Dr Laura Eastlake

@victorianmasc.bsky.social

4151 Followers 2845 Following

James Murray Beattie Lecturer in Victorian Lit | University of Glasgow | Co-founder @EHUNineteen.bsky.social Research Centre | #Classics | #Gothic lit | Author: Ancient Rome & Victorian Masculinity (OUP, 2019). FRHistS. She/her. #c19th

'Such things rarely happen in Denmark, but some piece of stupidity had certainly been performed (which is not so uncommon), and the stuepige must be severely spoken to'

Cover of Our Mutual Friend featuring two young women, at school judging by their backpack and casual dress, and wearing jewellery and low rise jeans of c. 2002

MENU.
Victoria Pudding, Sherry Sauce.

Baked Vanilla Custard.
Apple Pie.
Liqueur Jelly.

Macedoine de Fruit.

Creme de Neopolitan.
Compôte des Poires.
Relisb.
Tartines Paté de foie gras.
Olives.
Soups.
Consomme a la Printiniere Royale.
Potage a la Colbert.
Fish.
Fried Fillets Schnapper, Hollandaise Sauce.
Entrees.
Langues d'Agneau en Persil.
Asparagus au Beurre Fondu.
Goints.
Roast Sirloin Beef, Yorkshire Pudding.
Roast Leg Mutton, Onion Sauce.
Corned Round Beef and Carrots.
Poultry.
Roast Turkey a la Financière.
Roast
Chicken, Bread Sauce and Seasoning.
Boiled Fowls a la Soubise.
Vegetables.
Baked Potatoes.
Cabbage.
Boiled Potatoes.
Green Peas.
sweets.
DESSERT.
Savoury.
Crôutes de Jambon Diable.
CAFE NOIR.

Tabby cat, only half visible, looking curiously in through kitchen door

Pencil sketch of a woman skiing in winter hat and scarf. Back cover of Dickins & Jones Ltd Winter Sports catalogue. Image Source: The House of Fraser Archive at the University of Glasgow

Curious (or maybe furious) chicken right in n the camera lens against a blue sky.

Book cover featuring only the torso and legs of a person in khaki short-shorts and very pretty red heels with green and red tattoos.

Two men in a Victorian train carriage in huge, inflated, full body puffer jackets which have swallowed up their faces. Text reads: PATENT FIRST-CLASS COSTUME FOR THE COLLISION SEASON.
Traveller. "YES, IT'S DECIDEDLY WARM, BUT THERE'S A FEELING OF SECURITY ABOUT IT I RATHER LIKE." (Yauns.) "ANY CHANCE OF A SMASH TO-DAY!?"
[Drops off to Sleep!]

I often think-when confronted with a batch of autobiographies—of Renfield, the zoophagous maniac, Dr. Seward's pet patient, in dear old Dracula. Renfield suffered from the delusion that the more lives he could ingest the stronger he became. He devoured first flies,
later, to save trouble by a kind of arithmetical progression, spiders. The memoirs-addict re-sembles Renfield in that vicarious experience can be absorbed in bulk.

Illustration of a young man in a bowler hat helping a young lady on with her roller skate. In the background a very dapper couple skate in perfect synchronicity.

Sherlock Holmes—his limits.

1. Knowledge of Literature.—Nil.
2. Philosophy.—Nil.
3. Astronomy.—Nil.
4. Politics.—Feeble.
5. Botany.—Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
6. Geology.—Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
7. Chemistry.—Profound.
8. Anatomy.—Accurate, but unsystematic.
9. Sensational Literature.—Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baxter. Cover design features bright and chompy Venus flytraps against a black background.

This Is How you Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. A red bird and a blue bird, fragmented and facing opposite directions against a powder blue
background.

Abigail J. Cooper, “Midwives of Invention: Black Healers and Reconciling Worldviews of Wellness in American Emancipation,” Journal of Social History 58.3 (Spring 2025): 424-50.

Honorable Mention:
Laura Eastlake, “The Volcano and the Vampire: The Case for a Volcanic Gothic,” Gothic Studies 27.1 (2025): 58-77.

Jeffrey Auerbach, “Underground Empire: Charles Warren, William Simpson, and the Archaeological Exploration of Palestine,” Journal of British Studies 63 (January 2024): 82-113.

Blue cover featuring two spanners (wrenches if you prefer) tussling oddly over a nut. There are no screws in this image. Not one.

Illustration of a woman, with characteristic 'Gibson Girl' updo, carrying a serving tray. Lying on the serving tray, steaming as if recently removed from the oven, but otherwise smiling and unperturbed, is a small cherubic child with wings and legs in the air.

Book cover against blue background: Susan Sontag, “the volcano lover”. Cover features a late 18th/ early 19thC illustration of two women and a young girl pointing up at a volcano which is erupting

Photograph of indira varma as Mrs Gardiner in green velvet hat, green dress abs purple gloves. Mr gardiner in green coat and red cravat with his hat on his lap. Both smiling and clapping

Pictures of Kermit puppet in a glass cabinet. His puppet mouth is agape, his eyes vacant, as if dreaming about a nice Chianti. He is on a stick mount which gives the appearance of his being perched patiently on a stool, waiting for you to speak to him through the glass.

Cover showing a male, dark-haired vampire scowling scowlily at us. His cape has multiple layers of shoulder details. His pecs are blood-spackled. Behind him hovers what may be either a bat or a chandelier (possibly AI could not decide).

Seating chart: Leo Vincey, Catherine Earnshaw, Van Helsing, Jane Eyre, The Signalman, Mina Harker, Charles Darwin, Anne Bronte, Anna Sewell, Beatrix Potter, Dr Seward, Dr Jekyll (Mr Hyde by pudding), Marian Halcombe, Wilkie Collins (who would propose to MH by coffee), Sarah Bernhardt, Count Fosco, Napoleon Sarony, Lady Audley, Quincey Morris, Rosalie Murray. Sherlock Holmes declined and is now hiding at home with all the lights off. ME Brandon sadly declines. She has a deadline to meet.

‘Mudroom & Laundry’ featuring two bathtubs, two sinks and no washing machine

Ai generated architectural plan of a house. From a distance all looks fine. Then you notice there are seven bathrooms, labelled things like ‘bedroom 4/full bath’, ‘master room’ and ‘coat bath’. Three of the bathrooms adjoin the master suite and the ‘gust bath’ sits alone on the other side of the house. The ‘wide two car garage’ is round the back of the house (between two more bathrooms); the ‘gourmet kitchen’ has nothing in it, and the “main foyer’ is a little vestibule at the back of the house (between three bathrooms.)

Page of the strand magazine with comedic illustrations of pug dog expressions, includes practically smiling, suspicious side-eye, and haughty

Carving of a gargoyle from York Minster. A gargoyle clutches his head with one hand and a fish with the other. He’s screaming at the sky. A frog is climbing out of his mouth, looking disgruntled by all the screaming.

Poster with a painting of Vesuvius in eruption. Text: A Byron Society Lecture. Volcanic Gothic: From Lord Byron to Lord of the Rings
Start Date & Time: 26/02/2026 5:30 pm. Location: Online. Speakers
Dr Laura Eastlake.

A pheasant of Bowling ball dimensions waits at a glass door. Nobody shall be permitted to pass without paying the peanut tax.

A portly pheasant standing in a cul de sac of plant pots. He could reverse out with ease if he wished. Has he discovered this obvious fact yet? Definitely no.

Pheasant eating peanuts

Impatient pheasant waiting at the office door.

Entering a lecture theatre. The slide is right yellow, titled ‘Reading Decadence’ and with an image of ramon casas’s panting Decadent Young Woman. 19thC woman in black dress lounging on green sofa and holding a bright yellow book

Headline: Vampire film Sinners breaks Oscar nominations record.

Livestream image of the gavle goat collapsed in strong winds.

Screen shot of a map showing the town of Fankerton.

An excessively large goose Christmas decoration standing about 5-6 feet tall with wings outstretched in belligerent fashion. Guarding a golden egg.

Poster for small soldiers movie featuring a soldier action figure who is very clearly part-terminator and part buzz lightyear.

Left: grave of Karl Marx
Right: close up of a malevolently cute looking labubu doll on the grave among flowers

Mary from BBC Ghosts, in cap, mustard-coloured dress and blue kirtle, who lives in dread of ‘The Boiler Man’

Left: Sidney Paget illustration of Inspector Lestrade in bowler hat. Right: Sam Reid as rock star lestat shirtless but wearing a smoulder.

A path lined with dark green plants, deep red Japanese maple and bright yellow trees. In the background the tower of glasgow university main building. A bicycle leans against a lamppost.

Cover for The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley featuring multi-layered and multi-coloured 3D font

Photograph of Wilkie Collins with very large beard and very tiny glasses

Bedraggled looking raccoon brandishing a coffee and a sword

Woman with cropped ref hair in a black peplum pajama suit, waters a daisy from a watering can. April 1921

Woman in white dances before a fire, twirling an enormous chain of sausages. In the foreground, a turkey looks on, bemused and concerned by its impending fate.

Woman sits in a gloriously art deco armchair with lamp and side table, reading a book

Woman in a black and grey ensemble trying on a new hat in a military style

A couple sit in the late summer sun in the countryside. A shadow falls over them in the shape of a devil, but it’s only the shadow of a goat on the ledge above

Woman in a black bathing suit and red shoes sits on a bath tub with a parasol

Woman in black tights, a red hood and wings brandishes an enormous key

A woman in a fashionable bob holds a red heart while riding a fish

Woman with braids and a fabulous mediaeval-style horned hat. Encrusted in jewels

A centaur is kissed by his rider

Fabulous dancer in black jester garb with bells on toes and hat

Woman in renaissance garb dancing at an altar of meat, large frying pan in hand, flipping bacon

Cover showing skier with 1925 on her jumper in mid flight, skiing