Episode 049 - Southern Gothic

Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

This episode we discuss the genre of Southern Gothic! We talk about the “key elements” of Southern Gothic fiction (plantations, swamps, secrets, and racism), gothic vs goth fiction, vampires, rural fiction, pessimism, the fantastic, and space crystal meth. Plus: One of us is utterly baffled by the popularity of this genre and we debate the differences between swamps and marshes.

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In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Books We Read This Month

• The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin
• • The historical Axeman of New Orleans
  • “On March 13, 1919, a letter purporting to be from the Axeman was published in newspapers saying that he would kill again at 15 minutes past midnight on the night of March 19, but would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing. That night all of New Orleans' dance halls were filled to capacity, and professional and amateur bands played jazz at parties at hundreds of houses around town. There were no murders that night.”
• An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
• • Read the whole story (it’s very short)
• As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
• • Spoilers from 38:00 to 43:15 (Matthew warns you)
• Cane by Jean Toomer
• Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell
• • Spoilers from 53:40-54:40 (when Meghan talks about the movie)
  • Movie version
• Ghost Summer: Stories by Tananarive Due
• The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories by Charlaine Harris

Other Media We Mention

• Gentle Ben
• • Airboats

• The Silver Chair (BBC)
• Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
• Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor
• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
• On Cormac McCarthy and Southern Literature
• Goth: Undead Subculture by Lauren M. E. Goodlad (Editor), Michael Bibby
• Oregon Trail (one of many versions available on Archive.org)
• Hellboy: The Corpse by Mike Mignola
• Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
• Welcome to Night Vale
• Trailer Park Fae by Lilith Saintcrow
• Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
• Grave of the Fireflies

Links, Articles, and Things

• Our Gothic Fiction episode (#2!)
• This article on Southern Gothic from the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature is really long and in depth, but worth it if you are intrigued about the whys and wherefores of Southern Gothic.
• Huffington Post’s article on The Evolution of Southern Gothic
• Crime Fiction Lover’s article on Grit Lit: An Introduction to Southern Noir is good for thinking about closely aligned genres and how they overlap
• Readers’ Advisory for Library Staff facebook group (where we often ask for recommendations)
• Southern Ontario Gothic
• Tasmanian Gothic
• Northerns
• Scandinavian Noir
• Riverworld
• Kate Warne, the Pinkerton’s first female detective

Questions

• Can you name any region-specific genres?
• How do you feel about real people showing up as major characters in historical fiction?
• What is your theoretical ideal Southern Gothic novel?

Announcements

• Ask us questions for our 50th episode! Deadline: March 24th!

• Anna and Matthew will be tabling at Grid Zine Fest, April 14, 2018 in Salt Lake City

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Join us again on Tuesday, April 3rd for our 50th episode extravaganza!

Then come back on Tuesday, April 17th when our genre will be Essay Collections.