Category Archives: Critical thoughts

Remus Lupin’s ‘furry little problem’

Posted on 13th September 2016 by firekrank

My blog posts have been very absent recently (in my defence I am in the final stages of preparing to submit my thesis). However, I took the time to read and enjoy this article, ‘Remus Lupin and the stigmatised illness: … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Cultural Afterlives of Frankenstein

Posted on 26th August 2016 by William the Bloody

Great post by Megen de Bruin-Molé–Cultural Afterlives of Frankenstein–on why works last and the enduring nature of the Frankenstein myth, traced from Mary Shelley’s novel through its myriad descendants and adaptations.

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Guide to Ancient Magic

Posted on 26th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A fascinating, though brief, article from the Smithsonian on ancient spells and curses from Sumeria, Greece, and Rome

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Fairy tale and the bizarre

Posted on 10th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A very stimulating essay here by Tobias Carroll, ‘Why we love weird fairy tales’, tracing the career of the unsettling imagery found in the original fairy tale–here, particularly Giambattista Basile’s seventeenth-century collection The Tale of Tales. Carroll then shows the … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

SF and Romance

Posted on 6th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The worlds of science fiction and romance may seem antithetical but, as in the encounter of Gothic with romance that generates paranormal romance, the romance genre insinuates its way into the, perhaps, masculine, rationalist world of SF. Here, Gail Carriger, … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Soviet Communism and Technological Utopia

Posted on 6th August 2016 by William the Bloody

The Soviet version of communism was infused with optimism about technology as much as about social transformation. Soviet science fiction expresses this utopianism, and there’s some great artwork here; there’s an imaginative power to these images that goes beyond the … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Film noir and the Gothic

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

In a fascinating article, ‘Gothic Cinema in the ‘40s: Doomed Romance and Murderous Melodrama‘, Samm Deighan explores the overlaps between horror, film noir, and women’s films of the 1940s, and finding the Gothic mode there. Deighan discusses well-known classics such … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Buffy and Feminism

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

A good article here, ‘Buffy Summers: Third-Wave Feminist Icon’, on the feminist stance of the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nineteenth-Century Women and Speculative Fiction

Posted on 5th August 2016 by William the Bloody

This is a fascinating and scholarly essay, ‘Cavendish’s Daughters: Speculative Fiction and Women’s History‘ by Jonathan Kearnes which traces fantastic fictions by women from Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing New World in the seventeenth century, through Frankenstein, then focusing on some little-known … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Travels in Transylvania: Bram Stoker’s Ambiguous Legacy

Posted on 2nd July 2016 by Sam George

Last week I was in Romania at the University of Timisoara for the Beliefs and Behaviours in Education and Culture conference. My keynote was on the representation of Romanian folklore in British and Irish fictions of the undead. Stoker never travelled … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Critical thoughts, OGOM News, Reviews | Tagged , , | 4 Comments