The strange rivalry between British fantasy writers with Hadas Elber-Aviram
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3wdpdeu
Interview Timeline
Hadas Elber-Aviram has loved fantasy since she was small and studied as a graduate student. She recently released a book about British fantasy writers and their use of London in their fiction. We spoke about the book and British fantasy. Fairy Tales of London: British Urban Fantasy, 1840 to the Present (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021)
0:37 – Hadas talks about why she started studying fantasy.
2:23 – Hadas talks about why she compared rural and urban fantasy authors.
5:07 – Hadas talks about where these fantasy authors lived.
6:24 – Hadas talks about why London was so disliked.
7:47 – Hadas talks about the positive aspects of London that authors wrote about.
9:24 – Hadas talks about the authors she covers in the book and what she discusses about each.
14:41 – Hadas talks about how many rural writers existed post WWII.
16:43 – Hadas talks about Tolkien’s attitudes.
18:24 – Hadas talks urban writers’ approaches to the urban.
20:09 – Hadas talks about looking at London in a fantastic way.
23:24 – Hadas contrasts the physical aspect of London versus the people who lived there.
26:14 – Hadas talks more about London Architecture and how it’s made fantastic.
28:34 – Hadas discusses the use of London and other cities in fantasy before 1840.
31:07 – Hadas talks about magical spots in London.
34:38 – Hadas talks about her research methods.
37:41 – Hadas goes into detail about an HG Wells story.
40:12 – Hadas talks about reading stories where they are located and about urban fantasy as a tour guide.
41:55 – Hadas talks about enjoying walking through London.
45:21 – Hadas talks about not including J.G. Bollard.
46:18 – Hadas talks about the tragedy of Mervyn Peake.
50:17 – Hadas talks about the label urban fantasy.
52:07 – We discuss the journey in Dracula and then “cozy catastrophes”.
58:40 – Hadas can be found at the University of Notre Dame, London.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3wdpdeu
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/fairy-tales-of-london-9781350110687/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.
Guests: Hadas Elber-Aviram
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, Bloomsbury, fantasy, literature, literary studies,
Check the book out here