The Palgrave Handbook to Horror Literature

This handbook examines the use of horror in storytelling, from oral traditions through folklore and fairy tales to contemporary horror fiction. Divided into sections that explore the origins and evolution of horror fiction, the recurrent themes that can be seen in horror, and ways of understanding horror through literary and cultural theory, the text analyses why horror is so compelling, and how we should interpret its presence in literature. Chapters explore historical horror aspects including ancient mythology, medieval writing, drama, chapbooks, the Gothic novel, and literary Modernism and trace themes such as vampires, children and animals in horror, deep dark forests, labyrinths, disability, and imperialism. Considering horror via postmodern theory, evolutionary psychology, postcolonial theory, and New Materialism, this handbook investigates issues of gender and sexuality, race, censorship and morality, environmental studies, and literary versus popular fiction.

Offers a refreshing update on the genre of Horror Literature, particularly in light of timely theoretical discussions such as queer theory, feminist theory, and animal studies Traverses time periods and geographical areas, covering topics ranging from medieval European horror to zombie fiction Establishes the importance of the horror genre within the academy, which has been grossly overlooked and downplayed until recently

Autorentext

Kevin Corstorphine is Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Hull, UK. His work focuses on Gothic Studies, haunted space and place, the Ecogothic, and the study of popular fiction.

Laura R. Kremmel is Assistant Professor of English at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, USA. Her work focuses on Gothic Studies, British Romanticism, Medical Humanities/History, Disability Studies, and Horror Film.

Inhalt

1. Introduction, Kevin Corstorphine.- 2. Bhaynaka (Horror and the Horrific) in Indian Aesthetics, Dhananjay Singh.- 3. Horror in the Medieval North: The Troll, Ármann Jakobsson.- 4. The Horror Genre and Aspects of Native American Indian Literature, Joy Porter.- 5. Vampires, Shape-Shifters, and Sinister Light: Mistranslating Australian Aboriginal Horror in Theory and Literary Practice, Naomi Simone Borwein.- 6. Men, Women, and Landscape in American Horror Fiction, Dara Downey.- 7. Blood Flows Freely: The Horror of Classic Fairy Tales, Lorna Piatti-Farnell.- 8. Turning Dark Pages and Transacting with the Inner Self: Adolescents' Perspectives of Reading Horror Texts, Phil Fitzsimmons.- 9. Horror and Damnation in Medieval Literature, Andrew J. Power.- 10. The Jacobean Theater of Horror, Tony Perrello.- 11. A mass of unnatural and repulsive horrors: Staging Horror in Nineteenth-Century English Theatre, Sarah A. Winter.- 12. Horror in Gothic Chapbooks, Franz J. Potter.- 13. We stare and tremble: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Horror Novels, Natalie Neill.- 14. The Horror! The Horror!: Tracing Horror in Modernism from Conrad to Eliot, Matthias Stephan.- 15. Global Horror: Pale Horse, Pale Rider, David Punter.- 16. Vampires: Reflections in a Dark Mirror, Wendy Fall.- 17. Zombie Fictions, Anya Heise-von der Lippe.- 18. You don't think I'm like any other boy. That's why you're afraid: Haunted / Haunting Children from The Turn of the Screw to Tales of Terror, Chloé Germaine Buckley.- 19. Discussing Dolls: Horror and the Human Double, Sandra Mills.- 20. They Have Risen Once: They May Rise Again: Animals in Horror Literature, Bernice M. Murphy.- 21. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Woods?: Deep Dark Forests and Literary Horror, Elizabeth Parker.- 22. Disability and Horror, Alan Gregory.- 23. Monstrous Machines and Devilish Devices, Gwyneth Peaty.- 24. And Send her Well-Dos'd to the Grave: Literary Medical Horror, Laura R. Kremmel.- 25. Imperial Horror and Terrorism, Johan Höglund.- 26. Postmodern Literary Labyrinths: Spaces of Horror Reimagined, Katharine Cox.- 27. Evolutionary Study of Horror Literature, Mathias Clasen.- 28. Transgressive Horror and Politics: The Splatterpunks and Extreme Horror, Aalya Ahmad.- 29. Boundary Crossing and Cultural Creation: Transgressive Horror and Politics of the 1990s, Coco d'Hont.- 30. Maggot Maladies: Origins of Horror as a Culturally Proscribed Entertainment, Sarah Cleary.- 31. The Mother of All Horrors: Medea's Infanticide in African American Literature, Christina Dokou.- 32. Horror, Race, and Reality, Ordner W. Taylor, III.- 33. Postcolonial Horror, Tabish Khair.- 34. Conceptualizing Varieties of Space in Horror Fiction, Andrew Hock Soon Ng.- 35. Towards an Acoustics of Literary Horror, Matt Foley.- 36. Hesitation Marks: The Fantastic and The Satirical in Postmodern Horror, Laura Findlay.- 37. It's Alive! New Materialism and Literary Horror, Susan Yi Sencindiver.- 38. Horror After Theory, Lyle Enright.