Guest Post: Wicked Women and the Female Gothic, Du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ & ‘My Cousin Rachel’

As the sun in the northern hemisphere gains strength, many of us seek the coast. Always geographically close, on this island as I am, the coast I seek is literary: Du Maurier’s sharp and unforgiving coastline, haunted by traumas past and present. Though born in London in 1907, Du Maurier is intrinsically linked to the… Read More Guest Post: Wicked Women and the Female Gothic, Du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ & ‘My Cousin Rachel’

Raising Ghosts: ‘The Haunting of Hill House’

To those who don’t follow along on Instagram and have been wondering where I’ve been, I will quickly catch you up. So far this year, I have:danced with Lolly and the devil,escaped the lab with Algernon,picnicked at Hanging Rock, witnessed Bloody torture in unending Chambers,followed Snowman seeking Crake across a desolate wasteland,heard the Crawdads Sing,felt… Read More Raising Ghosts: ‘The Haunting of Hill House’

Guest Post: ‘Geek Love’, An Intimate Portrait of a Nuclear Family

Before the dust of the departing circus train settles, there is time for a post or two more. June, which was dedicated to the Circus of Horrors (that is, the horror of the circus) certainly lived up to the name. Rather than head into July leaving no trace of the circus behind, I’m bending time… Read More Guest Post: ‘Geek Love’, An Intimate Portrait of a Nuclear Family

The Physician, the Philosopher, the Poet: Ode on Melancholy

Millennia ago in ancient Greece a medical system evolved, out of even earlier Egyptian and Hindu beliefs, which aimed to understand the inner workings of the human body. At the hands of Hippocrates, (Greek physician, and ‘Father of Medicine’, c.460-370BC), the four humours were born. Hippocrates believed that the human body was composed of four… Read More The Physician, the Philosopher, the Poet: Ode on Melancholy

A Poet’s House, Pleasure’s Temple: Keats’ Gothic, Epic, & Sublime

Born on Halloween, 1795, John Keats (d. 1821) was a tragic character, a romantic, and a poet. Considered a key figure amongst the second generation of British Romantic poets following in the footsteps of William Wordsworth, William Blake, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Keats and his young contemporaries were more open to exploring the space in… Read More A Poet’s House, Pleasure’s Temple: Keats’ Gothic, Epic, & Sublime

Deliriously Glorious: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Leaving the modern glass front on Evans Way, Boston, behind, a dimly lit tunnel transports its visitors deep into an inner-city oasis. An opulent garden blooms under a glass roof far above. Walls rise on every side with windows and archways beckoning to the inside beyond. Everything is lavish, palatial, and foreign to Massachusetts. This… Read More Deliriously Glorious: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Medical Men and Murderers: The Barber-Surgeons, Burke & Hare

In the Middle Ages, medical physicians favoured academia and aristocracy, working at universities or in private residence for the castle-dwelling wealthy. They offered consultations, but turned their noses up at surgery. With Europe frequently in battle during this long era, however, soldiers required more than consultation. 𝕭𝖆𝖗𝖇𝖊𝖗-𝕾𝖚𝖗𝖌𝖊𝖔𝖓𝖘 Out of necessity, barbers, with their steady hands… Read More Medical Men and Murderers: The Barber-Surgeons, Burke & Hare

An Unutterable Wretchedness of the Mind: ‘Jane Eyre’

Born in Yorkshire, England, on the 21st of April, 1816, Charlotte Brontë was the third of six Brontë children, and the longest surviving. Along with her younger sisters Emily (1818-1848) and Anne (1820-1849), Charlotte remains a popular author to this day. She completed four novels in her lifetime, three of which she saw published (the… Read More An Unutterable Wretchedness of the Mind: ‘Jane Eyre’

Decadence and Dark Ages’ Guest Post: Medieval Gothic

January has been dedicated (half-absently, thanks to a vicious virus) to the exploration of the Gothic Muses, to historical and artistic influences on our beloved genre. For today’s post, I am delighted to hand the keyboard over to the delectable Decadence and Dark Ages; a professional spooky nerd and devout medieval gothicist! I am particularly… Read More Decadence and Dark Ages’ Guest Post: Medieval Gothic