#sineater — Public Fediverse posts

In parts of Britain, an eerie tradition survived for centuries: a “sin-eater” consumed food associated with the dead, symbolically taking their sins upon himself. Feared, shunned—and called upon when someone died.
#SinEater #BritishFolklore #DarkHistory #StrangeTraditions #Folklore #WeirdHistory
Read more: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-human-origins/sin-eating-0021399

In parts of Britain, an eerie tradition survived for centuries: a “sin-eater” consumed food associated with the dead, symbolically taking their sins upon himself. Feared, shunned—and called upon when someone died.
#SinEater #BritishFolklore #DarkHistory #StrangeTraditions #Folklore #WeirdHistory
Read more: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-human-origins/sin-eating-0021399

A Look Back at Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #109 (1985)

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 1980s arts and culture enthusiasts, Spider-Man fans and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the year 1985 to examine a small part of the Marvel Comics shared universe through a tale of the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man monthly series.

The first two chapters of the murder of Jean DeWolff really impacted not only Spider-Man but also Daredevil and the city of New York. Issue #107 was the start and the search for answers started with a good amount of mystery and suspense. In issue #108, the plot thickened somewhat and Spider-Man encountered the Sin-Eater with lots of bystanders nearby. Since the start, the creators crafted a compelling tale with a heavy touch of detective storytelling.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #109, published in 1985 by Marvel Comics with a story written by the late Peter David and the late Rich Buckler.

Early story

The story begins with the news of the violent death of a reverend being reported on television. The local authorities believe that the victim’s concern for criminals – a concern shared by the late judge Horace Rosenthal – marked him as a target of the Sin-Eater. While the news broadcast goes on, Peter Parker talks to Stan Carter as Spider-Man on the phone (with a cloth on the mouthpiece to distort the sound of his natural voice). Other people who saw the news broadcast are affected in different ways and there is the feeling of dread clouding the city.

In the evening, Wilson Grant Fisk (the Kingpin) dictates into his small recorder. While dictating and recording, the Kingpin knows Spider-Man is hiding in the dark very close to him. He fires a shot at Spider-Man who easily evades it. As the webslinger starts talking to him, the Kingpin reminds him that he is trespassing…

Quality

Right from the start, this tale not only maintained the gritty detective story tone since issue #107, it continued to build-up the tension and intrigue smoothly as the story went on. At this stage of the storyline, Spider-Man and Daredevil are both doing detective work to find out who the Sin-Eater really is and why precisely has he been killing people and causing chaos in the first place.

Both superheroes encountered different people in their respective searches for answers. Because he was not successful finding details as Daredevil, he decides to do it in his civilian form as Matt Murdock. Spider-Man, who is not a professional detective at all, continues his search with his limitations and with the only ways he knows how (including the use of violence, humiliation and threats).

Without spoiling the plot, I can say that there two notable plot turning points that are really fine payoffs to the build-up that started since issue #107. What happened here was finely dramatized by the David-Buckler duo and easily justified the cover price.

Conclusion

Considering the very strong qualities of the writing and visuals combined with the two major plot developments, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #109 (1985) is easily the most compelling part of the death of Jean DeWolff storyline. I should also state that Spider-Man and Daredevil are the key detectives of the tale and the creative team succeeded again in shaping this detective story to be very grounded with reality. The superhero elements are still present but noticeably contained with the brooding detective story. As to the two plot turning points I mentioned earlier, I encourage you all to grab a copy of this comic book and find out for yourselves. I promise you, they are worth your time and attention

Overall, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #109 (1985) is highly recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

A Look Back at Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #108 (1985)

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 1980s arts and culture enthusiasts, Spider-Man fans and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the year 1985 to examine a small part of the Marvel Comics shared universe through a tale of the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man monthly series.

I found issue #107 – the first issue of the Sin-Eater storyline – a pretty engaging tale focused on the murder of Jean DeWolff. The sudden demise of DeWolff really impacted the city of New York and its tale involved not only Spider-Man but also Daredevil. The tale is really a murder mystery that is very grounded with reality.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #108, published in 1985 by Marvel Comics with a story written by the late Peter David and the late Rich Buckler.

Early story

The story begins with Judge Rosenthal lying dead on the floor in his office. Moments earlier, the judge was killed by the Sin-Eater who used a shotgun and in the same room was Matt Murdock (Daredevil). Some people entered the office and the local authorities were called. Murdock slowly makes his way out to discreetly go after the Sin-Eater.

In another part of the city, Peter Parker, Aunt May and the elderly friend named Ernie walk together coming from the courthouse. Ernie could not believe that Judge Rosenthal let go of the punks who mugged him.

As they walked further, people around them begin to panic and move around fast. Peter gets separated from his aunt and Ernie, and eventually he realizes that the Sin-Eater is several feet away armed with a shotgun. The Sin-Eater is speaking to the people even though he is causing a huge disturbance.

Moments later, Peter changed into Spider-Man and proceeds to confront the Sin-Eater in front of many witnesses…

Quality

Following the events of issue #107, this comic book shows more of the Sin-Eater and the story emphasizes why he is very dangerous to everyone. The Sin-Eater is not a superbeing himself, and yet he is capable of killing people and causing chaos in public without the need of having multiple weapons and ammunition. That said, he is tremendous villain that Spider-Man has difficulty handling.

The physical encounter between Spider-Man and the Sin-Eater here is unsurprisingly ground in reality. The comic book action visualized by Rich Buckler has this raw action aesthetic and each time a physical blow was executed, impact is really felt. Don’t expect dynamic action here but a more realism and believability.

What makes the fight between the two unique is that it happened in front of a lot of people on New York City’s street. As the fight went on, Spider-Man struggles not only with fighting the Sin-Eater (a truly violent opponent) but also dealing with the risk of bystanders getting hurt and realizing what happened to his beloved Aunt May.

As expected, the detective story elements in this tale are very strong. Spider-Man, who is not a professional detective at all, gets to do detective work with a sheer determination to solve the mystery behind the death of Jean DeWolff. Along the way, I love how the David-Buckler duo invested a lot of details about the crime which are really worth paying attention to as you read.

Conclusion

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #108 (1985) is a powerful follow-up in the Sin-Eater storyline. As it contains all the key elements that made issue #107 a very unique and engaging read, this comic book executed good pay-off to the build-up in the previous issue while consistently building-up the plot simultaneously which is typical of Peter David (read the Spider-Man 2099 comic books back-to-back). As of now, this Sin-Eater storyline is compelling and I am looking forward to what comes next.

Overall, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #108 (1985) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

A Look Back at Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107 (1985)

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 1980s arts and culture enthusiasts, Spider-Man fans and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the year 1985 to examine a small part of the Marvel Comics shared universe through a tale of the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man monthly series.

As I was not a regular reader of Spectacular Spider-Man comics, I missed out on the Sin-Eater storyline. I first learned about the Sin-Eater while reading a key flashback in Amazing Spider-Man #300. That particular detail boggled me for some time, and it was only recently I decided to start reading the comic books about the Sin-Eater.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107, published in 1985 by Marvel Comics with a story written by the late Peter David (Spider-Man 2099) and by the late Rich Buckler.

Early story

The story begins with Jean DeWolff recalling several important details from her past as well as her family background. Her father was a police inspector who never forgave her mother for giving birth to her. She was only six months old when her parents split up. Sometime later, her mother married a patrolman named Carl Weatherby and Jean herself admired her stepfather.

As she grew into adulthood, Jean was very influenced by her patrolman stepfather and she went on to go into police academy and graduated. Jean went on to become a fast-rising policewoman.

In the present day, New York police officers barged into a private residence searching for captain DeWolff and the place had bad odor. A dead woman was found inside a bedroom….

Quality

The first thing I will say about this comic book is that the writing done by Peter David is very grounded with reality and this resulted in a dark and gritty approach to storytelling. The heart of the story is the sudden murder of policewoman Jean DeWolff and its impact on the city of New York is strong and evident.

The story here is ultimately a detective story with a good amount of mystery, suspense and intrigue laced all over it. Along the way, Spider-Man here is barely the protagonist as the impact of Jean DeWolff’s murder has been dramatized through multiple characters in the city from J. Jonah Jameson to Matt Murdock (Daredevil).

This comic book also examines how the justice system in Marvel’s fictional portrayal of New York City works and it actually showed Peter Parker attending witnessing a court room arraignment to see how the bad guys he dealt with (as Spider-Man) were handled by the system. Again, this shows how grounded in reality the story is and the details should be seen. There is also a strong sense of local community dramatized.

The art by Rich Buckler is excellent and he really brought to life Peter David’s script with a heavy emphasis on realism. It seems to me that the illustrator took inspiration from TV shows and movies to achieve a unique visual style fitting for this particular tale.

Conclusion

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107 (1985) is indeed a very powerful tale that has to be seen if you want a gritty 1980s Spider-Man story. The David-Buckler creative duo delivered a very grounded story about murder in New York City that impacted its people which serves as a reminder that violent crime can cause waves of disturbance and disruption. That said, this first chapter of Sin-Eater storyline is pretty believable. As the creative team emphasized the murder’s impact on a wide scale, it is not surprising that Spider-Man’s share of the spotlight was sacrificed somewhat to achieve it. As of now, I am looking forward to the next chapter of the Sin-Eater storyline.

Overall, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107 (1985) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

"Monster Crown: Sin Eater"
Monster Taming RPG That Actually Respects Your Time
Watch my quick review!

#MonsterTaming #IndieGame #RPG #MonsterCrown #SinEater #StrategyRPG #Indie #gaming #videogaming #videogames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlQbqkGu_3Y

"Monster Crown: Sin Eater"
Monster Taming RPG That Actually Respects Your Time
Watch my quick review!

#MonsterTaming #IndieGame #RPG #MonsterCrown #SinEater #StrategyRPG #Indie #gaming #videogaming #videogames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlQbqkGu_3Y

"Monster Crown: Sin Eater"
Monster Taming RPG That Actually Respects Your Time
Watch my quick review!

#MonsterTaming #IndieGame #RPG #MonsterCrown #SinEater #StrategyRPG #Indie #gaming #videogaming #videogames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlQbqkGu_3Y

"Monster Crown: Sin Eater"
Monster Taming RPG That Actually Respects Your Time
Watch my quick review!

#MonsterTaming #IndieGame #RPG #MonsterCrown #SinEater #StrategyRPG #Indie #gaming #videogaming #videogames

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlQbqkGu_3Y

In forgotten corners of Britain, sin-eaters devoured bread from corpses to absorb their sins.Despised yet needed, they carried the weight of death — so others’ souls could be free.
#SinEater#DarkHistory#MedievalTraditions#FolkloreStories#Ancienthistory#Storytelling#DidYouKnow#HistoryFacts#DocumentaryShort#WeirdHistory#Medieval
Read more: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-human-origins/sin-eating-0021399

serious question: what is the opposite of a #SinEater?

i have ideas, but i wanna know
https://autonomous.zone/@pumiquxt/114289077208189282

serious question: what is the opposite of a #SinEater?

i have ideas, but i wanna know
https://autonomous.zone/@pumiquxt/114289077208189282

serious question: what is the opposite of a #SinEater?

i have ideas, but i wanna know
https://autonomous.zone/@pumiquxt/114289077208189282

A write-along Hallowstream!

Sin Eaters--a real historical persons--ate bread off the chests of corpses to save them from their sins. Let's be one.

Get Hungry LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/NwN6RaIHqrA

#writingcommunity #indieauthor #writer #indie #fiction #stream #livestream #litgames #amwriting #amreading #vancouverwriters #writeyourstory #writealong #TTRPG #SoloTTRPG #DnD #pathfinder #PF2e #dungeonsanddragons #dungeon
#horror #folkhorror #itchio #halloween #SinEater

A write-along Hallowstream!

Sin Eaters--a real historical persons--ate bread off the chests of corpses to save them from their sins. Let's be one.

Get Hungry LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/NwN6RaIHqrA

#writingcommunity #indieauthor #writer #indie #fiction #stream #livestream #litgames #amwriting #amreading #vancouverwriters #writeyourstory #writealong #TTRPG #SoloTTRPG #DnD #pathfinder #PF2e #dungeonsanddragons #dungeon
#horror #folkhorror #itchio #halloween #SinEater

A write-along Hallowstream!

Sin Eaters--a real historical persons--ate bread off the chests of corpses to save them from their sins. Let's be one.

Get Hungry LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/NwN6RaIHqrA

#writingcommunity #indieauthor #writer #indie #fiction #stream #livestream #litgames #amwriting #amreading #vancouverwriters #writeyourstory #writealong #TTRPG #SoloTTRPG #DnD #pathfinder #PF2e #dungeonsanddragons #dungeon
#horror #folkhorror #itchio #halloween #SinEater

A write-along Hallowstream!

Sin Eaters--a real historical persons--ate bread off the chests of corpses to save them from their sins. Let's be one.

Get Hungry LIVE right NOW: https://youtube.com/live/NwN6RaIHqrA

#writingcommunity #indieauthor #writer #indie #fiction #stream #livestream #litgames #amwriting #amreading #vancouverwriters #writeyourstory #writealong #TTRPG #SoloTTRPG #DnD #pathfinder #PF2e #dungeonsanddragons #dungeon
#horror #folkhorror #itchio #halloween #SinEater

Please enjoy this lewd picture of Metatron, the supervillainous, primal form of Noah.

I can't look! 🫣

#ffxiv #noah #metatron #screenshot #miqote #catboy #sineater #primal #nsfw

Please enjoy this lewd picture of Metatron, the supervillainous, primal form of Noah.

I can't look! 🫣

#ffxiv #noah #metatron #screenshot #miqote #catboy #sineater #primal #nsfw

Please enjoy this lewd picture of Metatron, the supervillainous, primal form of Noah.

I can't look! 🫣

#ffxiv #noah #metatron #screenshot #miqote #catboy #sineater #primal #nsfw

Guten Morgen! Sitze schon an einer letzten Transcription toxische Sprache. #sineater 🙏 #trint

Guten Morgen! Sitze schon an einer letzten Transcription toxische Sprache. #sineater 🙏 #trint

#AmReading: Welsh Gothic by Jane Aaron

This is the first of a series of posts looking at the ambitious book Welsh Gothic by Jane Aaron. If you’ve not heard of Welsh Gothic fiction, start here!

From the University of Wales Press [UWP] description: Welsh Gothic, the first study of its kind, introduces readers to the array of Welsh Gothic literature published from 1780 to the present day. Informed by postcolonial and psychoanalytic theory, it argues that many of the fears encoded in Welsh Gothic writing are specific to the history of Welsh people, telling us much about the changing ways in which Welsh people have historically seen themselves and been perceived by others. The first part of the book explores Welsh Gothic writing from its beginnings in the last decades of the eighteenth century to 1997. The second part focuses on figures specific to the Welsh Gothic genre who enter literature from folk lore and local superstition, such as the sin-eater, cŵn Annwn (hounds of the Underworld), dark druids and Welsh witches.

Contents

Prologue: ‘A Long Terror’
PART I: HAUNTED BY HISTORY
1. Cambria Gothica (1780s–1820s)
2. An Underworld of One’s Own (1830s–1900s)
3. Haunted Communities (1900s–1940s)
4. Land of the Living Dead (1940s–1997)
PART II: ‘THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE CELTIC TWILIGHT’
5. Witches, Druids and the Hounds of Annwn
6. The Sin-eater
Epilogue: Post-devolution Gothic
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

You can buy it, and others in the Gothic Literary Studies series, from the University of Wales Press: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/welsh-gothic-ebook-pdf/

Context of the ‘Long Terror’

The context, for those unfamiliar with Welsh history, is laid out in the Prologue ‘A Long Terror’, which takes its title from a [translated] line from Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch‘s thirteenth-century ‘Lament for Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, the Last Prince’.

‘A long terror is on me’, grieved the bard, following Llewelyn’s death in 1282 and Edward I’s conquest of Wales.

The prince’s death shatters the poet’s world, his fall marking the end of the Welsh struggle for independent rule. Edward I’s conquest was more or less complete by 1284.

Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch laments the loss of safety and the destruction of his world:

Nid oes le y cyrcher rhag carchar braw;   |  There is no refuge from imprisoning fear

Nid oes le y triger; och o’r trigaw!   |   And nowhere to abide; O such abiding!

A version can be found here.

This poem is part of a lament tradition that goes back several centuries. Early Welsh poetry in particular is what Jane Aaron describes as ‘a litany of such terrors’, and it is not a coincidence that these texts were rediscovered, translated into English, and published at a time when Gothic Fiction was a popular mainstream literary form. This was part of a parallel cultural movement of the 18th and 19th centuries that tried to reclaim a sense of Welsh cultural identity in the face of active Anglocentric suppression.

Other poems include the anonymous ninth-century saga poem, fragmented, about the sacking of Cynddylan’s Hall, Pengwern (Shrewsbury). The following extract is from part of the saga of Heledd, the sister of Cynddylan, and her lament picks up after the English/Saxons sack and destroy Pengwern:

Dark is Cynddylan’s hall tonight,

With no fire, no bed.

I weep awhile, than am silent.

Dark is Cynddylan’s hall tonight

With no fire, no candle.

Save for God, who’ll keep me sane?

(‘Cynddylan’s Hall’, from Tony Conran’s translation in his Welsh Verse).

The following part of this saga evokes the Eagle of Eli (sea-eagles of the river, possibly the river Meheli [Eli is a contraction of the river’s name], suggested by Conrad), concerning the birds who feast on the flesh of the fallen:

Eagle of Eli, loud was its cry tonight –

Had drunk of a pool of blood,

The heart’s blood of Cynddylan Wyn.

Eagle of Eli, it cried out tonight,

It swam in men’s blood.

There in the trees! And I’ve misery on me.

Eagle of Eli, I hear it tonight.

Bloodstained it is. I dare not go near it –

There in the trees! I’ve misery on me.

(Tony Conrad’s translation in his Welsh Verse)

There are other such examples – but these serve to demonstrate how the ‘Celtic revival’ found ample texts that resonated deeply. While Welsh novelists presented Welsh protagonists as ‘vulnerable innocents’ morally threatened by invading English gentry or enforced (sometimes exilic) residence in London, also known as ‘the devil’s parlour’. (Jane Aaron, Welsh Gothic, p. 5).

For more on the Welsh cultural renaissance and its champions in the 18th and 19thCs, you could look at:

Iolo Morgannwg (1747-1826)

The Rise of [Welsh] National Consciousness (BBC History)

Conversely, Welsh locations were used as settings in ‘first contact’ Gothic novels, of (English) travellers who found themselves ‘startled and sometimes alienated’ by the Welsh landscapes, castles and ruins. The Welsh language was equally alienating to these English-speakers, and by its very nature echoed what was to their mind an older, more primitive and less civilised, world. The speakers of this indigenous tongue populating this striking landscape were therefore themselves more primitive, less civilised, and altogether more barbarous than the inhabitants of England, but language was only one of several alienating factors. Religious habit was another, with English Anglicanism butting against Welsh nonconformist (‘free church’) chapel culture.

As preachers and deacons tightened their control over their congregations in the face of Anglican criticism and attack, and the persecution of revivals, so their grip became a stranglehold from which some sought to extricate themselves – with difficulty. In Welsh Gothic literature, Dissent is often demonized for this reason.

Political messages and anti-industrial views also come through in early twentieth-century texts, covered in the chapter on Haunted Communities (Chapter 3). The coal industry dominated South Wales, and communities were ‘haunted’ by the spectre of ever-present death, the lack of choice of career and destiny, and the sense that these mining communities were doomed, sacrificed to the needs of Westminster and the British Empire, saw the pits and the industry represented as demonic powers, draining the life from the workers and their families.

I come from a family of several generations of miners. I worked underground as a collier for the best part of thirty years, though you may have gathered by some of my comments that I hold no feelings of regret for the passing of the coal-mining era.

Some ill-informed people might say that South Wales was blessed with an abundance of rich coal seams. But it’s my belief that an industry that caused so much destruction of a once beautiful environment and cost the lives of thousands of men, women and children can hardly be called a blessing. It is my opinion that South Wales and the vast majority of its people were in fact cursed with an abundance of rich coal seams. – paul-neath, website owner of the Welsh Coal Mines website.

There is also a sense in the later twentieth-century texts that the Welsh people should heed their folklore and their heritage, or risk being haunted by the spirits of their forefathers. Post-devolution, argues Aaron, some political wounds were healed, so that the dead princes of the medieval period rarely haunt these later stories. In these later works, Gothic tropes are played with more humorously, intentionally evoking laughter rather than horror. (Although my own book is not set in Wales, I tend to do this too, so I’m glad I fit within a recognised strain of writing!)

Aaron ends her prologue with a brief explanation regarding the lack of previous critical recognition for Welsh Gothic as a sub-genre of Gothic Fiction. According to the 1998 Handbook to Gothic Literature, Wales has contributed ‘virtually nothing’ to world Gothic literature, and Welsh Gothic doesn’t appear at all in the 2002 Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction. ‘Scottish and Irish Gothic’ are included, but lumped together in their own chapter. The 2002 Companion does include Arthur Machen (the pen-name for Arthur Llywellyn Jones, most famous for his novella The Great God Pan), but identifies him as ‘British’, erasing his Welshness.

Yet, despite this lack of critical recognition, Aaron notes that there is a rich haul of literary materials (much of which is in English) that could be categorized as Welsh Gothic. The purpose of her book is to demonstrate this fact, and to show that Welsh Gothic writing not only exists in abundance but also has much to tell us about ‘the changing ways in which Welsh people have historically seen themselves and been perceived by others’ (Aaron, Welsh Gothic, p. 9).

I’ll be reading through this book for fun and interest this month, and will probably drop some links and reading lists in later posts here for those who’d like to read some Welsh Gothic tales, or learn more about it!

You can also read a full review of the book here, by Prof. Jamil Mustafa, Lewis University.

You can also check out my other posts on Gothic Fiction:

Goth is [Not] Dead: Genre Chat

Goth is [Not] Dead: Sub-Genre Chat

Goth is [Not] Dead: What is Gothic Weird Fiction?

Goth is [Not] Dead: Characters

Goth is [Not] Dead: Isolation

Goth is [Not] Dead: Darkness

Goth is [Not] Dead: Corruption

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (1) The Creepy Old House

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (2) A Town With Dark Secrets

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (3) Meet The Locals

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (4) The Grande Dame

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (5) There’s Something In The Attic

Free Gothic Bingo Card!

Some posts for further reading on the suppression of Welsh language and culture:

The Treachery of the Blue Books (1847) (National Library of Wales)

The Treason of the Blue Books (1847) (BBC Blogs)

The Welsh Not (Wikipedia)

Further Information:

Welsh Coal Mines (poems, memorials, list of disasters, and more)

People’s Collection Wales (a Welsh Government site set up in partnership with the National Library of Wales, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and the National Museum of Wales, enabling organisations, institutions, clubs, communities, charities and private individuals – literally anyone – to upload pictures, audio files, text and video relating to Welsh history or their own communities or families so that things can be shared rather than lost).

#amreading #gothicFiction #reading #sinEater #wales #welsh #welshGothic

#AmReading: Welsh Gothic by Jane Aaron

This is the first of a series of posts looking at the ambitious book Welsh Gothic by Jane Aaron. If you’ve not heard of Welsh Gothic fiction, start here!

From the University of Wales Press [UWP] description: Welsh Gothic, the first study of its kind, introduces readers to the array of Welsh Gothic literature published from 1780 to the present day. Informed by postcolonial and psychoanalytic theory, it argues that many of the fears encoded in Welsh Gothic writing are specific to the history of Welsh people, telling us much about the changing ways in which Welsh people have historically seen themselves and been perceived by others. The first part of the book explores Welsh Gothic writing from its beginnings in the last decades of the eighteenth century to 1997. The second part focuses on figures specific to the Welsh Gothic genre who enter literature from folk lore and local superstition, such as the sin-eater, cŵn Annwn (hounds of the Underworld), dark druids and Welsh witches.

Contents

Prologue: ‘A Long Terror’
PART I: HAUNTED BY HISTORY
1. Cambria Gothica (1780s–1820s)
2. An Underworld of One’s Own (1830s–1900s)
3. Haunted Communities (1900s–1940s)
4. Land of the Living Dead (1940s–1997)
PART II: ‘THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE CELTIC TWILIGHT’
5. Witches, Druids and the Hounds of Annwn
6. The Sin-eater
Epilogue: Post-devolution Gothic
Notes
Select Bibliography
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You can buy it, and others in the Gothic Literary Studies series, from the University of Wales Press: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/welsh-gothic-ebook-pdf/

Context of the ‘Long Terror’

The context, for those unfamiliar with Welsh history, is laid out in the Prologue ‘A Long Terror’, which takes its title from a [translated] line from Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch‘s thirteenth-century ‘Lament for Llewelyn ap Gruffudd, the Last Prince’.

‘A long terror is on me’, grieved the bard, following Llewelyn’s death in 1282 and Edward I’s conquest of Wales.

The prince’s death shatters the poet’s world, his fall marking the end of the Welsh struggle for independent rule. Edward I’s conquest was more or less complete by 1284.

Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch laments the loss of safety and the destruction of his world:

Nid oes le y cyrcher rhag carchar braw;   |  There is no refuge from imprisoning fear

Nid oes le y triger; och o’r trigaw!   |   And nowhere to abide; O such abiding!

A version can be found here.

This poem is part of a lament tradition that goes back several centuries. Early Welsh poetry in particular is what Jane Aaron describes as ‘a litany of such terrors’, and it is not a coincidence that these texts were rediscovered, translated into English, and published at a time when Gothic Fiction was a popular mainstream literary form. This was part of a parallel cultural movement of the 18th and 19th centuries that tried to reclaim a sense of Welsh cultural identity in the face of active Anglocentric suppression.

Other poems include the anonymous ninth-century saga poem, fragmented, about the sacking of Cynddylan’s Hall, Pengwern (Shrewsbury). The following extract is from part of the saga of Heledd, the sister of Cynddylan, and her lament picks up after the English/Saxons sack and destroy Pengwern:

Dark is Cynddylan’s hall tonight,

With no fire, no bed.

I weep awhile, than am silent.

Dark is Cynddylan’s hall tonight

With no fire, no candle.

Save for God, who’ll keep me sane?

(‘Cynddylan’s Hall’, from Tony Conran’s translation in his Welsh Verse).

The following part of this saga evokes the Eagle of Eli (sea-eagles of the river, possibly the river Meheli [Eli is a contraction of the river’s name], suggested by Conrad), concerning the birds who feast on the flesh of the fallen:

Eagle of Eli, loud was its cry tonight –

Had drunk of a pool of blood,

The heart’s blood of Cynddylan Wyn.

Eagle of Eli, it cried out tonight,

It swam in men’s blood.

There in the trees! And I’ve misery on me.

Eagle of Eli, I hear it tonight.

Bloodstained it is. I dare not go near it –

There in the trees! I’ve misery on me.

(Tony Conrad’s translation in his Welsh Verse)

There are other such examples – but these serve to demonstrate how the ‘Celtic revival’ found ample texts that resonated deeply. While Welsh novelists presented Welsh protagonists as ‘vulnerable innocents’ morally threatened by invading English gentry or enforced (sometimes exilic) residence in London, also known as ‘the devil’s parlour’. (Jane Aaron, Welsh Gothic, p. 5).

For more on the Welsh cultural renaissance and its champions in the 18th and 19thCs, you could look at:

Iolo Morgannwg (1747-1826)

The Rise of [Welsh] National Consciousness (BBC History)

Conversely, Welsh locations were used as settings in ‘first contact’ Gothic novels, of (English) travellers who found themselves ‘startled and sometimes alienated’ by the Welsh landscapes, castles and ruins. The Welsh language was equally alienating to these English-speakers, and by its very nature echoed what was to their mind an older, more primitive and less civilised, world. The speakers of this indigenous tongue populating this striking landscape were therefore themselves more primitive, less civilised, and altogether more barbarous than the inhabitants of England, but language was only one of several alienating factors. Religious habit was another, with English Anglicanism butting against Welsh nonconformist (‘free church’) chapel culture.

As preachers and deacons tightened their control over their congregations in the face of Anglican criticism and attack, and the persecution of revivals, so their grip became a stranglehold from which some sought to extricate themselves – with difficulty. In Welsh Gothic literature, Dissent is often demonized for this reason.

Political messages and anti-industrial views also come through in early twentieth-century texts, covered in the chapter on Haunted Communities (Chapter 3). The coal industry dominated South Wales, and communities were ‘haunted’ by the spectre of ever-present death, the lack of choice of career and destiny, and the sense that these mining communities were doomed, sacrificed to the needs of Westminster and the British Empire, saw the pits and the industry represented as demonic powers, draining the life from the workers and their families.

I come from a family of several generations of miners. I worked underground as a collier for the best part of thirty years, though you may have gathered by some of my comments that I hold no feelings of regret for the passing of the coal-mining era.

Some ill-informed people might say that South Wales was blessed with an abundance of rich coal seams. But it’s my belief that an industry that caused so much destruction of a once beautiful environment and cost the lives of thousands of men, women and children can hardly be called a blessing. It is my opinion that South Wales and the vast majority of its people were in fact cursed with an abundance of rich coal seams. – paul-neath, website owner of the Welsh Coal Mines website.

There is also a sense in the later twentieth-century texts that the Welsh people should heed their folklore and their heritage, or risk being haunted by the spirits of their forefathers. Post-devolution, argues Aaron, some political wounds were healed, so that the dead princes of the medieval period rarely haunt these later stories. In these later works, Gothic tropes are played with more humorously, intentionally evoking laughter rather than horror. (Although my own book is not set in Wales, I tend to do this too, so I’m glad I fit within a recognised strain of writing!)

Aaron ends her prologue with a brief explanation regarding the lack of previous critical recognition for Welsh Gothic as a sub-genre of Gothic Fiction. According to the 1998 Handbook to Gothic Literature, Wales has contributed ‘virtually nothing’ to world Gothic literature, and Welsh Gothic doesn’t appear at all in the 2002 Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction. ‘Scottish and Irish Gothic’ are included, but lumped together in their own chapter. The 2002 Companion does include Arthur Machen (the pen-name for Arthur Llywellyn Jones, most famous for his novella The Great God Pan), but identifies him as ‘British’, erasing his Welshness.

Yet, despite this lack of critical recognition, Aaron notes that there is a rich haul of literary materials (much of which is in English) that could be categorized as Welsh Gothic. The purpose of her book is to demonstrate this fact, and to show that Welsh Gothic writing not only exists in abundance but also has much to tell us about ‘the changing ways in which Welsh people have historically seen themselves and been perceived by others’ (Aaron, Welsh Gothic, p. 9).

I’ll be reading through this book for fun and interest this month, and will probably drop some links and reading lists in later posts here for those who’d like to read some Welsh Gothic tales, or learn more about it!

You can also read a full review of the book here, by Prof. Jamil Mustafa, Lewis University.

You can also check out my other posts on Gothic Fiction:

Goth is [Not] Dead: Genre Chat

Goth is [Not] Dead: Sub-Genre Chat

Goth is [Not] Dead: What is Gothic Weird Fiction?

Goth is [Not] Dead: Characters

Goth is [Not] Dead: Isolation

Goth is [Not] Dead: Darkness

Goth is [Not] Dead: Corruption

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (1) The Creepy Old House

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (2) A Town With Dark Secrets

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (3) Meet The Locals

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (4) The Grande Dame

Gothic Tropes to Feed Your Soul: (5) There’s Something In The Attic

Free Gothic Bingo Card!

Some posts for further reading on the suppression of Welsh language and culture:

The Treachery of the Blue Books (1847) (National Library of Wales)

The Treason of the Blue Books (1847) (BBC Blogs)

The Welsh Not (Wikipedia)

Further Information:

Welsh Coal Mines (poems, memorials, list of disasters, and more)

People’s Collection Wales (a Welsh Government site set up in partnership with the National Library of Wales, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, and the National Museum of Wales, enabling organisations, institutions, clubs, communities, charities and private individuals – literally anyone – to upload pictures, audio files, text and video relating to Welsh history or their own communities or families so that things can be shared rather than lost).

#amreading #gothicFiction #reading #sinEater #wales #welsh #welshGothic