Monthly Archives: November 2015

All through our discussion of Charles Dickens dying in the middle of releases of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, I have been reminded of one specific contemporary example in which people are worried about this occurring. George R.R. Martin is … Continue reading →

I recently watched the 2004 BBC miniseries adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, a novel that was published in Household Words. According to some quick Internet searches, it appears that Charles Dickens thought Gaskell’s novel was too long (seems hypocritical … Continue reading →

Lately there has been a news story circulating that depicts a slightly ridiculous controversy that reveals a lot of our country’s expectations about how Christmas is supposed to be experienced. The controversy I am referring to is the current change … Continue reading →

Modern advertising has become somewhat…creepy. When you google something today, it will most certainly come back to haunt you in the form of an advertisement personally tailored to your “interests.” For example, I’ve been thinking about purchasing a new pair … Continue reading →

This last year, I’ve started watching Shameless, a Showtime television show based on a UK series by the same name. As we’ve progressed through this class, I’ve drawn a lot of similarities between the show and the books we’ve read in class, … Continue reading →

Humanity has a fascination with death that stems from a fear of the unknown and the inevitable. This fascination is often played out in television and films where characters are subjected to horrible, bloody deaths (as in horror movies) or … Continue reading →

As mentioned in the previous post, in class the other day we discussed the idea of the spectacle and looking at something that cannot return the gaze. This happens several times in The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, particularly … Continue reading →

Recently in class, we spent a good deal of time discussing the sensation of looking at something that cannot look back at you, whether it is the bodies of the dead turned from subject to object, or characters in novels … Continue reading →

As I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed yesterday, I came across this event: “Dickens of a Christmas,” which is an annual event put on by the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County. The event description reads, “Franklin’s Main … Continue reading →

Dickens and Collins were superstars of their time, and this success can be attributed to their talent as authors, but also and perhaps equally important, their ability to market their books effectively. Through advertisements and serializing their works, these authors … Continue reading →