Dear All,
With the usual apologies to those who see this from multiple sources, and
for the shameless self-promotion, I would like to let the list know about
my new book in the Palgrave Gothic line: *Haunted Seasons: Television Ghost
Stories for Christmas and Horror for Halloween*, which may interest some of
you or your colleagues. It raises questions about how broadcasting relates
to calendar seasons and events, and about how different cultural traditions
are maintained, modified and transmitted by broadcast media.
http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/haunted-seasons-derek-johnston/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137298942
Why do the English have ghost stories at Christmas? Why does US television
have special Halloween episodes? Is this all down to Dickens, or is it a
hangover of an ancient, pagan past? Why does it survive? Haunted Seasons
explores these and related questions, examining the history and meaning of
seasonal horror. It reaches back through archaeological evidence of ancient
beliefs, through Shakespeare, and Victorian ghost stories, and the works of
M.R.James, and onwards to radio and television. The broader genre of
supernatural television is considered in relation to the irruptions of
abnormality into the normal, along with the significance of time and the
seasons in these narratives and their telling. Particular focus is placed
on the BBC *Ghost Story for Christmas* strand and the Halloween
episodes of* The
Simpsons* to help us interpret the continued use of these seasonal horror
stories and their place in society, from fireside to television.
*Table of Contents*
Introduction: Defining Television Gothic
1. The British Ghost Story at Christmas
2. A Broadcast Tradition
3. Irruptions of the Abnormal
4. Seasonality, Nostalgia, Heritage and History
5. The Ghost Story for Christmas and 'Treehouse of Horror'
Regards
Derek Johnston
Lecturer in Broadcast Literacy
Queen’s University, Belfast
+44 (0)28 90973814
http://go.qub.ac.uk/DerekJohnston
https://www.facebook.com/QUBSoEPostgrad
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
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