Le Salon Literary Discussions

Is Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera Worth Reading? In discussion with Jennifer of Literary Love 123

In this special episode of the Le Salon Literary Discussions podcast I am joined by the intelligent, funny, and feminist Jennifer of Literary Love 123. Jennifer has a master’s degree where she focused on her love of the horror genre, and during my master’s degree I focussed on Gothic literature, so we’re well suited to bring you today’s discussion on Gaston Leroux’s novel The Phantom of the Opera! Many of you may know the musical, but Andrew Lloyd Webber was inspired by a nearly forgotten French novel. You’ll hear what true stories from the Paris Opera House are in the novel, problematic aspects of the plot, how the novel is different from the musical, and how the novel fits into the literary tradition of Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Greek mythology and more!  Follow Jennifer: * @literarylove123 on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/literarylove123/] / YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@literarylove123] / Threads [https://www.threads.net/@literarylove123?xmt=AQGzSXzg6UGpkRFJlhwKie5L2XaeA_RgLyxh-gX2SvQKiMU] * Check out what she’s teaching next on Out School [https://outschool.com/teachers/Jennifer-Smith-2020]  More bookish resources for you: * Join the book club you’ve been looking for [https://www.literarysalon.ca/virtualbookdiscussions]! * Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads [https://www.instagram.com/lesalonreads/]. * Visit my website [http://www.literarysalon.ca/]. Books mentioned in this episode: * By Ann Radcliffe: Mysteries of Udolpho; A Sicilian Romance * Hades and Persephone in Greek mythology * Frankenstein by Mary Shelley * Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë * The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole * By Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher; Ligeia; The Raven; Annabel Lee; The Mask of the Red Death. * What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher * By Stephen King: Gerald’s Game; Doctor Sleep; The Life of Chuck * The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson * By Laura Purcell: The Whispering Muse; The Silent Companions

S4:E6 | Modern Retellings of the Grimm Fairy Tales

Alterations to the Grimm collected fairy tales have been ongoing since, well, the brothers began editing them in the early 1800s! The short tales lend themselves to a kind of metamorphosis that keeps them present across time and borders. In this episode we look at modern retellings of these established stories in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that reimagine and reintroduce elements—creating new fairy tales for us to remember! [5:09] “A stark contrast to Grimm characters who had these traits of heroism and courage baked into their personality because they are male.” [13:11] “This allows us to wonder: what if the step-mother didn’t want to be in the mother role at all? Maybe she just doesn’t connect with children.” [17:27] “Some scholars claim that stories we are exposed to before our teenage years have a lasting impact on us, we absorb them in a way we don’t with stories read later in life.” Books mentioned in this episode: * The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum * The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter * Bluebeard’s Egg by Margaret Atwood * The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood * The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood * Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood * Surfacing by Margaret Atwood * My Mother, She Killed Me My Father, He Ate Me [anthology] * Uprooted by Naomi Novik * Hunted by Meaghan Spooner * Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi's * How to Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann * Rouge by Mona Awad More resources for you: * Join the book club you’ve been looking for [https://www.literarysalon.ca/virtualbookdiscussions]! * Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads [https://www.instagram.com/lesalonreads/]. * Visit my website [http://www.literarysalon.ca/].

S4:E5 | Symbols in the Grimm Fairy Tales and What They Mean

This is going to be one of those episodes where once you hear about the patterns, you won’t be able to unsee them as you read the Grimm’s collected tales! In this episode we examine common symbols in fairy tales and tease out what they mean. What is so interesting is that these symbols—the rule of three, clothing, the forest, roses—create a subtext or language all their own in the stories making them incredibly interesting to analyze. {Here is the link to the Fashion Institute of Technology exhibit on fairy tale fashion [https://exhibitions.fitnyc.edu/fairy-tale-fashion/].} [11:28] “While we might find fun sitting back and watching, there is undoubtedly a power dynamic and class consciousness aspect going on here with fashion at the centre.” [15:21] “There is also something inherently magical about this wildness. It is a place of death and rebirth, decay and beauty.” [22:14] “I believe it is this aspect that has kept works like the 1812 fairy and folk tales collected by the Grimm brothers interesting to readers and scholars alike.” More resources for you: * Join the book club you’ve been looking for [https://www.literarysalon.ca/virtualbookdiscussions]! * Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads [https://www.instagram.com/lesalonreads/]. * Visit my website [http://www.literarysalon.ca/].

S4:E4 | Echoes of the Grimm Fairy Tales Found in Other Countries

From Germany to Japan, Chile to Iceland! In this episode we’ll be looking at how the tales collected by the brothers Grimm in Children’s and Household Tales have corresponding stories in other locations around the world. We’ll look specifically at fairy tales “Hansel and Gretel” and “Snow White” to demonstrate how the kernel of a story is mirrored in different countries. [7:59] “Turning our mind east, we can’t ignore the parallels between ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and the often-present fairy tale witch in Russian tales called Baba Yaga.” [20:42] “And it isn’t a group of dwarves, but Bedouin, who actually teach Rimonah to ride a horse and use a sword. She becomes renown, not for her beauty, but for her swordsmanship…” [23:28] “The stories from Children’s and Household Tales entered the public domain before the turn of the twentieth century, making them widely available for reproduction—for more than 100 years now.” More resources for you: * Join the book club you’ve been looking for [https://www.literarysalon.ca/virtualbookdiscussions]! * Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads [https://www.instagram.com/lesalonreads/]. * Visit my website [http://www.literarysalon.ca/].

S4:E3 | Religion and the Grimm Fairy Tales

In today’s episode we’re looking at the daddy of all patriarchal systems (pun intended!), the church and its teachings and how they are reflected in the Grimm fairy tales. After a quick refresher on Lutheranism, we dive into how Eve’s curiosity in the Garden of Eden becomes problematic, marriage as the only happily-ever-after, and Old Testament justice. Further reading: * The Truth About Stories by Thomas King * The Owl, The Raven, and the Dove: The Religious Meaning of the Grimms' Magic Fairy Tales by G. Ronald Murphy. [7:45] “So even though we get fairy tales, like The Frog Prince or Beauty and the Beast, that propose marriage between a woman and a creature, the animal is generally gendered to be masculine.” [11:11] “In fact, early editions of the story point to the wife’s curiosity, her disobedience, and her gaining of knowledge as worse transgressions than Bluebeard’s murderous ways.” [13:22] “In this story, not only do we see religious figures but the emphasis on the redemption found in confession.” More resources for you: * Join the book club you’ve been looking for [https://www.literarysalon.ca/virtualbookdiscussions]! * Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads [https://www.instagram.com/lesalonreads/]. * Visit my website [http://www.literarysalon.ca/].