Tag Archives: Folklore

Fairy Tale Films

Some interesting recommendations here of ten fairy tale films that are not so mainstream. I’ve seen five of these, and am intrigued by the rest. Adaptations of Grimm, Perrault, and Andersen appear, of course, but also tales from the Arabian … Continue reading

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Alan Garner — review essay

Alan Garner is one of the finest fantasy writers for children, though his work goes beyond both that genre and that audience. Michael Newton, in an excellent essay here, reviews First Light, ‘a festschrift of essays, reminiscences, poems and stories … Continue reading

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Folk Horror Revival

Folk Horror is a category of Gothic which seems to be getting a lot of attention these days. There’s an exciting new web site, Folk Horror Revival, devoted to the topic, paying particular attention to the musical aspects of this … Continue reading

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Travels in Transylvania: Bram Stoker’s Ambiguous Legacy

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

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Folk Horror: Blood Sucking Vampire Goat Terrorises Village

Following my recent post on folk horror and the appearance earlier this year of the Hull Werewolf Old Stinker, who sparked a folk panic in the UK, stories are breaking that a legendary Chupacabra has been caught and killed in the Ukraine … Continue reading

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Who’s Afraid of the Big, Black Cat?

On Saturday my partner and I adopted two kittens from Mitcham Cats Protection league. On our arrival we were asked if we had any preference to the appearance of the cats we were going to adopt. Our answer was no. … Continue reading

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Another set of Top Ten Shapeshifters (Part 1)

It’s taken me a while to respond to Kaja and Sam’s excellent lists of their top ten shapeshifters (here and here). Here are the first five of my own favourites (not in order of importance). 1. Circe, in Homer, Odyssey … Continue reading

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Gothic Spaces and Standing Stones

I have just stumbled across this wonderful blog, Celluloid Wicker Man, which is run by writer and filmmaker Adam Scovell. He is particularly interested on Folk Horror which can be seen in this incredibly interesting series of posts, ‘Uncanny Portals … Continue reading

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Werewolf Sightings in Yorkshire

The Daily Express (amongst other tabloid papers) has reported on a series of presumed werewolf sightings in the Yorkshire Wolds. Now, sadly I am not donning a leather outfit and heading north with a holster and silver bullets, however I … Continue reading

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Angela Carter

I’m a day late, but this is to honour the birthday of one of the most important twentieth-century English writers. Angela Carter (whose official website is here) drew on folkloric, fairy tale, and Gothic themes in her gloriously baroque explorations … Continue reading

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