text by Dorota Osińska When Alfred Tennyson published ‘The Kraken’ in 1830, he gave Victorian poetry one of its most ambiguous images of hidden power, unaffected by history, culture, and human consciousness. Almost two centuries later, Florence + the Machine released ‘Kraken’ (Everybody Scream, 2025), a song that (consciously or not) reanimates this mythic beast […]
text by Lucyna Krawczyk-Żywko A few months ago, I told a group of students I didn’t understand the hate the latest adaptation of Wuthering Hights received. I don’t think I was prepared for the reaction. A few weeks later some of them were disappointed with The Bride! and I stared waiting for an opportunity to […]
text by Lucyna Krawczyk-Żywko Ten years ago, I ran my Victorian Villains Revisited class for the first time. It focuses on contemporary revisions of three figures: ‘Jack the Ripper’, Mr Hyde, and Professor Moriarty. It has been popular with students (who doesn’t like a good villain?), and yet, this year, while prepping the ‘Jack the […]
