Halloween is coming!

[eldritchhobbit]

October is almost here!

I’m currently working on new academic projects related to Dark Academia (the subgenre, not the aesthetic), so for Halloween month I’ll be posting a different DA title each day with a haunting/atmospheric quote. I hope you’ll enjoy the posts!

Comments

[acciochocolate]

Sounds great!

[eldritchhobbit]

Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to some spookiness!

[caitri]

I don't think I realized Dark Academia was a genre too??!! Although Rebecca Kuang has a novel she classifies as Dark Academia coming out next year or so, so maybe I should have...realized it... then... ANYWAY can has book recs??

[eldritchhobbit]

Yes, it's totally exploded since 2017 and includes works that are also mundane mysteries, science fiction, and/or fantasy. I'd say it first got significant recognition with the one-two punch of The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992) and Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (1994), but part of what I'm arguing in this essay I'm writing now is that, if you apply the definition of DA retroactively, you can see that works in the same mode (Gothic, academia-centered, tragic, and embedded with critiques of power structures) have been around for a good long while.

I'll be teaching a new course on Dark Academia next year, and so I'm working on a reading list now. Will be glad to share!

[caitri]

Oh thank you, that would be much appreciated!! <3

[reynardine]

Looking forward to it as usual! Love your Halloween posts--I look forward to them every year!

[eldritchhobbit]

Thank you so much! This makes me very happy. I hope you enjoy these posts. Here's to October!