Dark academia is an internet aesthetic that originated on Tumblr in 2015. It focuses on the pursuit of higher education, often depicted by scenes of gothic libraries or gloomy autumn days. While it began online, this aesthetic can be retrospectively found in novels such as The Secret History and If We Were Villains. Undertones of dark academia are also prevalent in many Victorian classics including Jane Eyre and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In literature the dark academia aesthetic also often manifests as an appreciation for the classical arts with figures such as Plato and Virgil. But why are readers so drawn to it?
Ironically, dark academia resurfaced during the pandemic – a time when students weren’t huddled together in the corner of a dark library but stuck on Zoom calls. Perhaps students gravitated towards the dark academia aesthetic in literature as a way to recreate a sense of communal study. I think many turn to the dark academic aesthetic as a way of motivating themselves in their personal studies. And whilst choosing not to do exams because they don’t fit our personal aesthetic isn’t the most viable option, sometimes a shift in perspective and romanticising something makes it much more appealing. This is definitely easier to do in Edinburgh – with every street encapsulating so many conventions of the dark academia aesthetic and so many novels being written in the city.
Photo by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash