Archives: Digital Events

The Cosmic Operas of Hindemith and Vivier – Meredith Michael – Zoom

The Cosmic Operas of Hindemith and Vivier 
In the aftermath of two world wars and countless other crises, musicians in the later 20th century who wished to re-awaken audiences to the music of the spheres sometimes turned to grand, large-scale works of music, like opera. This was true of composers Paul Hindemith and Claude Vivier, who both wrote “cosmic” operas featuring revolutionary astronomers as characters.

Hindemith’s “Die Harmonie der Welt” focuses on Johannes Kepler’s turbulent life, but includes hidden structures  that only become apparent at the end of the piece, when Kepler dies. Vivier’s “Kopernikus” casts Nicolaus Copernicus along with a myriad of other historical and fictional characters who perform an “opéra-rituel” meant to help the protagonist, Agni, transcend to a higher plane of existence. This presentation will explore these composers’ philosophies about the relationship between music and the cosmos, as well as how these operas attempt to align the listener with the order of the universe.

Meredith Michael is a musicologist who studies relationships between music and outer space. She has presented her work internationally on astronomers and musicians from Caroline Herschel to Gustav Holst, and she is currently finishing a dissertation on musical constructions of mythology in the 20th century. Meredith is also active in podcasting, working as a production assistant and occasional guest on the Weird Studies podcast , and producing her own podcast with Gabriel Lubell, Cosmophonia.

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The Devil’s Bargain – Ed Simon – Zoom

The figure of the mage is among the most alluring Renaissance characters. In plays from Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, necromancers plumbed the depths of hermetic and occult knowledge to gain tremendous (and dangerous) power. Yet this figure wasn’t mere literary invention, for Renaissance humanism was attracted to subjects magical, and often these characters were based on real personages. In particular, Dr. Faust, the wizard who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power, was drawn directly from the historical record, a mysterious and shadowy scholar who nonetheless endures in the countless permutations of his legend. In this lecture, join Dr. Ed Simon in a consideration of the “real” Dr. Faust.
Ed Simon is Public Humanities Special Faculty in the English Department of Carnegie Mellon University, the editor of The Pittsburgh Review of Books, and a staff writer for Literary Hub. A widely published writer, he is the author of over a dozen books, including Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology and Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain. 
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Skeletons in the Closet: The Ossuaries of Europe – Cat Irving – Zoom

Skeletons in the Closet: The Ossuaries of Europe

Practical storage solution, morbid curiosity, or an important way to interact with the dead and contemplate our own mortality? Bones are the most enduring parts of our mortal remains, but the sheer quantity of people who have died in a culture where burial has dominated means that there have been too many bones to stay in the ground. Ideas about what to do with them have ranged from the simple to the astoundingly elaborate. This talk is extensively illustrated with the author’s own photos, and will take you on a journey across Europe that will encompass painted skulls and bejewelled skeletons, bone chandeliers and the six million people who lie beneath the streets of Paris.

Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University, where she is now Consultant Human Remains Conservator. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke.

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Weird John Buchan – James Machin – Zoom

 

John Buchan (1875–1940) is now remembered chiefly as the author of spy thrillers such as The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) and is often misunderstood as the author of populist boys-own adventure. As his readers know, however, he is a far more nuanced, able, and varied writer than that reputation suggests, and in this talk I will argue that he deserves to take his place with the likes of M. R. James, Arthur Machen, and Algernon Blackwood, as the author of superb ‘golden age’ weird fiction. He was certainly recognised by H. P. Lovecraft as such and his output in this mode also included novels such as The Dancing Floor (1926) and Witch Wood (1927), both anticipating folk horror, as well as subtle, finely-crafted tales of psychological terror rooted in landscape, such as ‘The Watcher by the Threshold’ (1900) and ‘The Grove of Ashtaroth’ (1912). As The Bookman wrote of a collection of his stories in 1902: “However unlike in plot, vague terror of an unrecognised reality, the survival of an unkindly time, is in them all, to shake our smug content with the triumphs of civilization, and to stir forgotten depths, from which rise wars against our comfort. The book is one to shudder over; but through it run veins of genuine beauty.”

James Machin is an editor, researcher, and writer who lives in Tring. Recent books include British Weird: Selected Short Fiction, 1893–1937 for Handheld Press and his short fiction has been published in Supernatural Tales, The Shadow Booth, and Weirdbook. He is co-editor of Faunus, the journal of the Friends of Arthur Machen and a member of the John Buchan Society.

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Clay-eaters: A Brief History of Geophagy – Jennifer Lucy Allan – Zoom

Clay-eaters: A brief history of geophagy

This talk collates recorded instances of geophagy across human history and in the animal kingdom, detailing cases involving Taoist magic, syncretic religious sites in Central America, parrots who may or may not have indigestion, and the ancient physician Galen, who stockpiled terra sigillata from Lemnos in AD167. In early Western anthropological reports, geophagy was often discredited as ‘primitive’ or ‘debased’ behaviour, but this talk calls for another look at clay eaters across cultures, detailing the ways in which earth has been used as folk medicine, famine prevention, and as a natural dietary supplement for centuries.

Jennifer Lucy Allan is a writer and broadcaster. Her first book, The Foghorn’s Lament was published in 2021, on sound, memory and the coast. She is a presenter on BBC Radio 3’s long running music show Late Junction, and has written for various outlets on music and culture over the last 15 years. Her most recent book Clay: A Human History was published in 2024.

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The Sun Machine Is Coming Down – Nicholas Royle – Zoom

Nicholas Royle’s David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the Sun Machine has been described as ‘bizarre, brilliant and unlike any book you’ve ever read’ (The Telegraph). What does David Bowie have to do with Enid Blyton? And what even is a sun machine?

David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the Sun Machine is not only a paean to Bowie’s music and to Blyton’s storytelling (especially the Famous Five books), but also a moving and at moments hilarious account of everyday family life during the pandemic, and a passionate defence of the love of literature and art at a time when they seem more than ever imperilled. In his talk Royle will discuss how the book came to be written, introduce some of the puppets who feature (especially Mole), and give a couple of short readings. There will also be time for questions and discussion.

Nicholas Royle has taught and lectured at universities across Europe and North America for over four decades. He is the author of many books, including two highly acclaimed novels, Quilt (2010) and An English Guide to Birdwatching (2017); the memoir, Mother (2020); and groundbreaking studies of literature such as Telepathy and Literature: Essays on the Reading Mind (1990), The Uncanny (2003), and Veering: A Theory of Literature (2011). With Andrew Bennett he is also author of the bestselling academic textbook, Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory (sixth edition, 2023). Royle is joint managing editor of the Oxford Literary Review and is currently completing a book on The New Fantastic.

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‘For All of Your Protection Needs’: The witch-bottle through history – Dr Ceri Houlbrook and Dr Julia Phillip

‘For All of Your Protection Needs’: The witch-bottle through history

Witch-bottles were used in the seventeenth century to counteract suspected bewitchment. Filled with nails, pins, and urine, and then buried, they were believed to harm the witch and lift the curse. Witch-bottles are still being made and used today – but for very different purposes. Clearly no tradition survives unbroken or unaltered, and customs surrounding the making of witch-bottles are no exception. Over the centuries, perceptions of witchcraft have changed greatly – and witch-bottles have adapted to these changes. This talk examines what happens to the witch-bottle between its first known appearance in the seventeenth century and its reimagining in contemporary Paganism.

Speakers’ Bios

Dr Ceri Houlbrook is a Senior Lecturer in Folklore and History at the University of Hertfordshire, and Programme Leader of the Folklore Studies MA. She is also a Council member of the Folklore Society and editor of its newsletter. Ceri is primarily interested in contemporary adaptations of historic customs and creations of folklore, having published books on coin-trees, love-locks, concealed objects, and witch-bottles. In 2023, Ceri published her debut novel, based on her archival research into letters to Father Christmas: Winter’s Wishfall, published by Bonnier Books.

Dr Julia Phillips is Hon Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol. She received her PhD for her research examining how witches and witchcraft were featured in newspapers in Victorian Britain. Her primary research interests are the study of witchcraft in the nineteenth century and the development of modern pagan witchcraft in the twentieth century.

Recent publications:

Phillips, Julia. 2021. ‘Madeline Montalban: Magus of the Morning Star.’ In Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses, edited by Amy Hale, 229-254. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Phillips, Julia. ‘The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic: Toward a New History of British Wicca.’ Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, vol. 16 no. 2, 2021, p. 173-200. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mrw.2021.0028.

Houlbrook, Ceri and Phillips, Julia. ‘For All of Your Protection Needs: Tracing the “witch-bottle” from the Early Modern Period to TikTok.’ Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft (2023, volume 18.1).

Curated and Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Do You Believe in Fairies? Dr Simon Young’s Fairy Census – Zoom

Do You Believe in Fairies? Dr Simon Young’s Fairy Census‘

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Oberon, that all the fairies should be counted…‘

In 2014 Simon Young began the Fairy Census, a project to collect two thousand fairy experiences. Now a decade later Young has published a thousand of these accounts and aims to reach two thousand by 2035. He has used the resulting database to study the people who see fairies. For instance, what age are fairy seers? Why are the fairies seen shrinking in size? Why are women more likely to see fairies than men? Why do driving and watching television seem to increase the likelihood of a fairy encounter? And what about the growing number of fairy wings? For this and many more fairy world problems and for thoughts on how we interact with the supernatural more generally tune in to see Simon speak about on the Fairy Census, 12 Jan 2025.

Bio

Dr Simon Young is a British folklore historian based in Italy. He has written extensively on the nineteenth-century supernatural. His book The Boggart (from Exeter University Press) and The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends (from Mississippi University Press) came out in 2022. He is the editor of Exeter New Approaches to Legends, Folklore and Popular Legends and teaches history at UCEAP (Florence). Over the years he has run courses on the History of Christianity, Italian Food History, Italian Media History, Contemporary Italian History, the Second World War in Italy and Italian Renaissance History.

Articles listing: https://independent.academia.edu/SimonYoung43

Latest books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boggart-Folklore-History-Placenames-Approaches/dp/1905816901/ref

[Free downloadable source book, click ‘open access]: https://www.exeterpress.co.uk/en/Book/2114/The-Boggart-Sourcebook.html

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Pet Cemeteries: How We Came to Bury Our Non-human Friends – Paul Koudounaris – Zoom

 

Pet Cemeteries: How We Came to Bury Our Best Nonhuman Friends

When a little dog named Cherry died in 1881, his owners arranged for a grave in a nearby gatekeeper’s garden in London. At this time, the idea that a pet, even one that had lived as a family member, might be given a dignified burial was considered comical. But when other pet owners followed suit, the world’s first urban pet cemetery was born. More soon followed, and the idea eventually spread throughout the world. The talk will detail the history—always touching, oft times comical, and sometimes weird—of the people who fought to give birth to the ideal that an animal that has been loved as a family deserves the same care and dignity in death.

Paul Koudounaris has a PhD in Art History from UCLA. He is the author of three books on the visual culture of death, Empire of Death, Heavenly Bodies, and Memento Mori, as well as a history of domestic felines, A Cat’s Tale, co-written by his cat Baba, and named a Barnes and Noble Book of the Year in 2020. Faithful Unto Death, his book on pet cemeteries and animal burials, the world’s first definitive history of the subject, was published in October, 2024.

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The History of the Dog – Man’s Best Friend – Lena Heide-Brennand – Zoom

The History of the Dog – Man’s Best Friend

We have celebrated and done a talk on our feline friends, so now it is time to honour our dogs. From the loyal companions of ancient hunter-gatherers to the esteemed guardians of royal courts, dogs have played a pivotal role in shaping societies across the globe. Did you know that the bond between humans and dogs dates back over 15,000 years?

This remarkable relationship began when wolves were domesticated, leading to a partnership that would evolve through various eras. In ancient Egypt, dogs were revered as symbols of protection and loyalty, often depicted in art and even mummified alongside their owners.

Fast forward to the Middle Ages, where dogs served not only as hunting partners but also as status symbols for nobility, influencing fashion and culture. In more recent times, dogs have taken on diverse roles, from service animals aiding those with disabilities to beloved family pets bringing joy and companionship.

This heartwarming illustrated talk highlights the enduring significance of dogs in our culture and societies showcasing their unwavering loyalty and adaptability throughout history. Join us as we celebrate the incredible bond that has shaped human societies and continues to enrich our lives today!

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

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