Originally planned for longer ago than I care to admit, today’s blog post is one I have been eager to share with you. It is one that feels increasingly relevant as we strive towards global anti-racism, and one that I hope you will agree was worth the wait. If you weave in and out of… Read More New Gothic Voices: an Interview with New Gothic Review
In her ambitious debut novel, Sabina Lungeanu builds a deliciously gloomy gothic world, at once familiar and entirely new. Set along the rugged coastline of rural Scotland, with the almost mythical Merriver mental institution at its core, Hiraeth (2020) expands into a poetic portrait of the human psyche. Initially focused upon the interconnecting stories of… Read More A Dream Dreaming Itself: ‘Hiraeth’ Author Interview
With Jane Eyre on my mind, I picked Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) up on a whim at the library. I opened it one evening. I was hooked. I paused to sleep. Awoke. Opened it again. And was done. This is easily a one-sitting read if you have the time, or don’t favour sleep… Read More Everything was Brightness, or Dark: ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’
Welcome to 2020! It is the year of the rat, and so I begin by rummaging through the dark corners of my bookcase for the texts that I have hoarded this past year, but not yet read. “𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓼𝓮𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭𝓼 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓶𝓸𝓴𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓲𝓷 𝓭𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 – 𝓘… Read More Words Curling Round Me: 2020 Reading List
“𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓯𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾’𝓵𝓵 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻.” Now there’s a claim that’s hard to refuse! During the summer I spent a month, entitled 🥀 Southern Spell 🥀 , exploring the southern gothic. I first posted (on Instagram) about William Gay’s Little Sister Death then. Some of you praised the novel, or declared adoration for… Read More Generally Gothic Bookworm Readalong: Midway Musings on ‘Little Sister Death’
In an interview in the spring of 1956, Southern Gothic author William Faulkner was asked to advise readers who remained unable to understand his writing after two or three attempts. His response was simple: “Read it four times.”“I am trying to say it all in one sentence,” he continued, “between one cap and one period.”… Read More Between One Cap and One Period: Reading William Faulkner
Generally Gothic 