Episode 5 of Sharron Kraus’ Preternatural Investigations podcast is called 2 Ways of Thinking About The Past. The posted description says:
In which an examination of M.R. James’ approach to writing ghost stories leads to a distinction between two ways of thinking about the past, the first being a parallel to Edward Said’s Orientalism – a way of treating the past as an exotic and mysterious ‘Other’ – the second, viewing the past as continuous with and persisting into the present, the present as containing palimpsests or time capsules that allow us access to the past.
Music by Sharron Kraus, with Harriet Earis and Guy Whittaker
REFERENCES
Mark Fisher, The Weird and the Eerie
M.R. James, Collected Ghost Stories
‘Ghosts – Treat Them Gently’
The League of Gentlemen
Edward Said, Orientalism
Penelope Lively, The House at Norham Gardens
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
The Presence of the Past
Charles Butler, Four British Fantasists
Rob Young, Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music
‘The Pattern Under the Plough’
Detectorists
https://preternatural-investigations.org/episode-5/.
“Preternatural Investigations is a podcast about things that are strange but not too strange; the marvelous things that lie ‘between the mundane and the miraculous’1.
“As a rationalist who believes there is magic, mystery and meaning to be found in the world around us, my investigations are influenced by William James’ enquiries into religious experience and Mark Fisher’s explorations of the weird and the eerie.
“My subjects will include the magic we experience in certain places, as a result of participating in certain kinds of activity, in response to art, music and literature, and in nature; the relationship between fictional representations of magic and the preternatural magic we can experience in the world, at wonder, imagination and the ability to find new ways of seeing familiar things, the way fictional and other constructed worlds intersect with and are grafted onto the natural world, enabling us to experience the world as a many-layered palimpsest that draws us in, leads us on, and reveals itself to us at the same time as giving us insights into aspects of ourselves.
“Preternatural Investigations runs for 12 weeks, starting Sunday 23rd August, and is hosted by musician and writer Sharron Kraus.”
