Dorian Gray as Evil Essex Werewolf

Just when my research has turned to English werewolves this comes along. Thanks to Kaja for alerting me to this wacky wilderness Wilde/werewolf mash up. My first thoughts are what is Dorian doing in Epping Forest he is such an urban dandy? Also is there a portrait of Dorian as werewolf hanging in an attic somewhere in Essex? Is there method in the madness? I just can’t stop thinking about this…the idea of the Dorian Wolf is engulfing me. November has spawned a monster indeed.   

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Brian S. Ference has just published The Wolf of Dorian Gray – A Werewolf Spawned by the Evil of Man

“Sage tried to ignore the flash of blood, as the image of the giant grey wolf rushed back into her mind. During one of her nightly gatherings in Epping Forest, she was astounded to come across the animal—which was thought to have been hunted to extinction in England well over two centuries ago.”

So begins The Wolf of Dorian Gray. This expanded edition of the classic philosophical fiction by Oscar Wilde, features all-new scenes in a compelling tale of love, lust, and the werewolf spawned by the evil of man. The story, set in late 1800’s England, follows the life of Dorian Gray, who through ancient Romani magic’s and the skills of an astonishing artist has had his fate and soul irrevocably linked with the last remaining wolf in the forests of England. Dorian revels in the experiences of first love, delights in the art and beauty of the world, relishes the freedom of his youth, and is awakened to the many pleasures of life. His friend and mentor, Lady Helena, provides a guiding hand as he struggles with his conscience and the purpose of living. Meanwhile, the wolf begins to grow and change into a hideous monster that is ravaging the countryside. What will happen when the wolf comes to London? Can Dorian save his soul? Or will the beast consume it and his life, along with those of his friends and loved ones? Complete with adventurous romance, harrowing escapes, hell-bent revenge, and a werewolf terrorizing the gentry; The Wolf of Dorian Gray transcends this classic work of literature into a compelling and most delicious read. Read up to 20% of the book free at http://www.thewolfofdoriangray.com.

Dracula appears in wolf form but what kind of animal would Dorian be? He would have to be a exquisite white cat in my opinion. Do join in the discussion. Kaja and I will be discussing wolves and werewolves again tomorrow pre viva and now our minds are blown…..help us make sense of this if you can…we’d love to hear more.

I have just ordered this because I really need to know more and it will add some intrigue to my English werewolves paper! 

 

 

 

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Fairy Tale School

We’ve just been contacted by Brittany Warman, who is a fan of the OGOM website and, with her friend and colleague, has created an online course on fairytale on their lovely website, The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic. It looks very impressive. Here’s what Brittany has to say:

Hello! I am a long time fan of your blog and I was hoping I might alert you to a new project that might be of interest. My best friend/colleague and I are both PhD candidates in English and Folklore, and we have just recently started an online school dedicated to folklore and the fantastic. We will be beginning our first long class on “The Fairy Tale” in January and are trying to get the word out as much as possible.

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Gargoyles and Temptation

This is a fascinating piece from the always-wonderful Folklore Thursday on the history and significance of gargoyles. It begins and ends with the presence of these ambivalent creatures in popular culture, from a childhood memory of the animated series Gargoyles to their brooding presence on the roofs of Batman’s Gotham City.

Yet one source has been overlooked. At OGOM, we love paranormal romance, and embrace with enthusiasm romances between humans and all kinds of demon lover. There are love affairs with glamorous vampires and fairies, lusty weres and shapeshifters, hard-to-get angels; lately, even the unlikely zombie and the untouchable ghost. And mermen. But one monstrous coupling uncovered in my research has even me a bit startled: in a strange inversion of the Pygmalion myth, there are dozens of steamy novels about mating with gargoyles. They have titles like Stone Cold Lover, Tempted by the Gargoyle, and Underneath the Gargoyle.

I have to say I find these a bit silly, yet the wonderful YA novelist Holly Black, in her superb variation on ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’, Valiant: A Modern Faerie Tale effectively casts a gargoyle-like troll as the demon lover.

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Book: Gina Wisker, Contemporary Women’s Gothic Fiction: Carnival, Hauntings and Vampire Kisses

This new book by Gina Wisker, Contemporary Women’s Gothic Fiction: Carnival, Hauntings and Vampire Kisses, looks marvellous. It covers Angela Carter and vampires–two topics that always whet my OGOM appetite–but many other aspects of contemporary women’s Gothic too. I really am dying (no pun intended) to read this but am going to have to wait a while for the paperback version.

This book revives and revitalises the literary Gothic in the hands of contemporary women writers. It makes a scholarly, lively and convincing case that the Gothic makes horror respectable, and establishes contemporary women’s Gothic fictions in and against traditional Gothic. The book provides new, engaging perspectives on established contemporary women Gothic writers, with a particular focus on Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison. It explores how the Gothic is malleable in their hands and is used to demythologise oppressions based on difference in gender and ethnicity. The study presents new Gothic work and new nuances, critiques of dangerous complacency and radical questionings of what is safe and conformist in works as diverse as Twilight (Stephenie Meyer) and A Girl Walks Home Alone (Ana Lily Amirpur), as well as by Anne Rice and Poppy Brite. It also introduces and critically explores postcolonial, vampire and neohistorical Gothic and women’s ghost stories. 

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CFP: Women-in-Peril or Final Girls? Representing Women in Gothic and Horror Cinema, University of Kent, 25-26 May 2017

A call for papers for an exciting conference, Women-in-Peril or Final Girls? Representing Women in Gothic and Horror Cinema, at the University of Kent in May 2017. The keynote speaker is MMU’s brilliant Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes.

This conference seeks to re-engage with these discussions of gender within Gothic and horror cinema by directly comparing the two. What relationship does Gothic have to horror – or horror to the Gothic – in respect to female representation? What makes a Gothic heroine different from (or, indeed, similar to) female victims/protagonists in horror films? What can we say about the centrality given to female performance in both these genres/modes? Where does one draw the line between Gothic and horror in film? 2017 will mark 30 years since Mary Ann Doane published The Desire to Desire and 25 years since Carol Clover published Men, Women and Chainsaws. This conference will also reflect upon the impact of seminal works on Gothic, horror and gender such as these within film theory. What do these works tell us about the relationship between Gothic and horror in respect to female representation? How do theories of the ‘woman’s film’ and the ‘Final Girl’ relate to contemporary film theory and feminist criticism? Are these ideas still applicable to recent Gothic and horror films, and their heroines?

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Whitby, Goth, and Steampunk

An incisive article here by Claire Nally of Northumbria University on the proliferation of subcultures around Goth and steampunk, focusing on Whitby (and a nod to OGOM collaborator Catherine Spooner’s work).

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Angela Carter and the Gothic

Once more, something on Angela Carter. This is an excellent essay by Greg Buzwell on the interplay between Gothic and fairy tale in Carter’s The Bloody Chamber from the British Library’s Discovering Literature pages (a fabulous resource). Buzwell discusses such influences on Carter as Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Perrault, and the Marquis de Sade, and illustrates his essay with examples from the BL’s Carter archives.

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Decadent fairy tales

Here’s a review of a fascinating-looking new collection of fairy tales by French decadent writers around the fin de siècle. The editors say

Nearly a century before postmodern fairytales by Margaret Atwood, AS Byatt, Angela Carter and others upend fairytale stereotypes about gender and sexuality, decadent writers created female characters unlike the virginal beauties of the classic tales, and exposed the romantic myths associated with the genre

It seems unlikely that Angela Carter was influenced directly by these tales but it’s interesting to note that the title story of The Bloody Chamber is itself coloured by a Decadent mentality, drawing on and referencing writers and artists such as Baudelaire.

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Buffy: Once More with Feeling

Here’s a link to Billboard’s Podcast of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Star Anthony Head on the 15th Anniversary of the Show’s Musical Episode for all of OGOM’s Buffy fans…something to walk through fire for or to sing about! Here’s a reminder of the genius lyrics that nearly broke the 4th wall…and I love, love, love spike here…

(Spike) First he’ll kill her then I’ll save her/(Tara) Everything is turning out so dark/(Buffy) Going through the motions/(Spike) No I’ll save her then I’ll kill her
(Willow) I think this lines mostly filler.  

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‘Walk Through the Fire’ 

(Buffy) I touch the fire but it freezes me
I look into it and it’s black
Why can’t I feel, my skin should crack and peel
I want the fire back

Now through the smoke she calls to me
To make my way across the flames
To save the day, or maybe melt away
I guess it’s all the same

So I will walk through the fire
Where else can I turn
I will walk through the fire
And let it

(Spike) This tourch I bare is scorching me
Buffy’s laughing I’ve no doubt
I hope she fries, I’m free if that bitch dies
I better help her out

(Sweet) Cause she is drawn to the fire
(Sweet) Some people (Spike) She will never learn
(Sweet and Spike) And she will walk through the fire
And let it

(Giles) Will this do a thing to change her
Am I leaving Dawn in danger
Is my Slayer to far gone to care
(Xander) What if Buffy can’t defeat it
(Anya) Beady eyes is right we’re needed

Or we could just sit around and glare
(All) We’ll see it through, that’s what we’re always here to do
So we will walk through the fire

(Buffy) So one by one they turn from me.
I guess my friends can’t face the cold
(Tara) What can’t we face
(Buffy) Why I froze, not one one among them knows
(Tara) When we’re together
(Buffy) And never can be told.

(Anya) She came from the grave much graver
(Spike) First he’ll kill her then I’ll save her
(Tara) Everything is turning out so dark
(Buffy) Going through the motions
(Spike) No I’ll save her then I’ll kill her
(Willow) I think this lines mostly filler
(Sweet) It’s what they have inside

(Buffy) These endless days are finally ending in a blaze
(All) And we are caught in the fire
The point of no return
So we will walk through the fire
And let it burn
Let it burn
Let it burn, let it burn
(Sweet) Showtime!

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Post-millennial Vampires

Posted slightly late for Hallowe’en, but this essay by Prof. Dale Townshend on the contemporary, post-millennial vampire and what it might stand for is hugely insightful.

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