British Literature Archives - Words To That Effect

March 11, 2020March 11, 2020 Conor19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, British Literature, History

Ep 43: Lost Books

There are countless great works of literature we have tantalising glimpses of, works we know exist but, as far as anyone can tell, have been lost to history. Huge swathes of ancient Greek literature, a vast Chinese encyclopedia, a lost Shakespeare play based on the story of Don Quixote. And read more…

October 15, 2019October 22, 2019 Conor19th Century Literature, British Literature, Horror, Literature and Science, Medicine

Ep 35: Jekyll and Hyde

For most people today, I think it’s fair to say, the story of Jekyll and Hyde is a rough outline of a tale, a fairly straightforward allegory of the potential dark side within us all. Read Robert Louis Stevenson’s original novella, however, and you immediately realise there is so much read more…

Golden Age Detective Fiction - Words To That Effect Ep32

May 7, 2019May 7, 2019 Conor20th Century Literature, British Literature, Crime, Detective Fiction

Ep32: Golden Age Detective Fiction

An English country estate. A detective pacing the room, explaining how they have solved the crime, revealing the solution to a puzzle and the clues which were there all along. It’s so easy to parody this scene because it’s so familiar. It’s Reverend Green in the drawing room with the read more…

January 28, 2019February 7, 2019 Conor19th Century Literature, British Literature, History, Horror, Supernatural, Victorian

Ep 26: Unwrapping the Egyptian Mummy

In the 19th century, a very popular form of entertainment was the mummy unwrapping party. You could go to a private or public event at which an ancient Egyptian mummy would be unrolled and examined. Bandages would be passed around, touched and smelled, ancient jewellery would be admired, and a read more…

June 18, 2018June 18, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, British Literature, History

Episode 21: The Invention of Time

Time in the Victorian Era Time, as we understand it today, was only really invented in the Victorian era. We take it for granted today that our phones and watches and other devices are accurate to the second. That time zones are clear and fixed – when it’s 3pm in read more…

June 4, 2018February 17, 2019 Conor21st Century Literature, American Literature, British Literature, Crime, Irish Literature

Episode 20: Domestic Noir

Why Are There So Many Crime Thrillers With ‘Girl’ in the Title? Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, Luckiest Girl Alive, Final Girls… There’s no shortage of crime novels with ‘girl’ in the title since the huge success of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 thriller Gone Girl. But what do these read more…

February 26, 2018February 26, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, British Literature, Detective Fiction, Victorian

Episode 15: The Scarlet Pimpernel & Baroness Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel The Scarlet Pimpernel is a character now long disconnected from his origins in a 1903 novel. The Pimpernel is a mysterious Englishman who uses elaborate disguises to heroically rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution. Naming himself after a small red flower, the enigmatic read more…

January 5, 2018January 6, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, British Literature, Fantasy

Notes on a Selection of Fictional Countries [Article]

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to invent a new country. In the 18th and 19th centuries there were still places unknown to European society – “blank spaces on the earth”, as Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness once put it. New, unheard of countries were begging to be discovered, mapped, read more…

October 30, 2017January 25, 2018 Conor18th Century Literature, British Literature, Popular Culture

Episode 10: From Robinson Crusoe to Survivor: The Robinsonade

Daniel Defoe’s classic novel, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, is without doubt one of the most recognizable stories in our culture. It is a book which has had hundreds, if not thousands, of editions. It has been translated into over 100 languages, adapted for stage and read more…

October 16, 2017January 25, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, British Literature, Popular Culture, Victorian

Episode 9: Imaginary Countries and the Ruritanian Romance

Imaginary Countries Writers make up imaginary countries all the time, and for a variety of reasons. It’s relatively straightforward to slip in a familiar-sounding name into a part of the world your reader or viewer may not be too familiar with. Livonia, Wallaria, Tazbekistan… They could be countries, right? But read more…

September 18, 2017January 25, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, British Literature, History, Literature and Science, Science, Victorian

Episode 7: Overpopulation from Malthus to Manila

7 Billion People A baby girl was born in a hospital in the Philippines, on 30th October, 2011. However, unlike all the other children born that day, the arrival of Danica May Camacho was witnessed by a crowd of photographers and journalists. The world’s media were gathered in a read more…

July 17, 2017January 9, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, British Literature, Science Fiction

Lost World Literature [Article]

Filling in the Blank Spaces In Joseph Conrad’s famous 1899 novella Heart of Darkness the narrator, Marlow, notes that since his childhood the world has become increasingly mapped and explored : “At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly read more…

July 13, 2017January 9, 2018 ConorAmerican Literature, British Literature, Horror, Irish Literature, Supernatural

“He’s always going to be the guy who wrote Sherlock Holmes” [Article]

When Authors are Overshadowed by their Creations: A Frankenstein Tale When Dr Victor Frankenstein brings his famous creature to life in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), it is not long before he has lost control of his creation. The creature is bigger, faster, and stronger than his creator and so, when read more…

July 10, 2017January 25, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, British Literature, Science, Supernatural, Victorian

Episode 2: Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Spiritualism

Sherlock Holmes is the most rational and scientific detective of them all. So why did his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, passionately believe in ghosts, fairies, and telepathy? Arthur Conan Doyle Arthur Conan Doyle is now best remembered as the creator of Sherlock Holmes. In fact, his creation has long taken read more…

June 30, 2017July 20, 2017 Conor20th Century Literature, British Literature, Detective Fiction, World War I

[Article] Invasion Fiction to Spy Novels: Erskine Childers and John Buchan

The Rise of the Spy Novel: The Riddle of the Sands and The Thirty-Nine Steps Episode 1 of Words To That Effect was on invasion fiction, sometimes also called invasion literature or future war fiction (you can listen to episode 1 here). If you are interested in the area then read more…