Sunday, September 20, 2009
Bodies in Pieces: A Review
In Bodies in Pieces: Fantastic Narrative and the Poetics of the Fragment, Deborah A. Harter argues that fantastic fiction depicts a fragmented world, representing a vision of reality as piecemeal that is best expressed in the short story. Quoting Tsvetan Todorov, she defines fantastic narrative as fiction that occupies the precarious position between the marvelous and the uncanny.
The marvelous, Todorov claims, is made up of “those texts in which the reader knows to suspend disbelief,” she says, whereas the uncanny consists of “those in which a rational explanation serves in the end to explain an occurrence.” Hence, by this reckoning, one might deduce, W. W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey‘s Paw” lies within the realm of the marvelous, H. G. Well’s short story, “The Red Room,” lies within the realm of the uncanny, and Bram Stoker’s short story, “Dracula’s Guest” lies within the realm of the fantastic.
For Todorov, the fantastic lasts only as long as “the uncertainty” that the skeptical character (and the reader) endures concerning whether an occurrence is natural or supernatural in origin or character. Once the issue is decided, the fantastic gives way either to the marvelous or the uncanny.
Harter also makes some interesting distinctions between the art of painting and art of narrative. Agreeing with Gotthold Lessing, she argues that the former is restricted by its inability to depict objects as juxtaposed in other than their spatial relationships among one another, whereas the latter may “express with certainty only what is consecutive in time.” Therefore, “the poet. . . tells us only ‘little by little’ what the painter’s eye takes in with a single glance.”
Reality is understood as a space-time continuum, but neither painting nor narrative art can bridge the disconnect between these two aspects of reality as it is experienced by human consciousness. Space remains, and time remains, each seeming separate from the other. Reality, as it is experienced, is fragmented at the most fundamental of all levels.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Table of Contents
Chillers and Thrillers: The Fiction of Fear
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/chillers-and-thrillers-fiction-of-fear.html
How To Create Monstrous Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-create-monstrous-monsters.html
Basic Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Plots
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/basic-fantasy-science-fiction-and.html
Plausible Motivations
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/plausible-motivations.html
What’s So Scary About Horror Movies?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/copyright-2007-by-gary-l.html
Come On, People, Don’t You Look So Down; the Rain Man’s Coming To Town
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/come-on-people-dont-you-look-so-down.html
Fill in the Blanks (Don’t Panic; It’s Not a Quiz)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/fill-in-blanks-dont-panic-its-not-quiz.html
Metaphorical Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/metaphorical-monsters.html
Understanding Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/understanding-monsters.html
Why Monsters? Why Metaphor?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-monsters-why-metaphors.html
Nature and Nurture: Character and Setting as Destiny
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/nature-and-nurture-character-and.html
The God of Desperation
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/god-of-desperation.html
Dream Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/dream-monsters.html
Plotting Horror Fiction: The Invasion Plot
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/plotting-horror-fiction-invasion-plot.html
Evil Is As Evil Does
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/evil-is-as-evil-does.html
Value as a Clue to Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/value-as-clue-to-horror.html
Toppers
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/toppers.html
The Horror of Time and Place
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-time-and-place.html
The Horror of the Incongruous
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-incongruous.html
Imagining the Monster, Part I
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/imagining-monster-part-i.html
Imagining the Monster, Part II
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/imagining-monster-part-ii.html
Imagining the Monster, Part III
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/imagining-monster-part-iii.html
Not Everyone Loves A Victim
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-everyone-loves-victim.html
Beowulf: The Prototypical Monster Killer
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/beowulf-prototypical-monster-killer.html
Body Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/body-horror.html
Mark Twain’s “Rules Governing Literary Art”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/mark-twains-21-rules-for-literary-art.html
Inner Demons
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/inner-demons.html
Writing as a Schizophrenic, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/writing-as-schizophrenic.html
A History of Hell, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/history-of-hell-part-i.html
A History of Hell, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/history-of-hell-part-ii.html
A History of Hell, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/history-of-hell-part-iii.html
Evil as a Threat to Social or Communal Values
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/evil-as-threat-to-social-or-communal.html
How To Rob a Grave
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-rob-grave.html
Writing as a Schizophrenic, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/writing-as-schizophrenic-part-ii.html
There’s Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself: Preying Upon People’s Phobias
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/theres-nothing-to-fear-but-fear-itself.html
The Horror of the Wax Museum
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-wax-museum.html
The Underbelly of the Bug-Eyed Monster Movie
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/horror-of-wax-museum.html
The Monsters Within
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/monsters-within.html
Describing Horrific Scenes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/describing-horrific-scenes.html
The Role of the Back Story
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/role-of-back-story.html
Poe and King: Two Unlikely Beauties
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/poe-and-king-two-unlikely-beauties.html
The Appeal of the Esoteric
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/appeal-of-esoteric.html
Solipsism, Claustrophobia, Vampires, and Zombies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/solipsism-claustrophobia-vampires-
and.html
Everyday Horrors: Gargoyles
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-gargoyles.html
Everyday Horrors: Tombstones
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-tombstones.html
Everyday Horrors: Crawlspaces
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-crawlspaces.html
A Descent into the Horrors of Extreme Feminism
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/descent-into-horrors-of-extreme.html
Everyday Horrors: Coffins
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/everyday-horrors-coffins.html
The Guide to Supernatural Fiction: A Review, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/01/guide-to-supernatural-fiction-review.html
The Guide to Supernatural Fiction: A Review, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/guide-to-supernatural-fiction-review.html
The Encyclopedia of Monsters: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/encyclopedia-of-monsters-review.html
Everyday Horrors: The Electric Chair
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-electric-chair.html
Everyday Horrors: Worms
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-worms.html
Everyday Horrors: Giant Animals
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-giant-animals.html
Buber, Bosch, Giger, et. al.: The Face in the Mirror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/buber-bosch-giger-et-al-face-in-mirror.html
Conversation Partners: Creating Mars and Venus
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/conversation-partners-creating-mars-and.html
Foiled Again
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/foiled-again.html
Rene Magritte: The Horror of the Surreal
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/rene-magritte-horror-of-surreal.html
“Hop-Frog”: A Story of Reversals
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/hop-frog-story-of-reversals.html
Everyday Horrors: Frogs
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-frogs.html
Total Institutions as Horror Settings
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/total-institutions-as-horror-story.html
Everyday Horrors: Anglerfish
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-anglerfish.html
Mad Science
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/mad-science.html
Alternative Explanations, Part 1: Demons and Ghosts
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-i-demons.html
Alternative Explanations, Part 2: Clairvoyants
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-ii.html
Alternative Explanations, Part 3: Telekinetic and Levitating Characters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-iii.html
Alternative Explanations, Part IV: Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/alternative-explanations-part-iv.html
Everyday Horrors: Cornfields
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-cornfields.html
Everyday Horrors: Skeletons
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-skeletons.html
Everyday Horrors: Nightmares
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-nightmares.html
Everyday Horrors: Teenagers and Young Adults
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-teenagers-and-young.html
A Sense of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/sense-of-horror.html
Ideas That Don’t Work
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/ideas-that-dont-work.html
Buffy and Kendra: They Just Slay Me!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/buffy-and-kendra-they-just-slay-me.html
Identifying Elements of the Horrific
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/identifying-elements-of-horrific.html
Everyday Horrors: The Atomic Bomb
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-atomic-bomb.html
Everyday Horrors: Plagues
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-plagues.html
Everyday Horrors: Gangs
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-gangs.html
Creating an Eerie Atmosphere and Tone
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/creating-eerie-atmosphere-and-tone.html
Everyday Horrors: Autopsies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-horrors-autopsies.html
Horror Movie Remakes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/horror-movie-remakes.html
Scream Queens
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/02/scream-queens.html
Early Body Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/early-body-horror.html
Leftover Plots, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-i.html
Free Horror Films, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-horror-films-part-i.html
Free Horror Films, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-horror-films-part-ii.html
Free Horror Films, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/free-horror-films-part-iii.html
Leftover Plots, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-ii.html
Unfinished Plots: The Cliffhanger
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/unfinished-plots-cliffhanger.html
Everyday Horrors: Zombies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/unfinished-plots-cliffhanger.html
Visualizing Horror: Movie Posters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/visualizing-horror-movie-posters.html
Movie Posters: Visualizing Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/movie-posters-visualizing-horror_9905.html
Fear: A Cultural History: A Partial Review and Summary, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-cultural-history-partial-review_08.html
Fear: A Cultural History: A Partial Review and Summary, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-cultural-history-partial-review_6575.html
Fear: A Cultural History: A Partial Review and Summary, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-cultural-history-partial-review_09.html
Borderlands: Realms of Gold? Okay, Maybe They’re Realms of Pyrite, But They Still Glitter Pretty Well
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/borderlands-realms-of-gold-okay-maybe.html
Everyday Horrors: Plants
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-plants.html
Everyday Horrors: Mummies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-mummies.html
Download Free Stories
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/download-free-stories.html
Everyday Horrors: Castles and Hotels
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-castles-and-hotels.html
Everyday Horrors: Bureaucrats
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/everyday-horrors-bureaucrats.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_16.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/copyright-2008-by-gary-l.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_18.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_9184.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldly, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_4152.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldy, Part 6
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_19.html
A Dictionary of the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Otherworldy, Part 7
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/dictionary-of-paranormal-supernatural_1995.html
Leftover Plots, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-iii.html
Leftover Plots, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/leftover-plots-part-iii.html
The Monster as the Mirror of the Protagonist’s Soul
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/monster-as-mirror-of-protagonists-soul.html
Paranormal and Supernatural Hoaxes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/paranormal-and-supernatural-hoaxes.html
Buffy: More than Pastiche
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/buffy-more-than-pastiche.html
Creating Mood in Horror Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/creating-mood-in-horror-fiction.html
Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments as a Hermeneutics for Horror Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/adam-smiths-theory-of-moral-sentiments.html
The Cliffhanger
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/cliffhanger.html
More Free Books
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-free-books.html
Horror by the Slice: “The Lurking Fear”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/horror-by-slice-lurking-fear.html
Masters of the Macabre
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/masters-of-macabre.html
The Nature of the Beast
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/03/nature-of-beast.html
A Catalogue of Vulnerabilities
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/when-one-considers-variety-of-ways-in.html
Everyday Horrors: The Police
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/everyday-horrors-police.html
Everyday Horrors: Killer Bees
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/everyday-horrors-killer-bees.html
How to Haunt a House, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-i.html
How to Haunt a House, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-ii.html
How to Haunt a House, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-iii.html
How to Haunt a House, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-iv.html
How to Haunt a House, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-haunt-house-part-v.html
Psychic Vampirism in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Oval Portrait”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/psychic-vampirism-in-edgar-allan-poes.html
Horror Art: Attraction and Repulsion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/psychic-vampirism-in-edgar-allan-poes.html
Horror Fiction and the Problem of Evil
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/horror-fiction-and-problem-of-evil.html
“The Philosophy of Composition” and “The Red Room”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/philosophy-of-composition-and-red-room.html
“The Hollow of the Three Hills”: Hell on Earth
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/hollow-of-three-hills-hell-on-earth.html
Everyday Horrors: Forensic Etomology and Putrefaction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/everyday-horrors-forensic-etomology-and.html
The Heart of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/heart-of-horror.html
Guest Speaker: Edgar Allan Poe on Nathaniel Hawthorne
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/04/guest-speaker-edgar-allan-poe-on.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Notes on Writing
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft-notes-on.html
Flowers of Evil: Horror Film Anthologies
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/flowers-of-evil-horror-film-anthologies.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_05.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_585.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_6743.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_8132.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 6
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_9437.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 7
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_5904.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 8
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_1077.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 9
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_1971.html
Guest Speaker: H. P. Lovecraft: Supernatural Horror in Literature, Part 10
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/guest-speaker-h-p-lovecraft_6645.html
Contemporary Horror Fiction Bookshelf
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/contemporary-horror-fiction-bookshelf.html
Going Through the Motions, or the Physics of Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/going-through-motions-or-physics-of.html
Fictional Stories as Thought Experiments
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/fictional-stories-as-thought.html
Tag! You’re It!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/tag-youre-it.html
Threat Recognition: Keeping It Real
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/threat-recognition-keeping-it-real.html
A Certain Slant of Light
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/certain-slant-of-light.html
Frazetta: Work That Is Beautiful Even When Horrific
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/frazetta-work-that-is-beautiful-even.html
Julie Bell:Hard Curves, Soft as Steel”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/julie-bell-hard-curves-soft-as-steel.html
Everyday Horrors: Abandoned Houses
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/05/everyday-horrors-abandoned-houses.html
Purposeful, Frightening Scenes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/purposeful-frightening-scenes.html
Beginnings: How Would You Finish the Story?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/beginnings-how-would-you-finish-story.html
Middles: How Would You Finish the Story?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/middles-how-would-you-finish-story.html
Endings: How Would You Finish the Story?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/endings-how-would-you-finish-story.html
The Feminization of Horror: The Horror! The Horror!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/feminization-of-horror-horror-horror.html
Horror and Magritte’s Visual Loans
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/horror-and-magrittes-visual-koans.html
Everyday Horrors: Psychopaths
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=3339553278765301079
Thinking of Seeing “The Happening”? Save Your Money!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/thinking-of-seeing-happening-save-your.html
“The Hungry Stones”: An Open-Ended Conclusion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/hungry-stones-open-ended-conclusion.html
“The Addams Family” Technique
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=3339553278765301079
Explanations for Evil, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/explanations-for-evil.html
Explanations for Evil, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/explanations-for-evil-part-ii.html
Horror Is (Undesirable) Otherness
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/horror-is-undesirable-otherness.html
Scientists: Ghosts and Vampires Need Not Apply
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/scientists-ghosts-and-vampires-need-not.html
Perennial Favorites
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/perennial-favorites.html
The Fatal Flaw, Part the First
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/fatal-flaw-part-first.html
The Fatal Flaw, Part the Second
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/fatal-flaw-part-second.html
Guest Speaker: Robert Bloch
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/guest-speaker-robert-bloch.html
Verizon’s Version of Horror: The Dead Zone Advertisement
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/verizons-version-of-horror-dead-zone.html
Everyday Horrors: Masks
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/everyday-horrors-masks_26.html
Subliminal Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/subliminal-horror.html
Sexploitation Horror Films: Sexing It Up
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/sexploitation-horror-films-sexing-it-up.html
Bases For Fear, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/07/bases-for-fear-part-i.html
Bases For Fear, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/bases-for-fear-part-ii.html
Bases For Fear, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/bases-for-fear-part-iii.html
Horrific Poems: A Sampler
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/horrific-poems-sampler.html
Sexing it Up, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/sexing-it-up-part-ii.html
Nothing Gets Between a Monster and Its Genes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/nothing-gets-between-monster-and-its.html
Charles Baudelaire’s “Carrion”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/charles-baudelaires-carrion.html
The Etymology of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/etymology-of-horror.html
Sex Demons: Incubi and Succubae
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/sex-demons-incubi-and-succubae.html
“The Birth of Monsters” and Other Poems
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/birth-of-monsters-and-other-poems.html
The Fine Line Between Humor and Horror: Finding the Vein
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/fine-line-between-humor-and-horror.html
Little on “The Collection”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/little-on-collection.html
Bentley Little’s “Collection”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/bentley-littles-collection.html
Intriguing Chapter Titles
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/intriguing-chapter-titles.html
“Heavy-Set”: Learning From the Masters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/heavy-set-learning-from-masters.html
Tentacles, of Themselves, Do Not a Horror Movie Make
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/08/tentacles-of-themselves-do-not-horror.html
“The Academy”: Learning From the Masters
http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=3339553278765301079
“The Academy”: Learning From the Masters, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/academy-learning-from-masters-part-2.html
Femme Fatales
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/femme-fatales.html
Frustrating Formulaic
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/frustrating-formulaic-fiction.html
Story Deck
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/story-deck.html
Toward a Taxonomy of Horror Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/toward-taxonomy-of-horror-fiction.html
Images of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/images-of-horror-part-ii.html
The Form and Function of the Alien Menace
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/form-and-function-of-alien-menace.html
Hell on Earth
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/09/hell-on-earth.html
Plot Meets Laws of Motion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/plot-meets-laws-of-motion.html
The Rhetoric of Emotion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/rhetoric-of-emotion.html
What’s So Weird About Weird Tales?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/whats-so-weird-about-weird-tales.html
Nocturnal Suicide: An Almost-Story Born of Mere Description
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/nocturnal-suicide-almost-story-born-of.html
The Home and the Lair, or Heaven and Hell
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/home-and-lair-or-heaven-and-hell.html
The Protagonist’s Emotional Arc
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/protagonists-emotional-arc.html
“Duma Key”: The Decline of Horror?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/duma-key-decline-of-horror.html
Paradise, Heroism, and the Eternal Return: A Formula for Both Myth and Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/paradise-heroism-and-eternal-return.html
“Terror Television”
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/terror-television.html
Portals to Hell and Elsewhere
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/portals-to-hell-and-elsewhere.html
The Vagabond Menace
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/vagabond-menace.html
Learning from the Masters: Robert McCammon, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/learning-from-masters-robert-
mccammon.html
Learning from the Masters: Robert McCammon, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/learning-from-masters-robert-mccammon_06.html
Plot, Character, Setting, and Theme as Narrative Starting Points
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/plot-character-setting-and-theme-as.html
It Is Necessary to Suffer to Be Beautiful. . . Or Believable. . . Or Interesting
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/it-is-necessary-to-suffer-to-be.html
Danger, Will Robinson! Danger
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/danger-will-robinson-danger.html
Write What You Know (But What Does That Mean?)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/write-what-you-know-but-what-does-that.html
Literature: A Communal Ceremony
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/literature-communal-ceremony.html
Motivation as Explanation
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/motivation-as-explanation.html
Unworthy Books
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/unworthy-books.html
Secondary Antagonists
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/secondary-antagonists.html
Borrowed Malice
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/borrowed-malice.html
Aphoristic Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/aphoristic-horror.html
Write What You Know (But What Does That Mean?), Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/11/write-what-you-know-but-what-does-that_30.html
Music Hath Charms to Evoke the Savage Beast
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/music-hath-alarms-to-evoke-savage-beast.html
What’s So Scary About?. . .
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/whats-so-scary-about.html
Fallacious Horrors
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/fallacious-horrors.html
Some Thoughts on Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/some-thoughts-on-horror.html
“Christabel”: The Prototypical Lesbian Vampire, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/christabel-prototypical-lesbian-vampire.html
“Christabel”: The Prototypical Lesbian Vampire, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/christabel-prototypical-lesbian-vampire_20.html
Making a Scene
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/making-scene.html
Generating Horror Plots, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/generating-horror-plots-part-1.html
Generating Horror Plots, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2008/12/generating-horror-plots-part-ii.html
Generating Horror Plots, Part 3
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/generating-horror-plots-part-iii.html
Generating Horror Plots, Part 4
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/generating-horror-plots-part-iv.html
Generating Horror Plots, Part 5
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/generating-horror-plots-part-v.html
The Fill-in-the-Blank Guide to Writing Fiction
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/fill-in-blank-guide-to-writing-fiction.html
Writers’ Considerations: Readers’ Likes and Dislikes
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/writers-considerations-readers-likes.html
What Scares Me May Scare You, Too (Or Not)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-scares-me-may-scare-you-too-or-not.html
Presto! You Have a Plot!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/presto-you-have-plot.html
The Hyperfeminine Monster: What Does She Look Like?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/hyperfeminine-monster-what-does-she.html
Stephen King’s Horrific Fairy Tales; Dean Koontz’s Variations on a Formula
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/stephen-kings-horrific-fairy-tales-dean.html
Horror Story Formulae
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/horror-story-formulae.html
Horror Story Survival Tactics
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/horror-story-survival-tactics.html
Surrealism and Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/surrealism-and-horror.html
The Calm Before the Storm
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/calm-before-storm.html
The Horror of the Double
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/horror-of-double.html
Green Graves
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/green-graves.html
Imagining Hell
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/imagining-hell.html
Demons Old and New
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/demons-old-and-new.html
The Here, the Now, and the Eternal
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/here-now-and-eternal.html
Location! Location! Location!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/location-location-location.html
Monster Mash, or How to Create a Monster, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/monster-mash-or-how-to-create-monster.html
Monster Mash, or How to Create a Monster, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/monster-mash-or-how-to-create-monster.html
Syntactical Storylines
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/syntactical-storylines.html
Small-Town, Rural, and Urban Horrors, or There Goes the Neighborhood!
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/small-town-rural-and-urban-horrors-or.html
Reversals of fate and Fortune
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/reversals-of-fate-and-fortune.html
The Monsters and Heroes of Fiction (Are the Monsters and Heroes of the Self)
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/monsters-and-heroes-of-fiction-are.html
Mapping the Monstrous
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/mapping-monstrous.html
Sensory Links
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/sensory-links.html
Grist For the Mill
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/03/grist-for-mill.html
Building Horror and Suspense Tobe Hooper’s Way, Part 1
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-horror-and-suspense-tobe.html
Building Horror and Suspense Tobe Hooper’s Way, Part 2
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-horror-and-suspense-tobe_06.html
Famous Writers’ and Directors’ Quotes With More or Less Direct Application to the Theory and Practice of Writing Horror http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/famous-writers-and-directors-quotes_10.html
Anaphoric Allusions
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/anaphoric-allusions.html
The Sympathetic Character: Intimations of Past Trauma
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/sympathetic-character-intimations-of.html
Dean Koontz’s Techniques for Engaging Readers and Advancing Plots
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/dean-koontzs-techniques-for-engaging_18.html
“Man Overboard”: Questioning Nature and Its Creator
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/man-overboard-questioning-nature-and.html
Revisiting the Numinous
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/revisiting-numinous.html
The Value of Literature
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/04/value-of-literature.html
Categories of Horror
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/categories-of-horror.html
Horror As Allegory
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/horror-as-allegory.html
“Summer Morning, Summer Night”: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/summer-morning-summer-night-review.html
Ray Bradbury’s “Love Potion”: Learning From the Masters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/ray-bradburys-love-potion-learning-from.html
Characterization via Emotion
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/characterization-via-emotion_17.html
Ghosts: An Endangered Species?
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/ghosts-endangered-species.html
Modern Monsters
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/modern-monsters.html
Reading, Writing, and Plotting
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/reading-writing-and-plotting.html
Dialogue as Repartee
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/05/dialogue-as-repartee.html
Possible Worlds of the Fantastic: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/possible-worlds-of-fantastic-review.html
Bodies in Pieces: A Review
http://writinghorrorfiction.blogspot.com/2009/09/bodies-in-pieces-review.html
Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself?
We fear countless things.
Things that wait in ambush . Bizarre incidents. Crowds and mobs, flocks and swarms. The close proximity of gigantic things. Darkness. Fog. Cemeteries, graves, morgues, mortuaries, tombs, and other places of the dead. Attics, basements, closets, crawlspaces, and other little-used places. Caves. Underground places. Castles. Mansions. Remote locations. Isolation. Foreigners and foreign lands. Strangers. Men, women, and children. Figurines and statues. Toys. Clowns. Dungeons, prisons, and torture chambers. Disease. Famine. Hunger. Thirst. Death. Dismemberment. Disfigurement. Rape. Pain. Grief. Loss of control. Madness. Sex. Wild animals. Wilderness. Swamps. Deserts. Mountains. Forests. Jungles. Islands. The open sea. Frozen wastelands. Becoming lost. Perversions. Skeletons and skulls. Suddenness. Doctors and dentists. Indifference. The unknown. Natural catastrophes--avalanches, blizzards, droughts, earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, landslides and mudslides, lightning, pestilence, plagues, storms, tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, whirlpools.
“Misery is manifold,” as Edgar Allan Poe observed.
We fear loss--the loss of life, limb, mind, senses, sanity, but we also fear that we may lose whatever we value: self, certain (but not all) others (spouses, children, siblings, pets), home, job, dignity, liberty, truth, financial security, independence, safety, security, freedom from need, luxury, beauty, intelligence, happiness, health, strength, power, talent.
Anything we value can be damaged, destroyed, killed, or taken away.
Anything can happen. To anyone. At any time.
We fear what can threaten any of these persons, places, things, qualities, or ideas. We also fear those who have themselves experienced such losses, for they are reminders that we may suffer similar fates. The one-armed man or the man with a glass eye or a woman with a disfigured face are objects of fear and revulsion because we could be in their places.
Against threats, we erect defenses, physical and emotional, social and otherwise intangible: militia, psychological defense mechanisms, law and social institutions, police forces, firefighting and rescue organizations, philosophy and religion. Threats to these defenses are also threats to us as individuals and communities, nations and a world. War, humiliation, criminality, political corruption, dishonest police, inept firefighters or rescue personnel, new ideas, idolatries and heresies--all are threats to personal, social, national, and universal wellbeing and survival. On a lesser level, baldness, cellulite, hearing loss, diminished vision, impaired mobility, arthritis, wrinkles, reductions in energy, strength, and stamina--these are signs of deterioration, loss of vitality, and approaching or encroaching death.
The cosmetics and fashion industries are built upon the suppression of the effects of aging and the denial of death. Police organizations and prisons exist to protect the public from predatory criminals, the military to defend the country against aggressive nations.
The pharmaceutical industry exists to prevent, treat, and cure disease (and, more and more, it seems, judging by televised commercials, to remedy men who experience erectile dysfunction).
The Roman Catholic Church sees everything but reproductive sex as sinful because non-procreative sexual activities do not support the continuance of the human species. From this standpoint, non-reproductive sex is a threat to human survival, and many horror stories, novels, and movies introduce homosexuality, fornication among teenagers, or other perversions of the heterosexual drive to reproduce as heralding eruptions of the demonic or monstrous into society. Usually, the couples who are involved in such practices meet doom at the hands of the monster or other threat that menaces the characters in the story.
Many offenses can also be defenses. One may hiding to ambush or to avoid being captured or killed. One may organize to defend a family, a community, a nation, or a world, or to attack and defeat the same. Statues may be erected to commemorate, to protect, or to shame--or, possibly, to warn.
Threats can be literal (a monster hiding in ambush) or figurative (arcane or occult knowledge is knowledge that is hidden from others).
“There is nothing to fear,” Franklin Roosevelt assured fearful Americans, “but fear itself,” and yet he, a polio victim, feared that the public he led would regard him as unfit for such responsibility if the all-but-paralyzing effects of the disease he’d suffered were known to the people and took pains always to appear as vigorous and robust as e could.
There is always plenty to fear, and, as long as there is, horror fiction will continue to thrive--and writhe.
When the Center Does Not Hold
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep were
vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
These mystic centers, often circular in design, are separate from the ordinary world surrounding them and are, therefore, potentially sacred, integrating “space at several significant levels,” including “global (cosmic), state (political), capital (ceremonial), and temple (ritual).”
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, Jerusalem is an example: “The heavenly Jerusalem, the historical Jerusalem, and the coming Jerusalem are all reflections of a city already found in the mind of God.”
When religious faith declines, religious centers are replaced by secular surrogates, a point made by Zepp in his quotation of Eliade: “To the degree that ancient holy places. . . lose their religious efficacy, people discover and apply other geometric architecture or iconographic formulas.” In the larger community, that of the nation, such surrogate centers include Washington, D. C., the political center, New York City’s Wall Street, the economic center, and New York City’s Broadway and Los Angeles’ Hollywood, as prominent cultural centers.
In addition, various other centers, universities, sports arenas, national and state parks, military bases, state capitals, town halls, railway stations--are scattered, as it were, around the country, at regional, state, and local levels. Many of these serve the general public, but some are more or less the exclusive provinces of those who work in them or frequent them--trucks stops, shopping centers, research laboratories, factories. Zepp lists several such centers in his essay, identifying facilities for conferences, civics, medicine, agriculture, shopping, senior citizens, recreation, and students, all of which incorporate the term “center” as part of their designations.
Much of Stephen King’s fiction takes place in American small towns. In some of these towns, the church is still active as a sacred center. In Needful Things, ‘Salem’s Lot, and The Cycle of the Werewolf, the church, in its Catholic or Protestant version (or both versions) is active, if relatively ineffective. The Catholic and Protestant churches in Needful Things are both unable to resist the temptations of the devil, as he appears in the person of Leland Gaunt, and, in fact, literally take arms against one another in a riot of violence, death, and gore. In ‘Salem’s Lot, Father Callahan’s religious faith is so weak that the priest is easily overcome by the vampire Barlow, who transforms him into one of his followers, a member of the brotherhood of the evil undead, and, in The Cycle of the Werewolf, the local Baptist pastor, Reverend Lester Lowe, is the story’s antagonist from the very beginning of the story.
King, like Dean Koontz, Dan Simmons, Robert McCammon, and other contemporary horror writers, tends to relocate the sacred center not in surrogate places, but rather in the solitary holy individual or the consecrated few. In some cases, these individuals are not religious in the traditional sense; other times, they are. In Desperation, David Carver is the religious protagonist whose faith carries the day against the demo n Tak. In Koontz’s The Taking, Molly Sloan and her husband Neil fend of the onslaught of Satan and his minions. In Simmons’ Summer of Night, altar boy Mike O’Rourke leads his peers against the ancient evil that attacks his hometown. In William Peter Blatty, Father Damian Karras exorcises the legion of demons who have possessed pre-pubescent Regan MacNeil. These characters are more or less religious in the traditional sense.
Paranormal vs. Supernatural: What’s the Diff?
Sometimes, in demonstrating how to brainstorm about an essay topic, selecting horror movies, I ask students to name the titles of as many such movies as spring to mind (seldom a difficult feat for them, as the genre remains quite popular among young adults). Then, I ask them to identify the monster, or threat--the antagonist, to use the proper terminology--that appears in each of the films they have named. Again, this is usually a quick and easy task. Finally, I ask them to group the films’ adversaries into one of three possible categories: natural, paranormal, or supernatural. This is where the fun begins.
It’s a simple enough matter, usually, to identify the threats which fall under the “natural” label, especially after I supply my students with the scientific definition of “nature”: everything that exists as either matter or energy (which are, of course, the same thing, in different forms--in other words, the universe itself. The supernatural is anything which falls outside, or is beyond, the universe: God, angels, demons, and the like, if they exist. Mad scientists, mutant cannibals (and just plain cannibals), serial killers, and such are examples of natural threats. So far, so simple.
What about borderline creatures, though? Are vampires, werewolves, and zombies, for example, natural or supernatural? And what about Freddy Krueger? In fact, what does the word “paranormal” mean, anyway? If the universe is nature and anything outside or beyond the universe is supernatural, where does the paranormal fit into the scheme of things?
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “paranormal,” formed of the prefix “para,” meaning alongside, and “normal,” meaning “conforming to common standards, usual,” was coined in 1920. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “paranormal” to mean “beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation.” In other words, the paranormal is not supernatural--it is not outside or beyond the universe; it is natural, but, at the present, at least, inexplicable, which is to say that science cannot yet explain its nature. The same dictionary offers, as examples of paranormal phenomena, telepathy and “a medium’s paranormal powers.”
Wikipedia offers a few other examples of such phenomena or of paranormal sciences, including the percentages of the American population which, according to a Gallup poll, believes in each phenomenon, shown here in parentheses: psychic or spiritual healing (54), extrasensory perception (ESP) (50), ghosts (42), demons (41), extraterrestrials (33), clairvoyance and prophecy (32), communication with the dead (28), astrology (28), witchcraft (26), reincarnation (25), and channeling (15); 36 percent believe in telepathy.
As can be seen from this list, which includes demons, ghosts, and witches along with psychics and extraterrestrials, there is a confusion as to which phenomena and which individuals belong to the paranormal and which belong to the supernatural categories. This confusion, I believe, results from the scientism of our age, which makes it fashionable for people who fancy themselves intelligent and educated to dismiss whatever cannot be explained scientifically or, if such phenomena cannot be entirely rejected, to classify them as as-yet inexplicable natural phenomena. That way, the existence of a supernatural realm need not be admitted or even entertained. Scientists tend to be materialists, believing that the real consists only of the twofold unity of matter and energy, not dualists who believe that there is both the material (matter and energy) and the spiritual, or supernatural. If so, everything that was once regarded as having been supernatural will be regarded (if it cannot be dismissed) as paranormal and, maybe, if and when it is explained by science, as natural. Indeed, Sigmund Freud sought to explain even God as but a natural--and in Freud’s opinion, an obsolete--phenomenon.
Meanwhile, among skeptics, there is an ongoing campaign to eliminate the paranormal by explaining them as products of ignorance, misunderstanding, or deceit. Ridicule is also a tactic that skeptics sometimes employ in this campaign. For example, The Skeptics’ Dictionary contends that the perception of some “events” as being of a paranormal nature may be attributed to “ignorance or magical thinking.” The dictionary is equally suspicious of each individual phenomenon or “paranormal science” as well. Concerning psychics’ alleged ability to discern future events, for example, The Skeptic’s Dictionary quotes Jay Leno (“How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?”), following with a number of similar observations:
Psychics don't rely on psychics to warn them of impending disasters. Psychics don't predict their own deaths or diseases. They go to the dentist like the rest of us. They're as surprised and disturbed as the rest of us when they have to call a plumber or an electrician to fix some defect at home. Their planes are delayed without their being able to anticipate the delays. If they want to know something about Abraham Lincoln, they go to the library; they don't try to talk to Abe's spirit. In short, psychics live by the known laws of nature except when they are playing the psychic game with people.In An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, James Randi, a magician who exercises a skeptical attitude toward all things alleged to be paranormal or supernatural, takes issue with the notion of such phenomena as well, often employing the same arguments and rhetorical strategies as The Skeptic’s Dictionary.
In short, the difference between the paranormal and the supernatural lies in whether one is a materialist, believing in only the existence of matter and energy, or a dualist, believing in the existence of both matter and energy and spirit. If one maintains a belief in the reality of the spiritual, he or she will classify such entities as angels, demons, ghosts, gods, vampires, and other threats of a spiritual nature as supernatural, rather than paranormal, phenomena. He or she may also include witches (because, although they are human, they are empowered by the devil, who is himself a supernatural entity) and other natural threats that are energized, so to speak, by a power that transcends nature and is, as such, outside or beyond the universe. Otherwise, one is likely to reject the supernatural as a category altogether, identifying every inexplicable phenomenon as paranormal, whether it is dark matter or a teenage werewolf. Indeed, some scientists dedicate at least part of their time to debunking allegedly paranormal phenomena, explaining what natural conditions or processes may explain them, as the author of The Serpent and the Rainbow explains the creation of zombies by voodoo priests.
Based upon my recent reading of Tzvetan Todorov's The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to the Fantastic, I add the following addendum to this essay.
According to Todorov:
The fantastic. . . lasts only as long as a certain hesitation [in deciding] whether or not what they [the reader and the protagonist] perceive derives from "reality" as it exists in the common opinion. . . . If he [the reader] decides that the laws of reality remain intact and permit an explanation of the phenomena described, we can say that the work belongs to the another genre [than the fantastic]: the uncanny. If, on the contrary, he decides that new laws of nature must be entertained to account for the phenomena, we enter the genre of the marvelous (The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, 41).Todorov further differentiates these two categories by characterizing the uncanny as “the supernatural explained” and the marvelous as “the supernatural accepted” (41-42).
Interestingly, the prejudice against even the possibility of the supernatural’s existence which is implicit in the designation of natural versus paranormal phenomena, which excludes any consideration of the supernatural, suggests that there are no marvelous phenomena; instead, there can be only the uncanny. Consequently, for those who subscribe to this view, the fantastic itself no longer exists in this scheme, for the fantastic depends, as Todorov points out, upon the tension of indecision concerning to which category an incident belongs, the natural or the supernatural. The paranormal is understood, by those who posit it, in lieu of the supernatural, as the natural as yet unexplained.
And now, back to a fate worse than death: grading students’ papers.
My Cup of Blood
Anyway, this is what I happen to like in horror fiction:
Small-town settings in which I get to know the townspeople, both the good, the bad, and the ugly. For this reason alone, I’m a sucker for most of Stephen King’s novels. Most of them, from 'Salem's Lot to Under the Dome, are set in small towns that are peopled by the good, the bad, and the ugly. Part of the appeal here, granted, is the sense of community that such settings entail.
Isolated settings, such as caves, desert wastelands, islands, mountaintops, space, swamps, where characters are cut off from civilization and culture and must survive and thrive or die on their own, without assistance, by their wits and other personal resources. Many are the examples of such novels and screenplays, but Alien, The Shining, The Descent, Desperation, and The Island of Dr. Moreau, are some of the ones that come readily to mind.
Total institutions as settings. Camps, hospitals, military installations, nursing homes, prisons, resorts, spaceships, and other worlds unto themselves are examples of such settings, and Sleepaway Camp, Coma, The Green Mile, and Aliens are some of the novels or films that take place in such settings.
Anecdotal scenes--in other words, short scenes that showcase a character--usually, an unusual, even eccentric, character. Both Dean Koontz and the dynamic duo, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, excel at this, so I keep reading their series (although Koontz’s canine companions frequently--indeed, almost always--annoy, as does his relentless optimism).
Atmosphere, mood, and tone. Here, King is king, but so is Bentley Little. In the use of description to terrorize and horrify, both are masters of the craft.
Believable characters. Stephen King, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, and Dan Simmons are great at creating characters that stick to readers’ ribs.
Innovation. Bram Stoker demonstrates it, especially in his short story “Dracula’s Guest,” as does H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, and a host of other, mostly classical, horror novelists and short story writers. For an example, check out my post on Stoker’s story, which is a real stoker, to be sure. Stephen King shows innovation, too, in ‘Salem’s Lot, The Shining, It, and other novels. One might even argue that Dean Koontz’s something-for-everyone, cross-genre writing is innovative; he seems to have been one of the first, if not the first, to pen such tales.
Technique. Check out Frank Peretti’s use of maps and his allusions to the senses in Monster; my post on this very topic is worth a look, if I do say so myself, which, of course, I do. Opening chapters that accomplish a multitude of narrative purposes (not usually all at once, but successively) are attractive, too, and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are as good as anyone, and better than many, at this art.
A connective universe--a mythos, if you will, such as both H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King, and, to a lesser extent, Dean Koontz, Bentley Little, and even Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have created through the use of recurring settings, characters, themes, and other elements of fiction.
A lack of pretentiousness. Dean Koontz has it, as do Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Bentley Little, and (to some extent, although he has become condescending and self-indulgent of late, Stephen King); unfortunately, both Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon have become too self-important in their later works, Simmons almost to the point of becoming unreadable. Come on, people, you’re writing about monsters--you should be humble.
Longevity. Writers who have been around for a while usually get better, Stephen King, Dan Simmons, and Robert McCammon excepted.
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