The Dark Academicals

We are both so excited and so nervous to dive into this weird and wonderful novel for the podcast. ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad is our second pick for this season and what a novel!

This has been on our radar for a little while already, but the love and buzz it’s been receiving from BookTok recently has pushed it higher and higher up our priority list. It sounds like the perfect read for ‘The Dark Academicals’.

We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.

Samantha Heather Mackey is an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at Warren University. In fact, she is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction writing cohort - a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other 'Bunny'.

But then the Bunnies issue her with an invitation and Samantha finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door, across the threshold, and down their rabbit hole.

Blending sharp satire with fairytale horror, Bunny is a spellbinding trip of a novel from one of fiction's most original new voices.

It seems to tick boxes already: a secret society? Check. A fancy MFA program? Check. An elite university? Check. An outsider protagonist? Check. But is that all it takes to be dark academia? We dove in and found out.

In this episode we discuss:

• How genre classification shapes the reading of a novel

• To what degree does self-conscious satire allow for anything to be excused

• Unreliable narrators

• ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad

• ‘Monstrous Cute: An Interview with Mona Awad’ (The Paris Review)

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio

• ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ advert (Alan! Alan! Steve!)

If you fancy getting involved with the Bunnies and grabbing yourself a copy of the novel, we’d love it if you considered using our bookshop.org link below which helps up fund ‘The Dark Academicals’ and gives back to independent bookshops at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways!

We’re back! It seems like we only closed out Season 2 with the wonderful ‘The Raven Boys’ only days ago, but it’s been seven weeks!

Autumn is now in full swing here in the south of England and it’s dark academia season bby. It’s only right to start the season with a bang.

It’s time to bring a Leigh Bardugo novel into our little universe and we’re diving into ‘Ninth House’ ahead of the release of the sequel, ‘Hell Bent’, in just a few months. In case it’s escaped you, here’s what we’re working with:

Galaxy 'Alex' Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class. A dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved crime, Alex was hoping for a fresh start. But a free ride to one of the world's most prestigious universities was bound to come with a catch.

Alex has been tasked with monitoring the mysterious activities of Yale's secret societies - well-known haunts of the rich and powerful. Now there's a dead girl on campus and Alex seems to be the only person who won't accept the neat answer the police and campus administration have come up with for her murder.

Because Alex knows the secret societies are far more sinister and extraordinary than anyone ever imagined. They tamper with forbidden magic. They raise the dead. And sometimes they prey on the living . . .

Leigh Bardugo is a beloved writer and her adult debut, ‘Ninth House’, is up there will so many people’s favourites. It’s dark and mysterious, alluring and dense, but is it dark academia? How does the fantasy element blend with dark academia? Is a secret society and a gloomy Yale setting enough to pass the vibe check?

In this episode we discuss:

• Magic and the occult as a classical study

• The sexual assault and violence against women featured in the novel - is it gratuitous, or does it serve a purpose worthy of the graphic nature of the scenes?

• The ways in which the novel subverts some traditional dark academia elements

• ‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald

• ‘Vampire Academy’ by Richelle Mead

• ‘The Morganville Vampires’ by Rachel Caine

• ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne

• 'Gilmore Girls’

If you want to snag yourself a copy of ‘Ninth House’ just in time for spooky season, please consider using our bookshop.org affiliate link below which helps out independent bookstores and helps us fund the website and the podcast at no extra cost to you.

You can also sign up to The Dark Academicals Book Club mailer to be entered for exclusive book club content and giveaways, including a paperback copy of ‘Ninth House’!

The season 2 finale is upon us and we’re rounding off the season by revisiting a favourite of both of ours, the first book in Maggie Stiefvater’s ‘The Raven Cycle’, ‘The Raven Boys’.

We adore this book and had to squeeze it in the line-up. Making it the last book of the season means we’re ending on a real high.

We know ‘The Raven Boys’ is magical realism, but can it also be considered dark academia?

Here’s the summary for those who haven’t met Blue, Gansey and the rest of the Raven Boys yet:

"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve...

Either you're his true love... or you killed him."

Part of a clairvoyant family, Blue has spent sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die.

So when she meets Gansey's spirit on the corpse road, Blue knows that either he is her true love - or she has killed him.

The boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and he is a student at Aglionby, a wealthy local private school. With three other mysterious and privileged boys, he is on a quest to find the grave of Glendower - a Welsh king buried somewhere on a Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey really her true love - the one she is destined to kill?

Blue never fully believed in the prophecy. But as she is caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

It’s immediately clear that this ticks a few of our boxes, just from reading the summary, but does it delve into the dark enough to meet our criteria? (We detail the genre framework in every episode, or you can check out our “intro” episode if you missed it which will give you all the details).

In this episode we discuss:

• Home, found family and the fluidity of the relationship between Blue and the Raven Boys

• Privilege and power in academic pursuits

• Gansey’s desperation and loneliness

• ‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Steifvater

• ‘The Dream Thieves’ by Maggie Stiefvater

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘Dark and Shallow Lies’ by Ginny Meyers Sain

We also announced our line-up for Season 3! Listen for a sneaky peeks of the titles we’ve chosen, or check out a post coming soon with full details.

If you want to snag yourself a copy of this wonderful book, please consider using our bookshop.org affiliate link below which helps out independent bookstores and helps us fund the website and the podcast at no extra cost to you.

If a book gets tagged as ‘Dark Academia’ then heck yes we’re going to scope it out. That goes for YA titles like Goldy Moldavsky’s ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ which we are featuring on this episode of ‘The Dark Academicals’ podcast.

The summary reads as follows:

“When it comes to horror movies, the rules are clear:

x Avoid abandoned buildings, warehouses, and cabins at all times.

x Stay together: don't split up, not even just to "check something out."

x If there's a murderer on the loose, do not make out with anyone.

If only surviving in real life were this easy...

New girl Rachel Chavez turns to horror movies for comfort, preferring stabby serial killers and homicidal dolls to the bored rich kids of Manhattan Prep...and to certain memories she'd preferred to keep buried.

Then Rachel is recruited by the Mary Shelley Club, a mysterious society of students who orchestrate Fear Tests, elaborate pranks inspired by urban legends and movie tropes. At first, Rachel embraces the power that comes with reckless pranking. But as the Fear Tests escalate, the competition turns deadly, and it's clear Rachel is playing a game she can't afford to lose.”

Right off the bat the writing style is very different to what we would often find for a Dark Academia title, but does it have enough of the other elements of the criteria to make it fit? (We detail the genre framework in every episode, or you can check out our “intro” episode if you missed it which will give you all the details).

In this episode we discuss:

• Latinx representation

• Horror movies and horror tropes, specifically the ‘final girl’

• Parallels with ‘The Secret History’

• The importance of atmosphere and tension in dark academia

• ‘The Mary Shelley Club’/’The Last Girl’ by Goldy Moldavsky

• The Final Girl Support Group’ by Grady Hendrix

• ‘Final Girls’ by Riley Sagar

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio

• ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne

• ‘Kill the Boy Band’ by Goldy Moldavsky

‘The Mary Shelley Club’ is listed on bookshop.org, which supports independent bookshops, and with whom we are affiliated with, as ‘The Last Girl’ (it’s UK title). Buying a book through our link supports them, and supports us!

It’s that time in the season where we explore what we call a “Dark Academia Adjacent” title. For season 2 of The Dark Academicals, that’s Oscar Wilde’s memorable Gothic classic ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.

For an “adjacent” title we discuss how or why a certain title can be attributed the “Dark Academia” title, or recognise how it has influenced and informed the genre as it has grown and developed.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is a stunning piece of fiction that explores the morality of being human in a very darkly academic way. We also discussed some of the criticisms that arose from a re-read.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ can be considered a figurehead of Dark Academia

• The Victorian Gothic

• Misogyny and Anti-Semitism within the text

• An indepth character analysis of Henry Wotten

• ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

• ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ by Oscar Wilde

• ‘The Vampire Diaries’ by L. J. Smith

If you want a copy of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too!

We head to the University of Cambridge for the third episode of the season with the literary thriller, Alex Michaelides’ ‘The Maidens’.

This book has been all over the internet since it’s release last summer and with the mixed reviews and tag of being a ‘dark academia literary thriller’, we had to slide it into the lineup for this season of ‘The Dark Academicals’.

‘The Maidens’ takes us to Cambridge when the recently widowed therapist Mariana is called to the aid of her niece, Zoe, following the murder of Zoe’s best friend. Mariana quickly becomes embroiled in the investigation and is determined to prove that Zoe’s charismatic Greek tragedy professor, Edward Fosca, is the culprit.

Will it be a yay or nay for us? And is it dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

• The male gaze versus the female gaze

• Michaelides’ poor portrayal of mental illness and Mariana’s failure in her duty of care to her patients

• The parallels of Julian and Henry in ‘The Maidens’ with Julian and Henry in ‘The Secret History’

• ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides

• ‘In Memoriam’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson

• ‘Iphegenia at Aulis’ by Euripides

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

If you want a copy of ‘The Maidens for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too!

The second episode of season two heads to Swarthmore College with Meg Wolitzer’s debut novel, ‘Sleepwalking’.

While Wolitzer is more famous for her more recent novels, ‘The Female Persuasion’ and ‘The Interestings’, we follow Claire Danziger and the other ‘death girls’ as they obsess over the work, life and suicides of three famed female poets: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Wolitzer’s creation, Lucy Ascher. As their personalities merge and darkness closes in under the study of their poets, and Claire’s relationship with upperclassman Julia, Claire must figure out when Lucy ends and she begins.

But it is dark academia?

In this episode we talk about:

• The sideline-ing of the female experience and female trauma and pain

• How a misleading book summary can change your expectations and experience of a novel

• How a small cast of characters creates an insular and almost claustrophobic reading experience

• ‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer

• ‘Belhzar’ by Meg Wolitzer

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides

We’re back! And we’re starting off with a bang with dark academia TikTok fave ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake.

This book has been all over your socials from Bookstagram to BookTwitter to BookTok, you know you’ve seen it and you’ve been intrigued by it, at least. The term “dark academia” has become synonymous with it, it seems. But is it really a Dark Academia title?

Listen as we dig deep into the pages of ‘The Atlas Six’ on this week’s episode. Does it live up to the hype?

In this episode our discussion included:

• The representation of women within the text

• Why this title is so readily labelled as “dark academia”

• The pros and cons of moving from indie to traditional publication

• ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake

• ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

• ‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik

• ‘Carry On’ by Rainbow Rowell

• ‘Belzhar’ by Meg Wolitzer

• ‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer

If you want a copy of ‘The Atlas Six’ for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too! Win/win?

The season one finale of ‘The Dark Academicals’ sees us exploring ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas about a forboding university full of secrets, surpises and a shockingly sinister purpose as our protagonist, Ines, grapples with what Catherine wants from her.

We loved ‘Catherine House’ and we’re so happy to end the season on such a high.

In this episode our discussion included:

• The pseudoscience of plasm and the concentrations of Catherine

• Ines’s trauma response and coping mechanisms and how that influences her narration

• The Gothic motif of the haunted house

We also reveal the six titles in the Season 2 line up!

• ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas

• ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynn

• ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald

• ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

• ‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins

We also announced the titles for season 2:

• ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake

• ‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer

• ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides

• ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

• ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ by Goldy Moldavsky

• ‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Stiefvater

(Full bibliography and show notes made available through Patreon)

If you fancy getting your hands on ‘Catherine House’ you can buy it from bookshop.org which both supports us as affliiates, but also supports local bookshops!

This week’s episode of ‘The Dark Academicals’ took us to an exclusive private school with an anonymous texter attempting to bring down the school’s only two black students with escalating methods of cruelty in Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé’s dark academia social thriller, ‘Ace of Spades’.

It’s a heck of a book, and we had some big topics to discuss.

In this episode our discussion included:

• Whether the novel fits into our framework of dark academia

• Institutional racism in society and it’s role in the plot

• Homophobia and Devon’s experience as a gay black teenager

If you fancy getting your hands on ‘Ace of Spades’ you can buy it from bookshop.org which both supports us as affliates, but also supports local bookshops!

(Full bibilography and show notes made available through Patreon)

• ‘Ace of Spades’ by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

• ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne

• ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald

• ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas’