Tom's treasures of fiction, poetry, literature and more...

Welcome all to my latest offering on the blog! This time I am reviewing the mysterious gothic short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I read this short story for university when we looks at women writers of the Fin de Siècle, pronounced  as /f æn dʊ si:ɛkl   in phonetic or those who do not follow, simply pronounced as  "fan du see-eh-kl" with the "du" sounding the same as in look or put. In case you actually wander what the Fin de  Siècle is French for end of the century. The emphasis is on the ending of the 19th century and it's characteristics. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a good example of the Fin de Si ècle. The short story highlights the struggles that women can face and how women can fall victim to being diagnosed with hysteria. In the short story, the narrator reveals she cannot do certain things because she is unwell. She sees life as exciting and considers that a ...

Welcome back to my blog people! Today I am going to be revealing my thoughts and feelings about opinions, explaining why I like Halloween as well. I know not everyone likes Halloween but I do. I like always think horror and spooky. I will not use the word scary because some things I find scary for good reason and will not want them. These include theme park rollercoasters that spin you around at an alarming fast rate, or drop you deep and then raise you high repeatedly. If you see me at a theme park, I get scared with those big super-fast rides while everyone else around me gets scared from the ghost train. I actually like the ghost train. Thinking about spooky things, since being a child I have been a massive scooby doo fan. I grew up to love the fictional eco-goth rock band The Hex Girls, who have featured multiple times across the Scooby Doo media. Then I took a big loving to Doctor Who. This was followed with the 2016 Ghostbusters  film quickly becoming one of my favourite film...

Hello all! Do you ever feel you want something sweet? Do you ever want something you know you should not have? That is exactly what happens in Christina Rossetti's gothic poem "Goblin Market" (1862)… In today's review I am going to give my thoughts on Rossetti's poem of sinful desires and greeds. Here we have two sisters: Laura and Lizzie. When the goblin men tempt them with their fruits, Laura is interested. Lizzie however, insists that her sister should ignore them. This could be seen as allusion to Adam and Eve with Nachash the snake in the garden of Eden. This wanting of the bad fruit that a woman knows she should not have. Unlike Eve though, Lizzie does not get an apples on offer. Instead there are many other fruits for her to bite into. She tells her sister as such - ‘I'll bring you plums to-morrow Fresh on their mother twigs, Cherries worth getting; You cannot think what figs My teeth have met in, What melons icy-cold Piled on a dish of gold Too huge fo...

No! No! No! There are some gothic novels which strike terror and cause absolute shock in readers alike. Then there is the subject of today's review post - Matthew Gregory Lewis' petrifying 1796 novel The Monk . Where do I begin with a novel as evil and as twisted as this one? The extremes of gothic are present here in this affrightening  tale and to the maximum I might add. As the title suggests, the novel centres around a monk who gives in to commit lustful sins. What gets me is how sexually detailed it is. There is rape, incest, murder and everyone tricking everyone. This leads to someone becoming victim to an angry mob and someone else becoming the victim of a ghost. Every however many chapters, this novel had yet another big moment that had me in gasp in shock, fear or disgust; though sometimes this was all at once and in equal measure. I have to say that this novel is not for the faint-hearted. During the time when this was released, it became marred in controversy and Mat...

Hi everyone. I'm back to tell you some of the stuff I have been reading in September. Over the past month I have enjoyed reading some different stuff and I am looking forward to stuff I shall read this month. Here is my list for September. 1: For the millionth time - my French.  Those of you that regularly read my blog will be aware that I am learning French daily on my phone. Every day I get various tasks to improve my knowledge of French. These include speaking, listening, typing and reading. I am slowly making progress and have no plans to stop. I find it fun and it will help me if ever I go to France, which is not out of the question. 2: Castle Dor  (1940) by Daphne du Maurier.  As Daphne du Maurier was author of the month, last month and I had the book sitting on my shelf, I decided to read her 1940 novel Castle Dor . Check out my review from last month to see what I thought of it. 3: Facebook and Instagram. I use these two to keep connected and updated on things tha...

Welcome back everyone! I hope autumn is nice for you. Yes summer is gone but cosy jumpers and warming soups are coming right at us! For today's blog post I give to you my review of Arthur Quiller-Couch's and Daphne du Maurier's tragic tale of 1940 - Castle Dor . Quiller-Couch started the novel but died before he could finish and it was du Maurier who got it completed. This novel, set in Cornwall is the story of lust and tragedy. As readers we are introduced to two characters that end up colliding with one another, leading to a journey of hidden desires. We have the Rose and Anchor pub which is owned by Mark Lewarne, who has recently married Linnet Lewarne. There is Deborah who is Linnet's maid. Now she plays a vital role throughout the novel though I will not spoil how. To begin with we are introduced to these two characters and then the character Amyot. As the novel progresses the two characters Linnet and Amyot keep crossing paths until they realise their feelings for...

Hello everyone, I hope you are well. Welcome to my horror reviewing and we are starting off with what is considered the first ever gothic novel.  The Castle of Otranto   (1764) by Horace Walpole is a grim tale that follows Manfred, the ruler of Otranto. At the beginning we witness Manfred's son, Conrad on his way to marry Isabella. However when he is crushed to his death a terrifying chain of events begin. From Manfred trying to pursue Isabella and Hippolita, Manfred's wife and Conrad's mother clueless, it goes crazy. For this first ever gothic novel, it made me gasps on my than one moment. It is horrifying and it is terrifying. I think what sent me over the edge was Conrad's ghost returning and accepting his father wanting to leave his mother for his was-soon-to-be wife Isabella. I still cannot fathom that this happened. I wander how Horace Walpole came up with his ideas because they are good; spine chilling but good. Further to this,  The Castle of Otranto  being t...

Hello all. Today I am going to be reviewing the 1997 TV drama series of Rebecca  directed by Jim O'Neil. This TV drama series was positively chilling. I got that impression just from the character of Mrs Danvers. Whereas the Mrs Danvers character of the 1940 film seemed an envious character, Dame Diana Rigg's Mrs Danvers here was creepy to watch. For me it was how with the TV series she was always lurking in the shadows. Her coming out of the shadows and dressed all in black came across as sinister and caused me to be cautious of her. Ignore the fact that I have read the book and seen that 1940 film version. This TV drama alone depicts Mrs Danvers as one to be mindful of, and certainly not in a good way! Aside from Mrs Danvers, Mrs Van Hooper was an unsual character. From what I read of her and what I saw in the 1940 film, Faye Dunaway's Mrs Van Hopper was not what I expected. Although, I cannot say I fully understand what I expected. I think perhaps one with more snobbishn...

For today's blog post I am reviewing the 1940 film version of Daphne du Maurier's classic tale Rebecca  (1938) which I reviewed and published just recently as my previous post. This black and white film sees Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as the new Mrs de Winter. I liked Joan Fontaine's Mrs de Winter because she had a certain innocence to her. Where she had sweetness, Laurence Oliver's Max had bitterness and they complimented each other well. This for me was good as the characters were replicated well in the film. Another character who stood out by their strong portrayal was that of Judith Anderson's Mrs Danvers. Throughout the film we often saw her as opposed to hearing her. Her character was spectral, and that is something I noticed in the book. I found it chilling whenever the new Mrs de Winter would be in the house and suddenly Mrs Danvers was just there, as if she just appeared out of nowhere. This along with her clear resentment towards...

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again'¹. And so begins my review of Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca  (1938). I will go ahead and inform you all now that this is my favourite gothic novel I have read. Let us start with the fact that the novel is named after a character who is dead. I will not say a character who is not present because I felt her presence throughout the novel. I think we can thank Mrs Danvers for that one. As a character I found her to be cunning and manipulative, but in a quiet, innocent acting manner. This was particular with the choosing of the dress for the new Mrs de Winter for example. There were multiple moments in the novel that made me shudder at her presence, although things seemed to culminate when it came to her being at the window with the new Mrs de Winter. I will not spoil the novel but this part of the novel saw some sort of realisation as to how far she would go. I do not mean just for Mrs de Winter but for the reader too; it cer...

For today's blog post, I thought I would delve deeper into the genre of horror and how different of similar it's subgenre of the gothic is. What makes a piece of Gothic fiction or literature different from standard horror? First of all, the horror genre is a subgenre of speculative fiction. For publisher Penguin's online website, two differing ideas on what speculative fiction are have been put forward. ‘ To some, including stalwart of the genre  Margaret Atwood , speculative fiction is a sub-genre where the narrative plays with the elements of what is possible in our world; a descriptor for “what if?” stories examining alternative histories, futures and societies that seem possible within the parameters of reality.’ Thinking of this definition, does horror fit within this idea? I am unsure on this one. This element of an alternative history or future is something that I have found in horror books that I have read. When referring specifically to gothic, it is not something...