The Beginning

Welcome!

This is exciting. My first blog post. I should have been doing this years ago, really. I have kept journals and been writing on scarps of paper since I can remember. I've always been hungry for words. They fascinate me. 

    I have recently graduated from Cardiff University with a 2.1 in English Literature and Creative Writing. That feels ridiculous to say. I mostly bee-lined for the modules that involve the Gothic in some way. My favourite modules were Decadent Men, which focused on late 19th-century culture and literature; Gothic: The Romantic Age, which looked at the early Gothic movement starting with The Castle of Otranto, Gender and Monstrosity, which looked at Victorian and Neo-Victorian constructions of the Gothic; and Gothic: Victorians, which looked at the later waves of Gothic which moved the threats from overseas to Britain and into the domestic sphere. These modules helped cultivate my love and fascination with the Victorians and their anxieties and values, which started when I read Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray in A Level English. 

    I feel completely lost without my weekly lectures, if truth be told. I will forever yearn for the walks into university, grabbing a coffee from the cafe if time allowed, and sitting down in a room with bright lights and a whirring projector, ready to learn. Learning something new each week and spending time wrapped up in fictional worlds and new words with new meanings. University suited me so well, and I am so grateful for all I learnt there - both in and out of timetabled hours. 

    So, this is really a welcome, an introduction, an 'hola'. I hope we'll have a fabulous journey together over here. I am beyond excited for my blogging adventures. 

With love,

Ellen Victoria