V&O: The Octopus in Literature, an Equal, Intelligent Other
Julia takes Victoria on a deep dive of octopus stories throughout time and space in this first episode of The Vampire & the Octopus series. We tackle questions like “Are octopus stories a form of colonizer horror?” and “What’s with all the octopus books coming out recently?” and “Why did the 19th century French think the octopus was the physical embodiment of hell?”
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Mentioned in this Episode:
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Finding Nemo (film)
Finding Dory (film)
Oceanic Mythology by Roland B Dixon
“The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” and “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” art by Hokusai
“Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” painting by Caspar David Friedrich
“The Kraken” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
“The Octopus or The Devilfish of Fiction and Fact” by Henry Lee
The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
The Sea Raiders by H. G. Wells
The Call of Cthulu by H. P. Lovecraft
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham
It Came From Beneath the Sea (film)
Kraken by China Mieville
The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (TV series)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
My Octopus Teacher (film)
The Secrets of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Remarkably Bright Creaturesby Shelby Van Pelt