Author Archives: SamHirst

Marko Yacubovich – Alexander Pushkin

In 1835 Pushkin published a collection called ‘Songs of the Western Slavs’ and included among its numbers was a vampire poem, featuring the Vurdalak. The poem clearly borrows from or was influenced by Prosper Mérimée. The following is a very rough translation. Marko Yakubovich sat by the gate, Before him sat Zoya his wife WhileContinue reading “Marko Yacubovich – Alexander Pushkin”

The Patented Guide to Becoming a Gothic Dark Hero

Do you struggle with being too bland? Constantly doing everyday activities like ‘working’ and ‘cooking’? Is the number of people who tut under their breaths and mutter in hushed tones as you pass distressingly small? Have you failed to commit even one signal crime to blast your soul for the duration of the withered yearsContinue reading “The Patented Guide to Becoming a Gothic Dark Hero”

“¡Bruja! The allure of the gothic witch in Mexican horror film” – Bibliography

Today’s bibliography was provided by Saturday’s speaker Valeria Villegas Lindval. Some of the sources are in English and some in Spanish. To start – here’s a list of Valeria’s own publications! •“Gigi Saul Guerrero and her Latin American female monsters” in Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism and Genre, edited by edited by Dr. Alison Peirse (forthcoming 2020Continue reading ““¡Bruja! The allure of the gothic witch in Mexican horror film” – Bibliography”

Romancing the Gothic: Heroines, Wives and Demons – Bibliography

Primary Texts Women’s Weird ed. by Melissa Edmundson – 2019 Joseph Addison – Evidence of the Christian Religion – (1772) Darcie Little Badger – Elatsoe – 2020 Madeleine Brent – Moonraker’s Bride – 1973 Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre – 1847 Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights – 1847 Edmund Burke – A Philosophical Enquiry intoContinue reading “Romancing the Gothic: Heroines, Wives and Demons – Bibliography”

Zofloya and the Female Gothic

This is a series of ‘blogs’ (hmmm) which I wrote as a baby scholar during my Masters. I’ve been rereading it today as I finalise my lesson slides for tomorrow. It’s an investigation of the term Female Gothic and its legitimacy through an exploration of Charlotte Dacre’s Zofloya and the simple question of whether orContinue reading “Zofloya and the Female Gothic”

Rethinking the Gothic Romance: Georgette Heyer – Bibliography

Primary Texts Jane Austen – Northanger Abbey – 1817 Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre – 1847 Georgette Heyer – Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle – 1957 Georgette Heyer – The Talisman Ring – 1936 Georgette Heyer – The Toll Gate – 1954 Georgette Heyer – These Old Shades – 1926 Lady Caroline Lamb – GlenarvonContinue reading “Rethinking the Gothic Romance: Georgette Heyer – Bibliography”

Radcliffe’s Heroes in Order of Uselessness

Ann Radcliffe, the ‘Great Enchantress’ of the early British Gothic, was one of the most famous and popular writers of her time. She’s the star Gothic reference in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1816) and a must-read for everyone who’s just starting their journey in the rise of the Gothic in the late 18th century. SheContinue reading “Radcliffe’s Heroes in Order of Uselessness”

Georgette Heyer and the Gothic

It’s Heyer week here at Romancing the Gothic! In book club, we’re reading The Quiet Gentleman (1951). On Saturday the class is ‘Rethinking the Gothic Romance: Georgette Heyer’. I’m aware that two quite disparate groups of people are interested in this week’s content and both groups might have their suspicions about exactly what Heyer andContinue reading “Georgette Heyer and the Gothic”

The Enthusiast’s Guide to Spotting Murder Ladies

Welcome to our discrete guide for the discerning. Many of you will have turned to us because you are simply exhausted by the stream of bland heroes, autocratic and tortured dark lords, and tediously misogynistic villains who one cannot, it seems, avoid in these Gothic times. You have thought to yourself, ‘There must be anotherContinue reading “The Enthusiast’s Guide to Spotting Murder Ladies”