From the Lighthouse

FrankenReads @ Macquarie Session 2: New Perspectives on Frankenstein

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will be releasing recordings from the FrankenReads event at Macquarie University in September.

​This week's recording features the following presentations:
​

“The Tangled World of Frankenstein and Conflict of Laws” by Harry Melkonian ​ 

“Frankenstein in Hyperspace: The Return of Twenty-first-century Digital Technologies to the Origins of Virtual Space in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” by Kirstin Mills

FrankenReads @ Macquarie Session 1: Revisiting Frankenstein

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will be releasing recordings from the FrankenReads event at Macquarie University in September.

This week's recording features the following presentations:

“’My Beloved Sister’: The Other Family in Frankenstein” by Lee O’Brien

'Using “the living animal” to re-animate “lifeless clay”: The role of vivisection in the creation of Frankenstein's monster' by Libby King

“’The reflections of my hours of despondency and solitude’: Narrating Solitude in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein” by Geoffrey Payne

 

For more info and some bonus materials visit our website at: https://www.fromthelighthouse.org

A Sensational Book: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret

Sensation! Scandal! Murder! Bigamy! A femme fatale! This book has it all! This week, Stephanie and Lee are reading one of the nineteenth-century's favourite sensation fictions: Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret.

Femme Fatales, Marlowe and Gangsters: The (slightly) Nonsensical Plots of Chandler's The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep is a classic of crime noir: the kind of fiction that transports you to a seedy LA gin joint in the 1940s. This week, Lee and Stephanie discuss femme fatales, Marlowe, gangsters, and slightly nonsensical plots.

Murderers, Truth vs. Fiction, and a car full of snakes in Truman Capote's "The Handcarved Coffins"

Truman Capote brought true crime to literature with his "nonfiction novel" In Cold Blood. In this podcast, Lee and Stephanie discuss a lesser-known piece of Capote non-fiction, the short story "The Handcarved Coffins". They discuss murderers, the line between truth and fiction, and a car full of snakes. 

Meredith Lake's The Bible in Australia: A fascinating history of the part the Bible played in shaping Australia

Meredith Lake, award-winning historian, traces the impact of the Bible on Australian culture, from Tony Abbott's misuse of the Bible to discredit the science of climate change to the distinctively Australian irreverence for authority that saw the coining of the expressions 'bible-basher' and 'wowser'. Join Michelle Hamadache as she interviews Meredith Lake about the complex ways the Bible and its reception has shaped Australian literature, language and politics.

Adam Courtenay's The Ship that Never Was

Part colonial history, part biography of James Porter, a convict transported to Van Diemen's Land under the rule of the tyrannical Governor Arthur, The Ship that Never War is a story of human tenacity and ingenuity in the face of unimaginably harsh conditions. Join Michelle Hamadache as she talks with Adam Courtenay about the incredible but true story of a group of convicts who stole a brand new ship from Macquarie Harbour and sailed it all the way to Chile.

For more info and some bonus materials, visit our website at: https://www.fromthelighthouse.org

Pinballs and Boiling Frogs: An interview with Australian feminist playwright Alison Lyssa

Alison Lyssa, playwright, writer and poet, discusses her groundbreaking feminist play Pinball. Pinball, a play about a young lesbian couple fighting the patriarchy for custody of one of the women's son, was labelled 'feminist chauvinist piggery' in the Australian Press in the 80s when it was first performed. Now a set-text in universities in the UK and re-staged by Duck Duck Goose in 2014, Pinball and its playwright, Alison Lyssa, remain cutting edge in contemporary Australia. 

Lexi Freiman's Inappropriation

Lexi Freiman's debut novel, Inappropriation, is a hilarious biting satire on identity politics, social media, high school, cyborgs, and pretty much everything else you can imagine. This week, Stephanie chats to Lexi about her novel, writing funny books, feminism, and high school formals. 

The Myth, the Heights, the Poetry and the Dogs: 200 Years of Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte was born on 30 July 1818: 200 years ago this month. To celebrate her 200th birthday, Stephanie was joined by Dr Lee O'Brien to discuss the Bronte myth, Wuthering Heights, poetry, and dogs.