Inspired by the eighteenth-century botanist Tournefort, who voyaged in search of plants and found instead a plague of vampires on the island of Mykonos (1702), Sam George’s botanical studies have taken a gothic turn. Following the publication of Botany, Sexuality and Women’s Writing (2007), and her contribution to New York Botanical Garden’s Poetic Botany she became the convenor of the Open Graves, Open Minds project. She now researches botany alongside the gothic, unearthing depictions of the vampire and the undead in literature, art, and other media, embracing werewolves (and representations of wolves and wild children), fairies, and other supernatural beings and their worlds. In this talk she presents a snapshot of the material that led to her research project coining the term ‘botanical gothic’. She explores a new darker, shadowy world of plants, found at the intersection between folklore and the gothic. As Halloween approaches, she demonstrates how our knowledge of plants is magically transformed when viewed through this lens of dark folklore. Did you know for example, that the seed heads of Snapdragons resemble tiny skulls, that Bluebells are a dangerous and potent fairy flower (the Scottish name for the plant is ‘Dead Men’s Bells’); that Hawthorne is the favoured wood for staking vampires? A surprisingly dark history of plants will be uncovered via this special Halloween journey into the botanical gothic.
Dr Sam George, Dark Folklore: A journey into the Botanical Gothic, 19 October 2021. This is an online event. Ticket holders will be emailed links on the day of the event. The interview, pre-recorded to ensure quality, will premier on YouTube at 7pm but will be available to watch for those with the link afterwards. Please note the Zoom Q&A is live and will not be recorded.
Tickets £6
#BotanicalGothic @DrSamGeorge1
If you do not receive joining details by midday (UK time) on the day of the event, please email info@chawtonhouse.org with your order number.
