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This paper/talk explores the process of writing ‘Coo’- a gothic satire which re-imagines ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ in the context of the 1953 coup in Iran. Britain continues to deny the key part it played in orchestrating the 1953 coup which toppled Iran’s only democracy to keep its grip on Iranian oil. Many scholars believe that this western intervention helped precipitate the Iranian revolution of 1979, which has shaped geopolitics in the Middle East today.
Rather than dismissing an adaptation as a derivative of its source text, or as perpetuating cultural imperialism, ‘Coo’ explores how re-imagining gothic fiction from a colonising power (in this case Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella) can help us trace Victorian imperialism’s legacy across time and space. We also dive into how satire in a gothic work can be an effective tool in subverting and challenging ideas about the ‘Other’, while boosting marginalised perspectives. The paper/talk will look at Iranian gothic texts and films and how they inspired imagery in ‘Coo’.
