The Dark Academicals

Latest Episodes:

Episode 2.6: ‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Stiefvater Aug 16, 2022

Show notes

The season 2 finale is upon us and we’re rounding off the season by revisiting a favourite of both of ours, the first book in Maggie Stiefvater’s ‘The Raven Cycle’, ‘The Raven Boys’.

We adore this book and had to squeeze it in the line-up. Making it the last book of the season means we’re ending on a real high.

We know ‘The Raven Boys’ is magical realism, but can it also be considered dark academia?

Here’s the summary for those who haven’t met Blue, Gansey and the rest of the Raven Boys yet:

"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve...

Either you're his true love... or you killed him."

Part of a clairvoyant family, Blue has spent sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die.

So when she meets Gansey's spirit on the corpse road, Blue knows that either he is her true love - or she has killed him.

The boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and he is a student at Aglionby, a wealthy local private school. With three other mysterious and privileged boys, he is on a quest to find the grave of Glendower - a Welsh king buried somewhere on a Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour.

Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey really her true love - the one she is destined to kill?

Blue never fully believed in the prophecy. But as she is caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

It’s immediately clear that this ticks a few of our boxes, just from reading the summary, but does it delve into the dark enough to meet our criteria? (We detail the genre framework in every episode, or you can check out our “intro” episode if you missed it which will give you all the details).

In this episode we discuss:

Home, found family and the fluidity of the relationship between Blue and the Raven Boys
Privilege and power in academic pursuits
Gansey’s desperation and loneliness

You can listen to it here:

Episode 2.6: 'The Raven Boys' by Maggie Stiefvater The Dark Academicals Podcast RSS

TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Steifvater
‘The Dream Thieves’ by Maggie Stiefvater
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘Dark and Shallow Lies’ by Ginny Meyers Sain

We also announced our line-up for Season 3! Listen for a sneaky peeks of the titles we’ve chosen, or check out a post coming soon with full details.

If you want to snag yourself a copy of this wonderful book, please consider using our bookshop.org affiliate link below which helps out independent bookstores and helps us fund the website and the podcast at no extra cost to you.

Episode 2.5: ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ by Goldy Moldavsky Aug 02, 2022

Show notes

If a book gets tagged as ‘Dark Academia’ then heck yes we’re going to scope it out. That goes for YA titles like Goldy Moldavsky’s ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ which we are featuring on this episode of ‘The Dark Academicals’ podcast.

The summary reads as follows:

“When it comes to horror movies, the rules are clear:
x Avoid abandoned buildings, warehouses, and cabins at all times.
x Stay together: don't split up, not even just to "check something out."
x If there's a murderer on the loose, do not make out with anyone.
If only surviving in real life were this easy...
New girl Rachel Chavez turns to horror movies for comfort, preferring stabby serial killers and homicidal dolls to the bored rich kids of Manhattan Prep...and to certain memories she'd preferred to keep buried.
Then Rachel is recruited by the Mary Shelley Club, a mysterious society of students who orchestrate Fear Tests, elaborate pranks inspired by urban legends and movie tropes. At first, Rachel embraces the power that comes with reckless pranking. But as the Fear Tests escalate, the competition turns deadly, and it's clear Rachel is playing a game she can't afford to lose.”

Right off the bat the writing style is very different to what we would often find for a Dark Academia title, but does it have enough of the other elements of the criteria to make it fit? (We detail the genre framework in every episode, or you can check out our “intro” episode if you missed it which will give you all the details).

In this episode we discuss:

Latinx representation
Horror movies and horror tropes, specifically the ‘final girl’
Parallels with ‘The Secret History’
The importance of atmosphere and tension in dark academia

You can listen to it here:

Episode 2.5: 'The Mary Shelley Club' by Goldy Moldavsky The Dark Academicals Podcast RSS

TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Mary Shelley Club’/’The Last Girl’ by Goldy Moldavsky
The Final Girl Support Group’ by Grady Hendrix
‘Final Girls’ by Riley Sagar
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio
‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
‘Kill the Boy Band’ by Goldy Moldavsky

‘The Mary Shelley Club’ is listed on bookshop.org, which supports independent bookshops, and with whom we are affiliated with, as ‘The Last Girl’ (it’s UK title). Buying a book through our link supports them, and supports us!

Episode 2.4: ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde Jul 19, 2022

Show notes

It’s that time in the season where we explore what we call a “Dark Academia Adjacent” title. For season 2 of The Dark Academicals, that’s Oscar Wilde’s memorable Gothic classic ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.

For an “adjacent” title we discuss how or why a certain title can be attributed the “Dark Academia” title, or recognise how it has influenced and informed the genre as it has grown and developed.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ is a stunning piece of fiction that explores the morality of being human in a very darkly academic way. We also discussed some of the criticisms that arose from a re-read.

In this episode we discuss:

Why ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ can be considered a figurehead of Dark Academia
The Victorian Gothic
Misogyny and Anti-Semitism within the text
An indepth character analysis of Henry Wotten

You can listen to it here:

Episode 2.4: 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde The Dark Academicals Podcast RSS

TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde
‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Importance of Being Ernest’ by Oscar Wilde
‘The Vampire Diaries’ by L. J. Smith

If you want a copy of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too!

Episode 2.3: ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

We head to the University of Cambridge for the third episode of the season with the literary thriller, Alex Michaelides’ ‘The Maidens’.

This book has been all over the internet since it’s release last summer and with the mixed reviews and tag of being a ‘dark academia literary thriller’, we had to slide it into the lineup for this season of ‘The Dark Academicals’.

‘The Maidens’ takes us to Cambridge when the recently widowed therapist Mariana is called to the aid of her niece, Zoe, following the murder of Zoe’s best friend. Mariana quickly becomes embroiled in the investigation and is determined to prove that Zoe’s charismatic Greek tragedy professor, Edward Fosca, is the culprit.

Will it be a yay or nay for us? And is it dark academia?

In this episode we discuss:

The male gaze versus the female gaze
Michaelides’ poor portrayal of mental illness and Mariana’s failure in her duty of care to her patients
The parallels of Julian and Henry in ‘The Maidens’ with Julian and Henry in ‘The Secret History’

You can listen to it here:

Episode 2.3 'The Maidens' by Alex Michaelides The Dark Academicals Podcast RSS

TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides
‘In Memoriam’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson
‘Iphegenia at Aulis’ by Euripides
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde

If you want a copy of ‘The Maidens for your own, you can purchase one through the link below. We’re affiliated with bookshop.org who support local booksellers, and in turn buying through them supports us too!

Episode 2.2: ‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

The second episode of season two heads to Swarthmore College with Meg Wolitzer’s debut novel, ‘Sleepwalking’.

While Wolitzer is more famous for her more recent novels, ‘The Female Persuasion’ and ‘The Interestings’, we follow Claire Danziger and the other ‘death girls’ as they obsess over the work, life and suicides of three famed female poets: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Wolitzer’s creation, Lucy Ascher. As their personalities merge and darkness closes in under the study of their poets, and Claire’s relationship with upperclassman Julia, Claire must figure out when Lucy ends and she begins.

But it is dark academia?

In this episode we talk about:

The sideline-ing of the female experience and female trauma and pain
How a misleading book summary can change your expectations and experience of a novel
How a small cast of characters creates an insular and almost claustrophobic reading experience