Category Archives: Critical thoughts

Images of Witches

Posted on 22nd May 2017 by William the Bloody

Some excellent articles on witches today. First, Chloe Buckley, in ‘Hag, temptress or feminist icon? The witch in popular culture‘, looks at images of witches in popular culture, both positive and disparaging. She notes the contemporary feminist rehabilitation of the … Continue reading →

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Top 21st Century Werewolf Narratives

Posted on 21st May 2017 by firekrank

A discussion with Sam about what I thought were the most important werewolf texts of the 21st century led me to compile the following. It was surprisingly difficult. Firstly, there is an absolute glut of werewolves popping up in all … Continue reading →

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Fairy Tale Pathology

Posted on 13th May 2017 by William the Bloody

To my mind, this advice by Sandhya Raghavan on ‘6 famous fairy tales you should never let your child read‘ seems like parody; these readings, if serious, are reductive, mechanistic, and unimaginative. Yet the alleged harmful effects of fairy tales … Continue reading →

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Edward Gorey

Posted on 13th May 2017 by William the Bloody

A very interesting essay by Gabrielle Bellot on Edward Gorey, artist and narrator of dark Gothic humour.

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Jack-in-the-Green Festival

Posted on 3rd May 2017 by firekrank

Following on from Sam’s post about folk horror and its recent revival, I thought I would write about my attendance of the Jack-in-the-Green festival in Hastings. This takes place around May Day and, as well as the ubiquitous May Pole, … Continue reading →

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The Myth of Frankenstein and Scientific Hubris

Posted on 2nd May 2017 by William the Bloody

Here’s an excellent essay by Phillip Ball, ‘“Frankenstein” Reflects the Hopes and Fears of Every Scientific Era‘ that challenges the oft-circulated idea that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is directed against the hubris of scientists. Sometimes, this is framed as feminist critique, but … Continue reading →

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What to do when the Folk Horror is us

Posted on 2nd May 2017 by Sam George

Tomorrow marks the publication of the eagerly awaited ‘Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful and Things Strange’ by Adam Scovell (Auteur publishing, 2017). Scovell has defined such genres in relation to (mostly British) landscape as ‘the evil under the soil, the terror in … Continue reading →

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Dracula, in history and in comic books

Posted on 2nd May 2017 by William the Bloody

There’s an interesting article here by Duncan Light, ‘Romania’s problem with Dracula‘, on the fraught relationship between Romania and the history, doubtful at times, that lies behind Bram Stoker’s creation of Dracula. And more on the archetypal vampire by Valentin … Continue reading →

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Witches and Walpurgis Night

Posted on 30th April 2017 by William the Bloody

Happy Walpurgisnacht! Here’s an excellent article by Prof. Owen Davies of the University of Hertfordshire, ‘Witches and Walpurgis Night‘. He traces the folkloric origins of the supposed sabbat of witches through Goethe and Bram Stoker to contemporary popular culture.

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Gothicise and Supernatural Cities

Posted on 26th April 2017 by Sam George

I’m setting up a permanent link (in the Related Links column on the right) from the site to the art collaborative Gothicise,  which was launched in 2010. Gothicise create site-specific performances that interrogate the relationship between site and narrative including the 2015 … Continue reading →

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