I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING: You’re thinking “I want to read a novel by chronically underrated gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe, but I don’t know which one I should read read? If only my general familiarity with the work of Led Zeppelin could somehow help me answer this question!”… Read the rest
Ann Radcliffe = Led Zeppelin Read More »
This is correspondence related to my summer Epic Fantasy reading project. Notes and comments are informal:
I know… that our main focus this summer is the sweeping, epic “high fantasy,” but I wanted at least a basic understanding of “low fantasy” Sword and Sorcery, and Howard is consider to be its founding father.… Read the rest
Observations of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, by Robert E. Howard Read More »
Benjamin Franklin’s 306th birthday was yesterday, January 17th.
I’m not an expert on the subject, but, as Walter Isaacson’s essay “What Would Ben Do?” notes, “[Franklin] has been vilified in romantic periods.” The question is how do we separate the spirit and content of romanticism from the momentary tropes of the/any “romantic period.”… Read the rest
Reflections on Benjamin Franklin, 2012: Franklin, the Romantic? Read More »
This past week I finished The Italian by Ann Radcliffe, meaning that I’ve finally read the Big Three of her novels, the other two being The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Romance of the Forest.
At some point, I’d like to talk about these three in comparison, as well as the consider The Italian alongside more contemporary writing, but I thought it would make sense to start out with a brief review.… Read the rest
The Italian, by Ann Radcliffe. Read More »
Last week, in our discussion of Gothic Heroines and Natural Selection, Flawed Events posted about Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey as referring to Ann Radcliffe. Austen pokes fun at Radcliffe, and at Gothic fiction in general, throughout Northanger Abbey. It’s a great book, funny and piquant, but I thought it might be nice to include for once passage of Radcliffe’s that shows what a powerful writer she really could be, and why she influenced writers from Keats to Hugo.… Read the rest
Ann Radcliffe’s Italian Read More »
On Tuesday, when I posted an entry on the propensity of Ann Radcliffe heroines to faint at the most inopportune moments, I got about 15 replies. Of course, only one of them was on this blog: the rest were scattered about Facebook and Twitter (which is what comes of social media cross-promotion, I suppose!),… Read the rest
Gothic Heroines and Natural Selection Part II: Of Corset, Happens! Read More »
… Read the restA voice called her, but she was gone beyond its reach, for she had sunk senseless upon the ground: it was long before she revived, when she did, she found herself in the arms of a stranger, and made an effort to disengage herself.
Gothic Heroines and Natural Selection Read More »
Last week, I suggested that the popular television show Lost was an essentially Gothic story in the spirit of Beckford’s Vathek, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and other “oriental” Romances. I claimed that the popularity of show would be a powerful argument for the continuing effectiveness of the Gothic mode. … Read the rest
Was Lost Gothic? Do We Care? (Part 2) Read More »
When we hear the word “Gothic” our minds fall immediately into a realm of cloudy skies, naked trees, ruinous cathedrals, and demoniac pacts. With a little bit of extension, however, we can easily transfer these motifs while retaining the mood of age and decay.… Read the rest
Was Lost Gothic? Do we care? Read More »
