Episode 10.1: ‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl
With ‘Special Topics and Calamity Physics’ and ‘Night Film’ both catapulting Marisha Pessl into the realms of early BookTube and book internet fanfare in the early 2010s, with whispers of dark academia and academia-related stories that blend with thrillers and literary fiction.
We’ve both been long-interested in Marisha Pessl as an author and the fascinating premise and stunning cover of ‘Darkly’ meant it was sent straight to the top of our dark academia wishlist…
A seemingly ordinary high school student. A mysterious summer internship. And a legendary games designer, now dead.
When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation appears, Arcadia 'Dia' Gannon rushes to apply. Veda's game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious and terrifying games back in the day and Dia is as obsessed with them as anyone.
The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction. Now, Dia is thrust into the enigmatic heart of the operation. But who are these other interns? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.
But will ‘Darkly’ live up to our inflated dark academia dreams?
In this episode we discuss:
The many pop culture, movie, TV and literary influences and connections we found in ‘Darkly’
The way that the media villainise creative, successful women, and the way that the men around them support and facilitate it
The role of romance, Poe Valois III and Choke Newington
You can listen to it here:
TEXTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl
‘Special Topics in Calamity Physics’ by Marisha Pessl
‘Night Film’ by Marisha Pessl
‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie
‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker
‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare
‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid
‘Immortal Dark’ by Tigest Girma
OTHER MEDIA AND POP CULTURE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
“Oh Captain, my Captain’ (‘The Dead Poets Society’, 1989)
‘Jumanji’ (1995)
‘I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!’ (2002 - )
Taylor Swift and Swifties
Coldplay
Oasis and the outcry following the release of 2025 gig tickets, prices and tickets scalpers
‘10 Things I Hate About You’ (1999)
‘The Traitors’ (2022 - )
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Thank you to Walker Books for providing review copies of ‘Darkly’ for us to read for the podcast. This is not a sponsored episode or post, just gifted copies of the novel, and our opinions and views have not been influenced by the gifts.
