Victorian Legacies

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Jen Baker, where we discuss her interest in the spectral child and representations of the child in death. We talk about how the legacy of these representations in the nineteenth century linger to this day, through angelic suggestions in Facebook memorials, to the horrific representations of the demonic child in horror films. We discuss her upcoming monograph which will look into these ideas in more detail. ,

About my guest:

Dr Jen Baker is a permanent Teaching Fellow in C19th and C20th Literature at the University of Warwick and an Early Career Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath. She is currently working on her first monograph, Spectral Embodiments of Child Death in the Long Nineteenth Century, which is under contract with Edinburgh University Press. She is also Guest Editor of the latest edition of Gothic Studies - a special issue on "Gothic and the Short Form" and has published on a range of material relating to “the child” figure, childhood, and the Gothic, Most recently, a chapter on pronouns and the spectral child in Victorian ghost stories and an article on guardianship of the ghost child forthcoming in a special issue of Women's Writing.

For more information on Jen's work, check out the links and details below:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/people/drjenbaker/

Check out Jen's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:

Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger
Nick Murphy - The Awakening
Jen Baker (editor) - Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales of Spectral Youth

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Samantha, where we discuss her novels, Mr Dickens and His Carol, and the recent Love and Fury! We talk about how her career in screenwriting aided her writing process, how she wrote her first novel, and how the new release celebrates Mary Wollstonecraft. While Wollstonecraft was just outside of the 19th century, we discuss the influence she had on the Victorian era (especially through her daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley), and the importance of her work today.

Content warning: some mentions of suicide, bodily autonomy debates

About my guest:

Samantha Silva is an author and screenwriter based in Idaho. Over her career, she’s sold film projects to Paramount, Universal, and New Line Cinema. Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft is her second novel. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in One Story and LitHub. A short film, The Big Burn, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Sun Valley Film Festival in 2018. She is currently working on a commission from Seattle Repertory Theater to adapt her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, for the stage, and was a 2020 Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow.

For more information on Samantha's work, check out the links and details below:

Twitter: @samanthaswriter
https://www.samanthasilvawriter.com/
https://www.mingstudios.org/my-on-mondays.html - recent short readings for MING Studios

Check out Samantha's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:
Charlotte Gordon: Romantic Outlaws
Mary Wollstonecraft: Letters written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

Episode 9 - Emily Gallagher - Representations of Victorian Women's Dress

In this episode I'm joined by Emily, where we discuss her research into the history and representation of Victorian women's dress post-1901. We chat about the ways in which dress and dress objects are preserved and how this has implications for certain narratives of dress - for example, understanding what working-class women wore, and how our understanding of that period can be influenced.

About my guest:

Emily Gallagher is a PhD candidate at Birkbeck, University of London, researching the histories and representations of Victorian women’s dress since 1901. Central to this research is the analysis of how popular images of Victorian women’s material and personal lives have been influenced by constructed feminine ‘sartorial-Victorianisms’, particularly in museum collections and displays. In 2020, Emily conducted a never-before-done survey of Victorian and Edwardian working-class dress objects in England’s museums, forming the basis of her master’s research which examined the ways in which the objects have been preserved and interpreted. Emily’s research interests include museology, the Victorians in the 20th and 21st centuries, Victorian material culture, art, photography, and dress.

For more information on Emily's work, check out the links and details below:

Twitter: @emilymayga

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Dany van Dam, where we discuss her research into Neo-Victorian works and postcolonial approaches. We talk about how her research interests developed, the Western-centric focus of the field, and how we can consider new ways to broaden the field.


About my guest:
Dany has degrees in English and History, and a research MA degree in Literary Studies from Leiden University (the Netherlands). In 2016 she gained her PhD in English Literature from Cardiff University, entitled Making It Right? Writing the Other in Postcolonial Neo-Victorianism. She is the European representative of the British Association for Victorian Studies, and has recently begun a three-year lectureship at Leiden University (where, among other things, she will be teaching contemporary American fiction, of all things). She has also worked at Utrecht University, the Dutch Open University, the University of Amsterdam, at VU Amsterdam, and now at Leiden). She has mainly taught nineteenth-century literature, postcolonial/world literature, and skills courses, though she has also taught a seminar group on medieval and early-modern literature. She has articles published in Neo-Victorian Studies (on sexual and racial cross-dressing), Partial Answers (on Gail Jones' Sixty Lights) and a co-authored article coming out this year in the European Journal of English Studies. In a few months, she also has a chapter coming out in an essay collection on Neo-Victorian Things.


For more information on Dany's work, check out the links and details below:

https://h.d.j.van.dam@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Twitter: @HDJvanDam


Check out Dany's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:
Minae Mizumura - A True Novel
Zakes Mda - Heart of Redness
Jolien Janzing - Charlotte Bronte's Secret Love (The Master)
Barbara Ewing - The Petticoat Men
Works by HG Wells, Amitav Ghosh, Kunal Basu

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Rachel M Friars, where we discuss her research into queer Neo-Victorian works. We talk about diaries and correspondence and how this provides an interesting insight into queer identities (such as Anne Lister), and how neo-Victorianism reflects contemporary anxieties, whilst considering the enduring legacies of the Victorian.


About my guest: Rachel is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her work has recently appeared in Neo-Victorian Madness: Rediagnosing Nineteenth-Century Mental Illness in Literature and Other Media (Palgrave Macmillan 2020) and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies (2020). She has forthcoming articles in Gothic Mash-Ups: Hybridity, Appropriation, and Intertextuality in Gothic Storytelling (Lexington Books 2021) and in Crime Studies Journal (2022). She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-editor-in-chief of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry.


For more information on Rachel's work, check out the links and details below:

https://lampjournal.com/
https://truecrimeindex.ca/
https://popmec.hypotheses.org/
Twitter: @RachelMFriars


Check out Rachel's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:
Historical Fictions Research Network - https://historicalfictionsresearch.org/
Anno Dracula series - Kim Newman
Plain Bad Heroines - Emily M Danforth
The Once and Future Witches - Alix E Harrow
The Doll Factory - Elizabeth Macneal
A Madness So Discreet - Mindy McGuinness
Girl in a Blue Dress - Gaynor Arnold
A Dowry of Blood - S T Gibson

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Suzie Lennox, where we discuss her extensive research into the practice of body snatching. She'll tell us about prevention methods, some intriguing tales and escapades of the 'resurrection men', and why she continues to be fascinated by this 'taboo' subject. TRIGGER WARNING: this episode deals with issues around death, graveyards and exhumation so be prepared!


About my guest: Suzie studied History at Teesside University and completed her Master’s degree in Archive Administration in 2011 before leaving the sector in 2015. She has been researching all aspects of body snatching for over fifteen years, after writing about the legal implications of the trade for her dissertation at university. Her book ‘Bodysnatchers: Digging Up The Untold Story of Britain’s Resurrection Men’ was published by Pen & Sword in 2016.

For more information on Suzie's work, check out the links and details below:

https://diggingup1800.com
Twitter: @DiggingUp1800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diggingup1800


Check out Suzie's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:

Ruth Richardson - Death, Dissectiion and the Destitute
Works by Martin Fido and Hubert Cole (reading list available on Suzie's website)
Suzie's book can be found at: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Bodysnatchers-Digging-Up-The-Untold-Stories-of-Britains-Resurrection-Men-Kindle/p/12635

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Brontë Schiltz, where we discuss her interest in the associations between illness and queer experience in Victorian fiction such as Vernon Lee's work, and the explorations of economics in the penny dreadful, The String of Pearls and its adaptations.


About my guest: Brontë has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MA in English Studies: The Gothic from Manchester Metropolitan University. Her work includes academic research, journalism, creative non-fiction, short fiction, and theatre. She researches research associations between illness and queer experience in Victorian fiction, focusing particularly on Vernon Lee, and also explorations of economics in The String of Pearls and its adaptations

For more information on Brontë's work, check out the links and details below:

https://bronteschiltz.squarespace.com/
Twitter: @BronteSchiltz


Check out Brontë's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:

The String of Pearls (and its adaptations!)
Works by Vernon Lee (especially A Wicked Voice)
Jeanette Winterson - Frankisstein
Sarah Waters' novels
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Dr Helen Davies, where we discuss her previous work on neo-Victorianism and freakery, her current project on Down's Syndrome and neo-Victorianism, and how neo-Victorianism has interested her (and her take on why we're still influenced by the 19th century).

TRIGGER WARNING: contains conversation about disabilities, including past (derogatory) terminology for people with disabilities.


About my guest: Dr Helen Davies is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Wolverhampton. She is the author of Gender and Ventriloquism in Victorian and Neo-Victorian Fiction (2012) and Neo-Victorian Freakery (2015). She’s published widely on gender, sexuality, and disability in neo-Victorianism, and is currently writing a book about Down syndrome in neo-Victorianism.


For more information on Helen's work, check out the links and details below:

Twitter: @DrHDavies
University Email: [email protected]

Check out Helen's recommended sources, which she mentioned in our episode:

Professor Michael Bérubé -The Secret Life of Stories
Karen Charlton, The Sculthorpe Murder
Amanda Taylor, Dangerous Waves.
BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Charles Dickens' Barnaby Roach

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Paulus Linnaeus, a graphic novellist who has published The Demonhuntress series. We discuss how his incredible experiences led him to change career, and how he developed The Demonhuntress series. Our chat centres on his recent publications which centred around Jack the Ripper, as well as the upcoming second full-length volume of the series, which features the Orient Express, and the Hope Diamond.

About my guest:

Former professor, doctor, parachutist, military instructor, scuba diver, writer, poet, and musician, who has travelled and lived throughout the world, Paulus has lived several lives and thus brings this broad perspective of life into his stories.

For more information on Paulus' work, check out the links and details below:

https://thedemonhuntress.com/
Instagram: alexisthedemonhuntress

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode I'm joined by Stephanie Farnsworth, who researches into mutants and body horror in video games. We'll discuss her research and the influences of the 19th century (particularly, the Gothic) in creative works such as video games.

About my guest: Stephanie Farnsworth is a PhD candidate at the University of Sunderland, and her research focuses on examining 'mutants' and body horror in video games. While her work focuses on video games which often are set in futuristic societies, the narratives are heavily rooted in Gothic tradition and classic stories such as Frankenstein, and Jekyll and Hyde. She is also the founder of MultiPlay - an academic network for promoting a multidisciplinary approach to video games studies.

For more information on Steph's work, check out the links and details below:

https://mutanttheory.com/
https://multiplaynetwork.org/

Episode Credits:

Episode Writer, Editor and Producer: Emma Catan
Music: Burning Steaks (by Stationary Sign) - obtained via EpidemicSound

Check us out at the following social media pages and websites!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorianlegaciespodcast
Twitter: @victorianlegac1
Instagram: @victorianlegaciespodcast
Website: https://emmacatan.wordpress.com/victorian-legacies-podcast/
Email: [email protected]