Victorian Archives - Words To That Effect

October 29, 2019October 30, 2019 Conor19th Century Literature, Horror, Supernatural, Victorian

Ep 36: Blood, Death, and Varney the Vampire

There is no pop culture monster more written about, more critiqued and analysed, more portrayed and adapted and reimagined, than the vampire. So this episode is not about most vampires. There are no discussions of Dracula or Nosferatu, no True Blood or Twilight or Buffy, no Anne Rice or Stephen 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…

Ep25 Dinosaurs in Fiction - Words To That Effect

January 14, 2019January 15, 2019 Conor19th Century Literature, Film, History, Literature and Science, Popular Culture, Science, Victorian

Ep25 – Dinosaurs: Palaeontology To Pyjamas

In 1842 a Victorian anatomist looked at some unusual fossils and, noticing they had something in common, he decided we needed a word to describe these strange creatures. He called them dinosaurs. Cut to the present day and there are dinosaur films, TV shows, books, songs, toys, and anything else read more…

Words To That Effect Ep 21 Invention of Victorian Time

June 18, 2018April 9, 2020 Conor19th Century Literature, British Literature, History, Victorian

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…

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…

December 18, 2017January 25, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, 20th Century Literature, Horror, Supernatural, Victorian

Episode 13: The Ghost Stories of MR James

Words To That Effect + Down Below The Reservoir This week’s episode, the end of Season 1, is a Christmas Special. It’s a collaboration with the disturbingly good horror podcast, Down Below The Reservoir. The result is an episode about the ghost stories of MR James, followed by an audio-drama read more…

November 13, 2017January 25, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, Crime, Literature and Science, Medicine, Science, Victorian

Episode 11: Cesare Lombroso & The Born Criminal

Turin in the 19th Century The northern Italian city of Turin is quite distinctive as Italian cities go. It is still Italy, so of course it has its grand piazzas and ornate churches, and pasta and pizza and cappuccinos. But whereas in so many Italian cities it is 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 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…

July 6, 2017January 9, 2018 Conor19th Century Literature, Horror, Irish Literature, Supernatural, Victorian, World War I

Dracula and Invasion Fiction [Article]

Invasion Literature: Armies to Aliens to Vampires “This was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps for centuries to come, he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless” read more…