Do you like ghosts, goblins, and all things gothic? What about horses, horse-riding and all things equestrian? What happens if you put both of those things together? Heads will roll…
On Thursday the 5th March I will be talking about the evolution of the dark, demonic, ghostly horse and rider (yes, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow fame, along with his ancestors and descendants!) as the first speaker in the Macquarie University Department of English’s 2020 Research Seminar Series. (more…)
The Dark Crystal (1982) was one of the many fantasy films on high rotation for me and my siblings growing up. Its blend of enchanting, ethereal beauty and hideous, brutal darkness, and its adventure story steeped in deep mythology made it vastly appealing to our eager imaginations (though its depiction of cruelty, loss and atmosphere of doom sometimes meant that films like The Never-ending Story, Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz were sought out more often). In addition, the sheer magnitude and detail in its handcrafted artistry, combining the talents of puppeteer and filmmaker Jim Henson and artist Brian Froud, along with a vast team of creatives, has ensured the film’s iconic place in history as well as its indelible influence upon a generation of creative minds that grew up under its spell. (more…)
Dracula (BBC and Netflix, 2020) is the latest adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic Victorian Gothic vampire novel. Dark, gory, and beautifully cinematic, it both returns to and departs from the novel in many different ways. Indulging liberally in well recognised gothic and horror tropes, locations and characters, it sinks its teeth into the long history of Dracula adaptations with relish, bundling them together into something that feels both fresh and familiar. But the question of how successful this combination is has stoked (sorry, I had to) some contention. (more…)
I’m very excited to share the newly released collection of essays entitled Gothic Animals: Uncanny Otherness and the Animal With-Out, edited by Ruth Heholt and Melissa Edmundson, and published by Palgrave MacMillan (with gorgeous design and quality production work). Brimming with excellent new scholarship on the creepiest manifestations of animals in gothic fiction, from rats and cats to spiders and snails, this volume charts new territory in bringing together the fields of gothic and animal studies. My own chapter, entitled “Hellish Horses and Monstrous Men: Gothic Horsemanship in Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe,” shares some of my recent research into the ways that gothic fiction uses horses and their relationship to their riders to signal changing cultural boundaries around desirable and undesirable masculinity. (more…)
I’m excited to share with you my latest guest appearance on From the Lighthouse, the podcast of Macquarie University’s Department of English. In this episode, which was incredibly fun to record, I chat with Dr Stephanie Russo about our mutual love for Netflix’s hit TV show, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-), which follows the life and adventures of a young half-mortal, half-witch as she navigates the borders between magic and mortal worlds. From our shared appreciation of Aunt Zelda’s witticisms to more serious connections with feminist politics and protest in the Trump era, this podcast episode is both fun and wide ranging! I chat about the history of witches and witchcraft, its connections with (more…)
I am very excited to announce the publication of a wonderful collection of essays entitled Informing the Inklings: George MacDonald and the Victorian Roots of Modern Fantasy, edited by Michael Partridge and Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson (Winged Lion Press, 2018). Based on ground-breaking research presented at the George MacDonald Society Conference at The University of Oxford, 2014, which you can read about here, this collection of essays represents new directions not only in George MacDonald studies but also studies in Victorian fantasy, imagination, philosophy, science and more besides. Each of the twelve essays explores how MacDonald and fellow literary figures such as S. T. Coleridge, Lewis Carroll, Charles Kingsley, and Andrew Lang paved the way for the group of twentieth-century fantasy authors known as “the Inklings,” including C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. With contributions from major critics in the field such as Stephen Prickett, Malcolm Guite, Jean Webb and Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, as well as newer voices from a range of international scholars, this book treads new territory while returning us to the roots of modern fantasy literature. (more…)
Kirstin Mills is an Australian artist, writer, lecturer and researcher following her endless curiosity into realms of imagination and wonder. Read more about her life & projects here.
