This is not another book club. I’m Marisa, founder and host of Le Salon Literary Discussions where I put my master’s degree in English literature to good use by creating all kinds of resources for avid readers like you—from monthly virtual book discussions to book club guides, decoding literary theory to book-themed cocktail recipes. In each themed podcast series, we’ll dive into different writers, books, genres, and more—all in 30 minutes or less. A new series of six episodes drops every season, so make sure to subscribe to know when a new episode is posted and follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
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 / YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@literarylove123) / Threads
Check out what she’s teaching next on Out School
More bookish resources for you:
Join the book club you’ve been looking for!
Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
Visit my website.
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
14 Nov 2023
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!
Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
Visit my website (http://www.literarysalon.ca/).
7 Nov 2023
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.}
[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!
Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
Visit my website (http://www.literarysalon.ca/).
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