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Alexander C Gaya

Aberystwyth University, English and Creative Writing, Alumnus

St. Olaf College, English, Alumnus

University of Durham, English Literature, Alumnus

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Currently work unglamorously and uncerebrally in retail, but with hopes of opening an independent bookstore at some point before I expire.
Former English teacher, ex-scholar, erstwhile bookseller, sometime poet, man of letters, unsuccessful freelance editor, bibliophile.
My areas of formal study were medieval and Renaissance English drama (B.A.), Victorian fiction/poetry (M.A.), and Mervyn Peake (Ph.D.). I did not complete the Ph.D. as I ran out of money and moved back to the United States to fizzle out instead.
Additional interests include: supernatural/horror literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, religious literature, the Inklings, G. K. Chesterton, the Uranians, pastoral novels, British and American drama pre-1960, British and American poetry 1800-present, Russian literature in translation, neglected or 'second-tier' authors generally

B.A. English/Educational Studies, St. Olaf College (U.S.A.)
M.A. Victorian Literary Studies, University of Durham (U.K.)
Ph.D. (incomplete) English Literature, Aberystwyth University (U.K.)

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University College London

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Papers by Alexander C Gaya

Impossible Creatures in a Godless World: Animals and Religion in the Early Writings (1929-1939) of Mervyn Peake

Claims that Peake's so-called marginal works are key to understanding the thrust of his later 'ma... more Claims that Peake's so-called marginal works are key to understanding the thrust of his later 'major works' such as the Titus books and his plays from the 1950s. Analyses animals and animal symbolism/associations in the text as well as religious language/imagery/themes in Mervyn Peake's long poem 'The Touch o' the Ash', short fiction Mr Slaughterboard, and children's picture book Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor. Demonstrates the extent of Peake's deism/agnosticism even from an early age despite his heavily religious family background.

'"You're a serpent, and there's no use denying it"': Young Girls, the Doctrine of Original Sin, and the Victorian Cult of the Child in the Writings of Lewis Carroll

Addresses Carroll's religious difficulties with the warring concepts of the doctrine of original ... more Addresses Carroll's religious difficulties with the warring concepts of the doctrine of original sin and the Victorian cult of the child and how tension between these divergent ideologies is played out in his writing. Argues through close textual analysis that Alice is a thoroughly evil child who is subsequently 'unwritten' in the rest of Carroll's works, including the sequel to the first Alice book. Focuses on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with supplemental analysis of Alice's Adventures Under Ground (the manuscript of the published work with Carroll's own illustrations), with a short section on Through the Looking-Glass, Sylvie and Bruno, and the Nursery Alice. Demonstrates that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is NOT representative Carroll (from a religious standpoint at least) and should NOT be considered as a continuous set with Through the Looking-Glass.

Prospero Put to the Proof: Righteous Ruler or Royal Rampallion?

Argues Prospero is a righteous ruler under Jamesian monarchical theory, analyzing his thoroughly ... more Argues Prospero is a righteous ruler under Jamesian monarchical theory, analyzing his thoroughly positive relationship with his daughter Miranda, moderately positive relationship with his servant Ariel, and not-unredeemable relationship with his slave Caliban. Proposes an alternate reading of the close of the play that puts Prospero in an even more heroic light than before.

Titillating Tresses of Terror: Maggie's Hair in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss

Addresses hair symbolism and Victorian conventions surrounding hair in George Eliot's The Mill on... more Addresses hair symbolism and Victorian conventions surrounding hair in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss, which link Maggie to Medusa, Eve, and Gothic seductresses, among other things. The paper applies an autobiographical reading of Maggie Tulliver and considers the novel as an exercise in self-flagellation, albeit mitigated by the sympathy the reader is encouraged to feel for Maggie. An appendix looks at headgear (specifically bonnets) as fulfilling the same purposes as hair does in the novel.

The Gendered Depiction of Violence in the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti

Argues that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti differ in their portrayal of violen... more Argues that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti differ in their portrayal of violence in their poetry, with Barrett Browning less pacifist and more feminist (in broad terms) than Rossetti. The poems considered are 'A Musical Instrument', 'The Lost Bower', 'Goblin Market', and 'Symbols'.

The Function of Medievalism in 'The Lady of Shallott' and 'Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere'

'Outs' Lord Tennyson's early poetry as 'banner' medievalism (i.e. not very historically accurate)... more 'Outs' Lord Tennyson's early poetry as 'banner' medievalism (i.e. not very historically accurate) by revealing the high level of linguistic anachronisms present in 'The Lady of Shallott' and 'Sir Launcelot and Guinevere' (exhaustively demonstrated in an appendix). Discards traditional readings of 'The Lady of Shallott' and asserts that the Lady is an evil sorceress who receives God's just punishment for her misdoings.

'That moment of final dissolution': The Implications of Count Dracula's Death

Argues that the Count represents a host of Stoker's anxieties with regards to gender, ethnicity, ... more Argues that the Count represents a host of Stoker's anxieties with regards to gender, ethnicity, and religion, and therefore has to die; the novel is an exorcism of Stoker's deepest fears. However, raises the question of whether Dracula is actually dead at the end of the novel (ooh la la!), since Mina has not been cured of New Woman tendencies and the death scene is extraordinarily ambiguous.

Frightening, Foul, and False; or, The Role of Catholicism in The Castle of Otranto and The Monk

Argues that Catholicism is employed by Horace Walpole and M. G. Lewis to make them more implausib... more

'"We ain't goin' to have any beastly Erickin'": Male Bonding At the Fin-De-Siècle in Tom Brown's School Days and Eric; or, Little by Little

Compares and contrasts the male bonding experience of the two leading mid-Victorian schoolboy nov... more Compares and contrasts the male bonding experience of the two leading mid-Victorian schoolboy novels and demonstrates that the heartier and less sentimental approach of Thomas Hughes won out over the model forwarded by Frederic Farrar, as evidenced by fin-de-siècle cultural yardstick Rudyard Kipling's attacks on Eric and virtual silence on Tom Brown's School Days.

Lost and Found: The Value of Suffering in The Picture of Dorian Gray and De Profundis

Contrasts the presentations of suffering as valueless in The Portrait of Dorian Gray and sufferin... more

'Scholars – Treat Them Gently!': Differences in Editorial Approaches to the Weird Fiction of M. R. James

Compares and contrasts the editorial approaches of the complete/collected stories of M. R. James ... more

Impossible Creatures in a Godless World: Animals and Religion in the Early Writings (1929-1939) of Mervyn Peake

Claims that Peake's so-called marginal works are key to understanding the thrust of his later 'ma... more Claims that Peake's so-called marginal works are key to understanding the thrust of his later 'major works' such as the Titus books and his plays from the 1950s. Analyses animals and animal symbolism/associations in the text as well as religious language/imagery/themes in Mervyn Peake's long poem 'The Touch o' the Ash', short fiction Mr Slaughterboard, and children's picture book Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor. Demonstrates the extent of Peake's deism/agnosticism even from an early age despite his heavily religious family background.

'"You're a serpent, and there's no use denying it"': Young Girls, the Doctrine of Original Sin, and the Victorian Cult of the Child in the Writings of Lewis Carroll

Addresses Carroll's religious difficulties with the warring concepts of the doctrine of original ... more Addresses Carroll's religious difficulties with the warring concepts of the doctrine of original sin and the Victorian cult of the child and how tension between these divergent ideologies is played out in his writing. Argues through close textual analysis that Alice is a thoroughly evil child who is subsequently 'unwritten' in the rest of Carroll's works, including the sequel to the first Alice book. Focuses on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with supplemental analysis of Alice's Adventures Under Ground (the manuscript of the published work with Carroll's own illustrations), with a short section on Through the Looking-Glass, Sylvie and Bruno, and the Nursery Alice. Demonstrates that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is NOT representative Carroll (from a religious standpoint at least) and should NOT be considered as a continuous set with Through the Looking-Glass.

Prospero Put to the Proof: Righteous Ruler or Royal Rampallion?

Argues Prospero is a righteous ruler under Jamesian monarchical theory, analyzing his thoroughly ... more Argues Prospero is a righteous ruler under Jamesian monarchical theory, analyzing his thoroughly positive relationship with his daughter Miranda, moderately positive relationship with his servant Ariel, and not-unredeemable relationship with his slave Caliban. Proposes an alternate reading of the close of the play that puts Prospero in an even more heroic light than before.

Titillating Tresses of Terror: Maggie's Hair in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss

Addresses hair symbolism and Victorian conventions surrounding hair in George Eliot's The Mill on... more Addresses hair symbolism and Victorian conventions surrounding hair in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss, which link Maggie to Medusa, Eve, and Gothic seductresses, among other things. The paper applies an autobiographical reading of Maggie Tulliver and considers the novel as an exercise in self-flagellation, albeit mitigated by the sympathy the reader is encouraged to feel for Maggie. An appendix looks at headgear (specifically bonnets) as fulfilling the same purposes as hair does in the novel.

The Gendered Depiction of Violence in the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti

Argues that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti differ in their portrayal of violen... more Argues that Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti differ in their portrayal of violence in their poetry, with Barrett Browning less pacifist and more feminist (in broad terms) than Rossetti. The poems considered are 'A Musical Instrument', 'The Lost Bower', 'Goblin Market', and 'Symbols'.

The Function of Medievalism in 'The Lady of Shallott' and 'Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere'

'Outs' Lord Tennyson's early poetry as 'banner' medievalism (i.e. not very historically accurate)... more 'Outs' Lord Tennyson's early poetry as 'banner' medievalism (i.e. not very historically accurate) by revealing the high level of linguistic anachronisms present in 'The Lady of Shallott' and 'Sir Launcelot and Guinevere' (exhaustively demonstrated in an appendix). Discards traditional readings of 'The Lady of Shallott' and asserts that the Lady is an evil sorceress who receives God's just punishment for her misdoings.

'That moment of final dissolution': The Implications of Count Dracula's Death

Argues that the Count represents a host of Stoker's anxieties with regards to gender, ethnicity, ... more Argues that the Count represents a host of Stoker's anxieties with regards to gender, ethnicity, and religion, and therefore has to die; the novel is an exorcism of Stoker's deepest fears. However, raises the question of whether Dracula is actually dead at the end of the novel (ooh la la!), since Mina has not been cured of New Woman tendencies and the death scene is extraordinarily ambiguous.

Frightening, Foul, and False; or, The Role of Catholicism in The Castle of Otranto and The Monk

Argues that Catholicism is employed by Horace Walpole and M. G. Lewis to make them more implausib... more

'"We ain't goin' to have any beastly Erickin'": Male Bonding At the Fin-De-Siècle in Tom Brown's School Days and Eric; or, Little by Little

Compares and contrasts the male bonding experience of the two leading mid-Victorian schoolboy nov... more Compares and contrasts the male bonding experience of the two leading mid-Victorian schoolboy novels and demonstrates that the heartier and less sentimental approach of Thomas Hughes won out over the model forwarded by Frederic Farrar, as evidenced by fin-de-siècle cultural yardstick Rudyard Kipling's attacks on Eric and virtual silence on Tom Brown's School Days.

Lost and Found: The Value of Suffering in The Picture of Dorian Gray and De Profundis

Contrasts the presentations of suffering as valueless in The Portrait of Dorian Gray and sufferin... more

'Scholars – Treat Them Gently!': Differences in Editorial Approaches to the Weird Fiction of M. R. James

Compares and contrasts the editorial approaches of the complete/collected stories of M. R. James ... more