This episode we speak with two experts to better understand Eleanor Scott and her story Randall’s Round, Dr Vicky Margree and Prof Dan Orrells. We discuss what’s known about Eleanor Scott, her time at Oxford University in the early 1900s and the role of gender, folklore and imperialism in her writing.
Vicky is a specialist in literary fiction and feminist theory. Her book British Women’s Short Supernatural Fiction, 1860-1930: Our Own Ghostliness looks at stories by Margaret Oliphant, Charlotte Riddell, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Edith Nesbit, Alice Perrin, Eleanor Scott and Violet Hunt.
Dan focuses on the history of the interpretation of classical literature. He’s interested in the Greeks and Romans in the Victorian imagination, including how these inspired Gothic and ghostly tales at the turn of the 20th century. He co-edited with Vicky a study of Richard Marsh, a fascinating late-Victorian author who wrote about “shape-shifting monsters, morally dubious heroes, lip-reading female detectives and objects that come to life.”
In our conversation we learn more about the folklore revival, Edward B Tylor’s ideas about primitive cultures and notions of “survivals” amd the experience of women at Oxford and Cambridge (Dan recommends the Dorothy L Sayers novel Gaudy Night!).
Massive thank you to Vicky and Dan for being such engaging and insightful guests and sharing their expertise with us! If you want to read ahead, we’ll be back next time with The Weird of the Walfords by Louisa Baldwin.
Episode 78 – Brother John’s Bequest by Arthur Gray
Episode 77 – The Man with the Roller by E.G. Swain
Episode 76 – How Fear Departed From the Long Gallery
Episode 75 – The Traveller by R.H. Benson
Ep74 – Review of Martin’s Close on BBC4
Episode 73 – Out of the sea by A.C. Benson
Episode 72- By One, By Two and By Three by Adrian Ross
Episode 71 – An Antiquary’s Ghost Story by Augustus Jessopp
Episode 70 – Negotium Perambulans by E.F. Benson
Episode 69 – Smee by A.M. Burrage
Episode 68: The Death Mask by Mrs H.D. Everett
Episode 67 – Through a Glass Darkly conference report
Episode 66 – The Monkey’s Paw
Episode 65 – The Story of the Moor Road
Episode 64 – Featherston’s Story by Mrs Henry Wood
Episode 63 – Christmas Re-union by Sir Andrew Caldecott
Episode 62 – The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford
Episode 61 – The Open Door by Margaret Oliphant
Episode 60 – The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens
Episode 59 – The Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
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