As with most pieces of great literature, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is many things simultaneously. It is an exquisite ghost story, a prime example of the “unreliable narrator” in short fiction, a psychologically astute depiction of a descent into madness, and a legendary piece of 19th century feminist writing.
For this reading, we have had the astonishing fortune of working with actress Suzanne Owens-Duval, who is one of the principal actors on “Annex,” a podcast written and directed by Drew Beard, which is recorded, edited and scored by Jubel Brosseau. Knowing that this is a rare stroke of luck, Jubel took great pains to make sure that this reading was as polished and immersive as the performance and source material deserves.
All sounds and music are by Jubel Brosseau, except for the Overture, which is composed and performed by Jubel Brosseau and Nicholas Swartz, and a section of “Gnossienne No 1,” composed by Erik Satie.
“I have a question for you. Apologies, it’s a bit of a long one, but I think I’m going to need to unpack it a bit.
Okay. So you love Mark Fisher’s The Weird and the Eerie. I want to talk a little bit more about the Eerie, because you so often talk about the Weird. Here is a nutshell quote from Fisher ‘the Eerie is constituted by a failure of absence or by a failure of presence. There is something where there should be nothing or there is nothing where there should be something’. Now season 3 is riven with eerie absences. First and foremost, or at least the most obvious being Dale Cooper and Laura Palmer’s absenteeism. There are more fundamental absences: absences of story progression and structure, absences of narrative and temporal cohesion. Absences of place. We spend very little time in Twin Peaks as a location, and next to no time in a Twin Peaks that is recognizable to us as fans of the original show.
By venerating Laura, part 8 highlights and helps to foster a yearning for something that is fundamentally lacking. Even the music that underscores the scene in the fireman’s Palace reinforces this View. This lack can also be found in the way the season continuously defers, confounds and obscures its meanings, a quality which finds focus in elements that imply a hidden order, such as the recurrent instances of mysterious, seemingly metaphysically significant numbers.
All this absence generates a feeling that there’s a radical outside to this tale. A place where these structuring elements reside just behind a curtain that the fans attempt to glimpse behind through theories and readings. Perhaps if we are to talk about encounters with the weird in season 3, an incursion of something beyond the edges of the known, we need to talk about the way this vast sense of eerie absence bears down on the story and the characters. On us.
Naturally I have ideas about what this absence is. What this outside is. But this isn’t my podcast.
So what do you make of it?”
–Adam from Diane podcast. You can tweet at him (and the other Dianes) at: @DianePodcast and you should, because they are smarter than us.
This week, Rob King of 25 Years Later joins us in a non-synchronous, phase-shifted, pan-dimensional interview. Not to worry, we’ll still throw more tangents per minute than any other podcast of this type!
(what type are we again?)
Apology: Diane, you are academics of several wonderful types not merely “of a type” please forgive the slip of my frazzled tongue. –Agent “K”
Here are the promised Show Notes (danger, danger, massive linkspam incoming!)
The Last Podcast on the Left: Last Podcast on the Left barrels headlong into all things horror — as hosts Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks and Henry Zebrowski cover dark subjects spanning Jeffrey Dahmer, werewolves, Jonestown, iconic hauntings, the history of war crimes, and more. Whether it’s cults, killers, or cryptid encounters, Last Podcast on the Left laughs into the abyss that is the dark side of humanity.
Hidden Experience: “And now they’ve come to take me / Come to break me / And yet it isn’t unexpected / I have been waiting for these visitors / Help me”
The Witch Wave: The Witch Wave is a podcast for bewitching conversation about magic, creativity, and culture. On each episode, host Pam Grossman speaks with a leading visionary about art and Craft.
Unexplained (with Richard Maclean Smith) “Unexplained is a bi-weekly podcast about strange and mysterious real life events that continue to evade explanation.” “A show that explores the space between what we think of as real and what is not. Where the unknown and paranormal meets the most radical ideas in science today…”
Astonishing Legends: Scott & Forrest have been called the ‘Click and Clack of esoterica’ by their listeners. Their mission is to take a look at legendary strange and unusual events from throughout history and interview people who’ve had close encounters with the unexplained. They strive to bring you everything that’s entertaining about those stories and remind you that it’s ok to laugh at scary stories and respectfully, even the people that tell them.
