A report by Caleb Sivyer on our final event for the 2015/16 series of Cardiff BookTalk, to mark the bicentennial of the composition of Frankenstein.
Tag: nineteenth century
Frankenstein Resources at Biblion: The Boundless Library
A number of excellent resources related to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can be found at Biblion: The Boundless Library, which gives users access to The New York Public Library’s impressive collection. Click on the link below to view images relating to Frankenstein on the silver screen: … Continue reading Frankenstein Resources at Biblion: The Boundless Library
Trailer for Jack Pierce, The Maker of Monsters (2015)
Another little morsel for you before our upcoming monstrous BookTalk event, a film-screening and discussion of James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), on the 30th June. Below is a trailer for a documentary that focuses on the man behind the incredible monster make-up, Jack Pierce. Pierce worked … Continue reading Trailer for Jack Pierce, The Maker of Monsters (2015)
Poster Designs for Frankenstein (1931)
There are many wonderful poster designs for James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931).
Film Trailer for Frankenstein (1931)
To whet your appetites in anticipation of our next BookTalk event on the 30th June 2016, here is a trailer of James Whale’s 1931 movie adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein:
BookTalk screening, 30 June 2016: Frankenstein (1931)
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the composition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, our June 2016 event will be a screening of the iconic 1931 film adaptation directed by James Whale.
Theorizing about Florence and Giles
Current Cardiff undergraduate Caitlin Coxon offers some thoughts on Florence and Giles, one of the books featured in our March BookTalk event.
Harding’s Florence and Giles: Excerpt
It is a curious story I have to tell, one not easily absorbed and understood, so it is fortunate I have the words for the task. If I say so myself, who probably shouldn’t, for a girl my age I am very well worded. Exceeding well worded, to speak plain. But because of the strict views of my uncle regarding the education of females, I have hidden my eloquence, under-a-bushelled it, and kept any but the simplest forms of expression bridewelled within my brain. Such concealment has become my habit and began on account of my fear, my very great fear, that were I to speak as I think, it would be obvious I had been at the books and the library would be banned. And, as I explained to poor Miss Whitaker (it was shortly before she tragicked upon the lake), that was a thing I did not think I could bear.— John Harding, Florence and Giles (Blue Door, 2010), p. 5
Arnold’s After Such Kindness: Excerpt
She’s coming to life under my hands. The dark, untidy mass of her hair, the bright eyes, the frill of her white dress, her sash, her parasol. She’s floating in the liquid, becoming more and more real. I jiggle the tray and peer closer. She is ready no; finished; perfect. I lift her out, shake the paper, peg it up and let it drip. I sit down on the stool in the dark room and gaze at her.— Gaynor Arnold, After Such Kindness (Tindal Street, 2012), p. 1
From an Interview with John Harding
John Harding: ‘[Florence and Giles] was inspired by Henry James’ novella “The Turn of the Screw”. The book was made into an opera by the 20th-century British composer Benjamin Britten and on my way home from watching the opera I began to think it would be interesting to tell a similar story, only this time not from the point of view of the governess as it is in the Henry James book, but from the viewpoint of one of the children. I’ve always loved stories like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre and I loved writing in the genre. So much so that when the book was a huge bestseller and people in the UK and Italy and Brazil kept asking for another book in the same genre I decided “Why not” (Perchè no?)’
