great Grand Nephew of Bram Stoker, and representing Irish gothic and Dracula’s forays into film, was Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn. I’ve blogged previously about Recording Dracula and getting involved with this project and revealed my hesitation regarding my radio voice but never say never because here I am reporting on my activities on the show! I approached the iconic building with some trepidation and was unprepared for the lengthy security checks at the Beeb but on meeting Fiona, my contact and the editor, I was reassured. She quickly introduced me to the show’s presenter Bridget Kendall. Bridget is a complete professional and very straight talking. She explained that we would record the show, which is in two halves, in one take with Dacre and Sorcha contributing from different studios. The script had been fleshed out so that the producers had a good idea of who would come in on which question and what direction the discussion would take.
We began with some rather quirky questions about world myths concerning vampires and I spoke about vampires as ‘citizens of the world’, who know no temporal or geographical boundaries. Sitting in the studio was quite daunting because you can see the technicians and the show’s producer watching you through the glass. It also takes some time to adjust to the headphones and the comments coming down them from the other contributors (who are not live in the studio). You get a very good sense of the insight and editing skills required to seamlessly stitch the material from such programmes together because they seem so completely effortless when broadcast. The team at the Beeb are highly skilled I found. I could intercept quite easily once in full swing and we had some spooky clips from Christopher Lee to help us on our way. There were some hairy moments though….such as this one…
BRIDGET. What about the suggestion that it’s a gay novel? Dracula at one point says of Jonathan Harker “this man belongs to me.”
SAM. Yes, the notebooks show that this line was the starting point for the whole novel……Stoker had some sort of homo-erotic dream and woke up repeating the words ‘this man belongs to me’ he went on to write this into the novel and it shows that Dracula has male victims too – he is bi-sexual. At Castle Dracula the vampire has marked Harker out as his victim – the vampire brides are warned off when they try to attack the man, Dracula is claiming ownership of Harker himself. We should remember that homosexuality is illegal at this time and Oscar Wilde had just been imprisoned for gross indecency (his trial in 1895 had terrified Stoker – he knew him of course) so this may be a coded reference to male same sex desire in the novel. I don’t want to speculate too much, but Stoker’s death certificate says he died of ‘exhaustion’ but some claim this is a euphemism for syphilis….by all accounts he was fairly promiscuous!
Ooh er…this was a bit tricky to talk about with Dacre listening in as I didn’t know his opinion on this! Overall though it was very enjoyable and it did make me think about engaging with a non specialist audience and one that is made up of listeners from around the world. Any references need to be explained so there are little asides or interceptions when say Wilde or Darwin are mentioned etc so there is some clarity and it is inclusive. I really hope listeners enjoy the finished programme. I’m beyond excited to see how it all fits together.
There are several broadcasts depending on where in the world you are. But for UK listeners, the first programme goes out at 19.06 on Saturday 16th September. There are repeats also, which look to be on the following Monday and Tuesday.
Anyone outside the UK should go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio/help/faq#faq for broadcast times and how to listen in your location.
The programme will also be available from the following Monday online on its own webpage, which you can find via the Forum homepage
They will be publicising the programme via the Forum Facebook page too.
If you are inspired to reach for your copy of Dracula take heed from this early review (discussed on the programme)
Persons of small courage and weak nerves should confine their reading of these gruesome pages strictly to the hours between dawn and sunset….
(Daily Mail, June, 1897). Enjoy!
Here’s an Exciting Preview of the Being Human Festival 2017 showing OGOM’s Big Bad Wolf as one of the most anticipated events! Put November 18th in your diary and get ready to redeem the wolf!
We have just added an exciting new item to our OGOM and Supernatural Cities present: The Urban Weird Conference programme: A Boggart workshop!!! Dr Ceri Houlbrook, an ECR at University of Hertfordshire and folklore specialist, will be using a wide range of material, from the pens of antiquarians to local ballads and oral histories, to explore the history and folklore of Boggart Hole Clough, where today, still, ‘there lurks that strange elf’.
Here are some extracts from the curious history of the Mancunian Boggart from Ceri (I love that he resides in Manchester, it is my first city):
Not far from the little snug smoky village of Blakeley, or Blackley, there lies one of the most romantic of dells, rejoicing in a state of singular seclusion, and in the oddest of Lancashire names, to wit the “Boggart-Hole.” … You descend, clinging to the trees and scrambling as best you may, – and now you stand on haunted ground! Tread softly, for this is the Boggart’s clough; and see in yonder dark corner, and beneath the projecting mossy stone, where the dusky sullen cave yawns before us, like a bit of Salvator’s best, there lurks that strange elf, the sly and mischievous Boggart. (John Roby, Traditions of Lancashire, 1829)
‘This description of Boggart Hole Clough dates to the early 19th century. Nearly 200 years later and the area has changed dramatically. No longer a ‘little snug smoky village’, Blackley is now a Manchester suburb, and this ‘most romantic of dells’ has become an urban park. The Boggart, however, is still very much in residence’ (Ceri Houlbrook).
I’m beyond excited about this! Ceri has recently joined our FB group so please give her a warm welcome at OGOM!
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the trailer for Valley of Shadows, a Scandinavian Gothic tale directed by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. From the trailer, it appears that the narrative follows a young boy whose community is plagued by a series of attacks on sheep which occur at the full moon. The imagery is very atmospheric and the sudden shot of Lucas Cranach’s woodcut ‘The Werewolf’ (1512), along with the full moon, suggest that there may be a lycanthropic element. It certainly looks like a refreshing take on this monster.
The film premiers at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8th September, 2017 and will be released in Norway this October. However, there is no news yet on if it will be released in any other countries. Hopefully, if it receives good reviews and lives up to its trailer, then this will change.
I spent this morning engaged in a lengthy phone interview for a BBC World Service Programme on Dracula. The call lasted over an hour and a half. I was asked about my thoughts on first reading Dracula and if I could deliver a lively plot summary for listeners. I was quizzed about Stoker’s research for the novel, where we had got to with vampire lore by this point and literary vampires pre Stoker. We then went on to talk about the novel’s reception in the Victorian period and the impact of the theatre, together with the its lasting legacy in the present. Also the novel’s love affair with the cinema and how this might have shaped the Dracula myth and finally Stoker’s importance regarding my own research. I was a little unsure about my radio voice which is hardly RP (having grown up in Cumbria and Manchester) but my enthusiasm seemed to get me through, together some rather handy sticky notes (see pic). I’m pleased to say I got through the interview and will be at Broadcasting House recording the programme on 5th September. The format is an ‘In our Time’ for international audiences. I am told it will feature the voice of Christopher Lee reading passages from the novel, Dacre Stoker, Great Grand Nephew of Bram, and an international film critic. It’ll be interesting working on the script in the days ahead. I’ll write a little follow up post about my experiences during the recording and editing process as it might be useful for other scholars. I’m posting this to show that sometimes you might not see yourself as others see you and projects that might at first not seem the perfect fit can turn out to be some of the most exciting! We might not always welcome the media glare but it is part of academic life for the new impact generation and we’ve been fortunate at OGOM as the project has offered lots of opportunities for engagement and comment.
Something to howl about ….on 18th November OGOM will seek to Redeem the Wolf at the Being Human Festival!!!
This is a free event held at the University of Hertfordshire. You should book through the Being Human website from September!
I’ve gathered together here four reading lists of interesting writing in the literature of the fantastic.
The first, which ties in nicely with OGOM’s forthcoming conference The Urban Weird, is a guide by Chelsea Mueller to the genre of urban fantasy, ‘Urban Fantasy 101: 10 Books to Get You Started‘.
Then, again in tune with The Urban Weird, a list by Sarah Hannah Gomez on transformations in YA fiction of real cities and places such as London, Italy, New York, and Berlin: ‘7 YA Books That Turn Real Cities and Countries Upside Down‘.
Melissa Albert reviews a range of new YA fantastic novels here.
Finally, a useful guide from Maureen Lee Lenker, who writes on ‘27 Female Authors Who Rule Sci-Fi and Fantasy Right Now‘.
Around the time I was reading Brian Aldiss (who has just sadly died), I’d also discovered Alan Garner. The Owl Service, his fourth novel, is 50 years old today. The Owl Service is now what would be called Young Adult fiction and is a reworking of the remnants of Welsh myth collected as the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion. It’s a dark and powerful tale of passion and jealousy, with the events of the myth cyclically coming to life among the inhabitants of a Welsh valley up until the twentieth century, when the novel takes place. It weaves in, too, ideas of class hostility and the cultural domination of English over Welsh. Generically, I find in it traces of what later emerges as paranormal romance, particularly that strand I have been researching where old tales are reinvigorated in contemporary, realist settings.
Dr Dimitra Fimi of Cardiff University has written in depth on Garner and Celtic myth in her recent book Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy. There are also two short pieces she has written to celebrate the anniversary of The Owl Service: on her blog here and for the TLS here.
Sam and I had been talking about Garner’s Elidor in connection with OGOM’s forthcoming conference The Urban Weird. I have reread Garner over and over again since my childhood–I never tire of his writing–and had only recently reread Elidor, so I decided to read The Owl Service again, completely unaware of this anniversary. It’s still as disturbingly powerful as ever. This is my copy:
It’s sad news that Brian Aldiss has died at the age of 92. Aldiss was one of the most consistently intelligent writers of science fiction/fantastic literature, always innovating. He played an important part in the rise of ‘New Wave’ SF centred on New Worlds magazine.
After Wells, he was the first SF writer I properly discovered, reading this millennia-spanning collection of unsettling and imaginative stories when I was about ten years old (the edition pictured is one I acquired later after losing the first copy) .
