#classic literature meta

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Odysseus harmonizes with Scylla at the end of Syclla's song just like Athena had once harmonized with him, because he AGREES with her that they're the same because HE IS A MONSTER--but all he can bring himself to say is "I--" because he doesn't want to be the man-made monster but he must be!!!

[neo--queen--serenity]

The Black Butler revival will, of course, in this day and age, be the complete embodiment of pro-ship vs. anti-ship discourse, given the subject matter.

But for those of you who are watching this for the first time in 2024 (which includes myself!), there are certain things about the show you simply must understand, for the sake of media literacy.

The first is that Black Butler is supernatural gothic romanticism at its core. This genre alone should tell you that the relationships integral to the plot will be complex, messy, and toxic, by default. That is not only a huge part of this genre’s appeal, but very much the point of the story.

The themes are dark, the terrible things that happen to the main characters are dark, and therefore the relationships at the forefront (and in the background) will reflect that.

The gothic genre has been alluringly popular for over a century (longer, if you know your history) because audiences are entranced by the macabre, the tainted antiheroes, the monsters who live inside us all. It’s popular for a reason.

That being said, understand that whether you, the viewer, ship Sebastian and Ciel or not is irrelevant. Their bond doesn’t need to be understood as romantic or sexual, but it sure as hell isn’t normal. It isn’t healthy. And the audience knows that. That’s the draw. It’s what makes them compelling to watch.

Ciel and Sebastian’s relationship mirrors many gothic novels, poems, and penny dreadfuls written in the Victorian Era (the very same time period in which Kuroshitsuji takes place). The Victorian folks who read these tales for the first time ate that shit up, because it was tantalizing. It was shocking. It was inappropriate, and monstrous, and violent, and erotic, and went against societal norms. But that was the point.

A huge part of gothic romanticism is the blatant sexualization of the relationship between the “monstrous” characters and their human counterparts in the story. Sex itself doesn’t need to take place for their bond to be sexually charged. The forbidden nature of their relationship—which typically involves layers of social taboos, moral ambiguity, or simple infatuation—is what makes their interactions erotic. Sexual contact rarely ever actually happens in these stories. It’s the taboo nature of their bond that creates the tension.

One of the many reasons audiences love this genre is the constant question of morality in its themes. Who, between them, is the real monster? Could the human character have ever been saved? This genre is often associated with tragedy, because the bond forged between the characters in these stories are destined to end in death and destruction. The reader knows it can’t end any other way. How can it?

But an integral element of these gothic tales is the catharsis that comes with this tragedy. The corrupted human often gets what they want in the end, even if it’s at the cost of their own life. Whether they regret their choice to foster this monstrous relationship varies on the story, but it doesn’t change the trajectory of their descent.

Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship is the whole plot of Black Butler. Their closeness bears a grotesque ick factor, but it is deliberate. It is a constant reminder of how unnatrual their bond truly is. Rationalizing or watering down how abnormal they are about each other misses the point entirely. They will never have a normal, healthy relationship, and that’s what moves the plot forward.

That’s why you’re watching it.

[katakaluptastrophy]

“Oh, Harrow, bless you, I always was a busybody,” she said smilingly. “Don’t thank me for sticking my oar in. You asked me to come, and I came. I understand you didn’t ask on purpose, but I like to think that there was a grain in your soul that saw yourself in need, and perhaps thought to itself, I wish I had Abigail Pent. It takes a great deal of ego to be a psychopomp. Thank you for letting me be yours.”

I've banged on here about how the Fifth are doing necromancy straight out of the Odyssey, but I've just noticed something here...

A psychopomp is a figure who escorts the souls of the newly deceased to the afterlife.

There are a couple of those in ancient Greek mythology.

One of whom - Hecate - is particularly associated with, amongst other things, necromancy, ghosts, keys, and children (particularly girls).

If you want get really specific, she's also associated with Eleusian myth and cult - that is, with a set of beliefs wherein the myth of Persephone (of pomegranate fame) descending to and ascending from the underworld was thought to relate to an ability to transcend the usual awfulness of the ancient underworld. She's also associated with the Erinyes, or Furies, one of whom is the namesake of Alecto.

Which seems rather appropriate for a character who serves everyone pomegranate, dies, goes to the underworld, and there acts as psychopomp to Harrow before apparently transcending the River and freeing Harrow to go forth and unleash Alecto.

[shaylogic]

From my personal notes on The Case of Crystal and Charles. . .

[smaeemo]

What do you mean “Fantasy doesn’t count as real literature.” Great, Thanks. Have fun reading another white man complain about fincial issues and how women are “too promiscuous these days.” I’m going to go read a cool werewolf book, and guess what, it’s all a metaphor about racial inequites specifically via schooling as a result of colonialism. AND it has a cool map at the begininng. So suck it.

Also, even if I were rereading twilight, atleast im not pretending to enjoy myself reading catcher in the rye. I read 40 books last year, predominantly classics and basically? Not a single one was as interesting as Edward and Bella. 🤷

[analysisroulette]

What can we say about Marie de France?

Well, her name was Marie, and she was (probably) from France. Also, she really liked gay werewolves. RIP Marie you would have loved Tumblr.

[dhufflebee]

i am extremely excited 👀

[lostcarnations]

I’ll preface this by saying that I hope and pray that this post reaches its extremely niche target audience (people that like Oscar Wilde, Good Omens, and paranormal/dark history Quite A Bit), as it’ll not be nearly as fun to people that don’t enjoy all three. That said,

I was going through the Wikipedia page for Eccles Cakes, because my brain had gotten stuck on the line and I’d been repeating “Eccles Cake?” to myself all day. Anyways, the point is, I’d gotten to the part about similar cakes they periodically get mixed up with when I spotted THIS:

This, in and of itself, is unremarkable. However, me being an Oscar Wilde fan first and reasonable second, I noticed a striking resemblance to the name for the ailing fictional character invented by Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest (who conveniently suffers bouts of exceptionally bad health whenever Algy’s relations invite him to something dull.)

While this may seem like a stretch to the untrained eye, it is a well documented historical fact that Jack Worthing, the play’s protagonist, is named for the seaside town in the south of England where Oscar Wilde wrote the play. As such, it is not an unnatural conclusion that he would do something similar with Bunbury’s name.

So, naturally, I went to the Wikipedia page for the Importance of Being Earnest. While I did not find anything in the page’s primary text, I did find this in the notes:

According to a Wikipedia note, I’d been corroborated by noted spiritualist and occult researcher Aleister Crowley (who, as an aside, Neil Gaiman has confirmed on tumblr that Our Crowley is named after, along with the town of Crawley). It is well documented that Aleister (as this is tumblr, and referring to him by his surname would inevitably lead to confusion) knew Wilde, which would hypothetically give him authority on the matter. Now, as much as I’d love to say that I’m the type of person to see that their theory has been corroborated and be happy and done with it, the American school system has done nothing if not engender an inherent distrust of Wikipedia in me. As such, I did some digging around the internet, and what I wound up finding was that every single site making this claim traced its evidence back to this book:

The book is $50. The author, Timothy D’Arch Smith, has a bio describing him as a “bibliographer, antiquarian bookseller (author’s note: oh my god he’s an antiquarian bookseller), and author, whose wit and scholarly predilections – Montague Summers (see Bibliographies), Aleister Crowley, rock 'n' roll, and cricket (see Games and Sports) – inform his contribution to the genre.” My question is,

Regardless, I think it’s really fun how all of my silly little interests intersected here and I needed to yell about it

[floriographyandstories]

on the monster's voice

something very specific about the pain of frankenstein's monster. so beautiful a creature, who understands the fundamental beauty of language, how "the words [we] spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers", how likely it is he would've agreed with robert frost in that a dead language leads to dead poetry. he spoke to understand because "the world was to me a secret which I desired to devine" and yet in every version of his tale since we have stolen away his voice

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Another Les Mis musical connection that's making me feral: Jean Valjean uses the same melody with which he sings to Cosette, "Believe me, / Were it within my power, / I'd fill each passing hour-- / How quiet it must be, I can see, / With only me for company"...

When he sings "You are free, / And there are no conditions. / No bargains or petitions! / There's nothing that I blame you for. / You've done your duty--nothing more" to Javert.

In my journey to map out the various leitmotifs in the show, this one really flung me for a loop because what does it meannnn?? This is the only time we hear the melody in the show, and it's applied in two very different circumstances, where the relationship Valjean has to the characters involved could not be more opposite. What connects them?? But I think I have it.

It's a reluctant release. Not of the people, but of his own desires regarding them. Let me explain.

Valjean very distinctly wants things from both Cosette and Javert, which he sings about on the rising part of the melody. With Cosette, he wants to be the center of her life: "Were it within my power, I'd fill each passing hour;" on the other hand, he desperately wants Javert to leave him alone. When he has Javert at his mercy, he absolutely does want to trade lives, which is why he sings it on the rising part: "And there are no conditions, no bargains or petitions." He does want these things--but he's letting them go.

And that's where the falling part of the melody comes in. In both situations, Valjean knows he can't have what he wants. So he gives up that desire. He accepts that Cosette wants someone else, and doesn't blame her for it ("How quiet it must be, I can see, with only me for company,"), the same way he accepts the situation between him and Javert ("There's nothing that I blame you for. You've done your duty, nothing more."). That's why immediately afterwards, he tells Javert his address, and why shortly after that, he prays that Marius be brought home to Cosette.

Cosette is his biggest security, and Javert is the biggest threat to his security. But in this little melody, he sets them free (Cosette metaphorically, and Javert literally). He acknowledges what he wants, and accepts that he can't have it, even though it hurts.

And if that ain't the most Jean Valjean thing, I don't know what is.

[howifeltabouthim]

'As a god out of a machine,' said Mr Daubeny, interrupting him;—'By no means as a god out of a machine,' continued Mr Mildmay, 'but as a real help in a very real trouble.'

Anthony Trollope, from Phineas Finn

[burstbubbbles]

It's not clear what drove him to write in the first place [...]

At any rate, he's got it bad [...]

Once he's caught you, he'll hang on with all his might;

The leech just clings to your skin and never gives in

Until bloated with blood; he'll never run out of breath

But will read you and read you and read you to death.

— Ars Poetica, Horace, on the “mad poet” archetype (65-8 B.C.E).

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Exactly! A lot of writing relies on what is unsaid. A lot of fanfic is inspired by that and wants to put it into words; poorly written fanfic bites the apple and actually does it.

I see this with a lot of fic in which the author clearly has strong views on the characters and their motivations, and writes them into the story directly through character exposition, not realizing that the characters themselves would not be able to express them because they are simply not self-aware enough.

For an example I've noticed recently, take Jean Valjean. He is a complicated case--he is very introspective at points, but often only to evaluate his sin and criticize himself. When he feels emotions like fear, jealousy, or even love, the narration indicates he wouldn't be able to explain what was going on in his head if someone asked him.

Furthermore, he is very consistently portrayed as dissociating almost immediately when placed in a difficult situation, and goes into either a survival mode (i.e. his conversation with a suspicious Javert, his flight to the convent, his escape with Marius into the sewers), or, more frequently, a self-harming mode (his desperate escape attempts, stealing from the bishop and Petit Gervais, the brand incident, his implied-suicidal presence at the barricades, giving Javert his address...and many more). This is repeatedly described as animalistic and instinctual; it is not a conscious process that he could explain. JVJ has a lot of unprocessed trauma, and it comes out in these latter incidents, but rarely (save isolated, odd instances such as the Montparnasse traumadumping, and even that is in a distanced third-person manner) is he able to articulate anything of the feelings, reasoning, or experiences behind his actions.

So when I see a fic in which Jean Valjean is able to easily explain that he has "always felt so afraid," or to freely articulate his concern and care for someone else, it reads as inauthentic. Yes, perhaps we, the readers, know that his fear or affection are primary motivators in a given instance, but Valjean himself would not (or at the very least, would not admit it). It feels almost gratuitous to see him laid bare--his inner character is what makes him so compelling, precisely because it is deeply buried. The same is true of almost any character, and that tantalizing inner experience that tempts less-experienced writers to turn them inside-out; but sadly, in doing so, they inadvertently make the character unrecognizable.

there are some things a character should not be able to tell us about themselves EVEN with a gun to their head. depending on the character that could even expand to include "most" things

[goryhorroor]

masterpost of horror lists

here are all my horror lists in one place to make it easier to find! enjoy!

sub-genres

action horror

analog horror

animal horror

animated horror

anthology horror

aquatic horror

apocalyptic horror

backwoods horror

bubblegum horror

campy horror

cannibal horror

children’s horror

comedy horror

coming-of-age horror

corporate/work place horror

cult horror

dance horror

dark comedy horror

daylight horror

death games

domestic horror

ecological horror

erotic horror

experimental horror

fairytale horror

fantasy horror

folk horror

found footage horror

giallo horror

gothic horror

grief horror

historical horror

holiday horror

home invasion horror

house horror

indie horror

isolation horror

insect horror

lgbtqia+ horror

lovecraftian/cosmic horror

medical horror

meta horror

monster horror

musical horror

mystery horror

mythological horror

neo-monster horror

new french extremity horror

paranormal horror

political horror

psychedelic horror

psychological horror

religious horror

revenge horror

romantic horror

dramatic horror

science fiction horror

slasher

southern gothic horror

sov horror (shot-on-video)

splatter/body horror

survival horror

techno-horror

vampire horror

virus horror

werewolf horror

western horror

witch horror

zombie horror

horror plots/settings

road trip horror

summer camp horror

cave horror

doll horror

cinema horror

cabin horror

clown horror

wilderness horror

asylum horror

small town horror

college horror

plot devices

storm horror

from a child’s perspective

final girl/guy (this is slasher horror trope)

last guy/girl (this is different than final girl/guy)

reality-bending horror

slow burn horror

possession

pregnancy horror

foreign horror or non-american horror

african horror

spanish horror

middle eastern horror

korean horror

japanese horror

british horror

german horror

indian horror

thai horror

irish horror

scottish horror

slavic horror (kinda combined a bunch of countries for this)

chinese horror

french horror

australian horror

canadian horror

decades

silent era

30s horror

40s horror

50s horror

60s horror

70s horror

80s horror

90s horror

2000s horror

2010s horror

2020s horror

companies/services

blumhouse horror

a24 horror

ghosthouse horror

shudder horror

other lists

horror literature to movies

techno-color horror movies

video game to horror movie adaption

video nasties

female directed horror

my 130 favorite horror movies

horror movies critics hated because they’re stupid

horror remakes/sequels that weren’t bad

female villains in horror

horror movies so bad they’re good

non-horror movies that feel like horror movies

directors + their favorite horror movies + directors in the notes

tumblr’s favorite horror movie (based off my poll)

horror movie plot twists

cult classic horror movies

essential underrated horror films

worst horror movie husbands

religious horror that isn’t christianity 

black horror movies

extreme horror (maybe use this as an avoid list)

horror shorts

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

I KNEW I WASN'T INSANE and maybe this is old news but listen to the part in The Underworld where Odysseus's drowned men are screaming to him, "When does a man become a monster? 558 men who died under your command"--you can hear ATHENA'S PIANO IN THE BACKGROUND because not only is she someone he's lost ("I lost my best friend, my mentor, my mom") their deaths were the direct consequence of Odysseus not listening to her

"This day, you sever your own head..." And the heads of his men with him.

[hickeygender]

south park may not be a tragedy, but y'alls taste in media sure is

tragedy enjoyers when a character perpetuates the cycle of violence they themselves were a victim of