Episode 109 - Sue Terry - Esoteric Fiction and the work of Alan Garner

Some Other Sphere

Joining me as my guest for this episode is Sue Terry. Sue is an academic of weird and occult literature – her research interests involve her exploring the relationship between 'the occult' and literary fiction and understanding how texts of all kinds can help us interpret paranormal phenomena to develop a better appreciation of it.

She is currently writing a book on fantasy author Alan Garner as well as researching her PhD in feminist occult literary modernism at the University of Surrey and it is these two areas which my conversation with her focuses on.

Alan Garner’s work is deeply connected to the local landscape of Cheshire in Northern England where he grew up and often features the emergence of mythic and fantastical events in the everyday world – sometimes in a subtle way but not always. His fascination with the relativity of space and time is also prevalent and means that his stories are full of high strangeness, with ancient evils, gateways to otherworldly realms and the lasting effect of mythic betrayal and murder featuring prominently in some of his most beloved works, such as Elidor and The Owl Service.

I begin the interview by talking with Sue about her research and her PhD thesis, after which we talk about Alan Garner – from his traumatic childhood which may have ignited his imagination onto some of his best known works and the themes they explore.

Further details on Sue, her work and the courses she runs can be found at her website https://www.sueterryacademic.com/.

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