Halloween Stories
Why are Victorians the default haunted house, what do ghosts have to do with the imagination, and why do we like to be scared?
Can You Photograph a Ghost?
William Hope claimed to be able to document the visitations of ghosts. The controversial images he produced add to our understanding of the history of photography.
Ghosts in the Machine
Forty years ago, Hollywood made gremlins loveable—portraying them as adorable, furry creatures. Their folkloric origins are far more sinister.
How to Be a British Villain
In classic British detective stories, villains might be atavistic monsters, foreign menaces, or conniving professionals—all tied to aristocrats’ anxieties.
Quebec, Louis Hémon, and Maria Chapdelaine
Louis Hémon’s Maria Chapdelaine grew from his views as a French immigrant writer on the rural life of early twentieth-century Quebec.
Memphis: The Roots of Rock in the Land of the Mississippians
Rising on the lands of an ancient agricultural system, Memphis has a long history of negotiating social conflict and change while singing the blues.
Carry On, Karaoke
Karaoke became a global phenomenon after its invention in the 1970s, the wide embrace of it exemplifying transnational flows and hybridization.
Verbatim: Fredric Jameson
Marxist cultural critic Fredric Jameson offered a philosophy of late capitalism that gave us a language for talking about globalization and the end of modernism.
Zelda Fitzgerald on F. Scott’s Writing
Zelda’s satirical review of F. Scott's second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned, revealed much more than her wit.