...What is Horror Fiction? ------------------------------------------------- Before reading the text: ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- - How would you define Horror? --------------------------------------------------------------- From: The Horror Writers Association. (http://www.horror.org/horror-is.htm) That's a difficult question. In recent years the very term has become misleading. If you tell people you write horror fiction, the image that immediately pops into their minds is one of Freddy Krueger or maybe Michael Myers, while you were hoping for Shelley's Frankenstein or Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The popularity of the modern horror film, with its endless scenes of blood and gore, has eclipsed the reality of horror fiction. When you add to that a comprehension of how horror evolved as both a marketing category and a publishing niche during the late eighties -- horror's boom time -- it's easy to understand why answering the question of what today's horror fiction actually is has become so difficult. But let's give it a try, shall we? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. If we accept this definition, then horror can deal with the mundane or the supernatural, with the fantastic or the normal. It doesn't...
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...Gothic fiction combines the emotion of love, despair and horror. The genre continues to be a very successful genre of literature today and is widely used today for both entertainment and education purposes. For two centuries, G has gripped and frightens readers of different ages. During the eighteenth century England, Gothic had become synonymous with the Middle Ages. It was a period perceived as chaotic, unenlightened and superstitious. “Renaissance critics erroneously believed that Gothic architecture was created by Germanic tribes and regarded it as ugly and barbaric. This erroneous attribution continued through the eighteenth century.” (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/gothic.html) Horace Walpole first introduced...
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...notice about this assignment is that elements of it are modeled off of previous assignments. This is deliberate, as they’ve given you practice at this type of argumentation. This special topic section of English Composition II has focused upon the horror genre as practiced by American writers. We’ve read and discussed several works from horror authors over the course of the nation’s history, and considered in-depth longer fiction from the 20th Century horror icon Shirley Jackson. We’ve also delved into popular culture, examining comic books and, time permitting, television shows and movies. For this essay, you’ll be asked to pick another horror story (see The Topic section for some ideas) to add to this course’s discussion. In the interest of time, I suggest a short story, but you could read a novel for this project as well. More specifically, your essay should do the following things: (1) Provide your readers unfamiliar with your chosen text some context about the work, including a brief summary of the story. Likely, this would occur in your first support paragraph after your introduction. (2) Review the story. This is your opportunity to argue whether or not the text makes for a “good read.” You may turn to the elements of fiction that we’ve worked on this semester as a way of detailing why you feel the way you do about the book. You might also turn to any reviews or analysis of the tale or its subgenre that you’ve uncovered in your research – and incorporate ideas from these...
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...The extract under the title “The Eyes of the Dragon” was written by one of the outstanding American writers in the modern literature – Stephen King, known for his huge contribution in horror fiction, compared with such names as Balzac and Dickens. The extract under the study begins with the description of a young boy called Peter destined to be a king. It comes as no surprise he had a great number of servants to take care of him, but the most tender and vigilant of all was surely his mother – Sasha. She took it for granted to bring up her child in a manner worthy for kings only. Naturally she used all her talent, all her love and all her wit to raise the heir as well-bred and smart as possible. She was the only perfect teacher for him. To the boy’s mischief she died when he was only five and couldn’t realize everything properly, but those lessons she gave him stayed in his heart for ever. They say “the child’s soul is blank as a white sheet of paper, what you write there will be kept till the end.” I guess this statement suits the text precisely and comes as the controlling idea of the whole narration. Indeed, who knows better teacher and mentor for a child than its mother? Who knows all the specks and all the sores on a young body better than the woman who gave birth to the infant? No human creature. Small wonder that mothers love their children with all their heart, no matter what kind of child it is. The child is their flesh and blood, that’s the only sufficient reason...
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...Oppressive and repressive social institutions, value systems and codes of behaviour are central to the horror, science-fiction and fantasy genres. Focusing on 1-2 examples of your choice, consider how these genres mediate the ‘problem’ of the social. How significant is ideology, as well as genre theory, to your case-study? This essay will explore the ways in which the horror genre perpetuates repressive and oppressive social institutions, value systems and codes of behaviour surrounding the homosexual subject. It will be suggested that the generic conventions of horror films sustain repressive understandings of the normative order which position the homosexual subject as a threatening ‘other’. This essay will offer the opinion that it is through these representations that the horror genre produces the ideological figure of the ‘monstrous homosexual’. The discourses and ideologies explored will primarily be those relating to coding of the homosexual subject as predator and paedophile. This essay will engage with genre theory in order to demonstrate how narrative repetition in the horror genre mediates the homosexual subject as a disruption to the social order which must be eliminated in order to restore the heteronormative order. The methodology of genre theory will first be outlined, and the generic conventions of the horror film will be explored. The methodology of discourse analysis will also be employed in order to expose the ideologies at play in the case study. This essay...
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...fell asleep I was running. To this day I do not know what from. Whatever it was it must have been the most terrifying thing ever to exist for I seemed to be running without trying to. It was as if I had almost no control over my body. I wished to see what I was running from so I tried to open my eyes. I don’t know what I was expecting to happen. Perhaps I thought that my body would not respond to my commands as it didn’t with the running. Therefore it was a surprise to me when at my first attempt to open my eyes they did. I so wish I hadn’t. What I saw still haunts me most nights. I know that it was worse than any horror story ever made. For that reason I have great difficulty in dictating what I saw on that dreadful night not just emotionally but for the fact that the words do not exist to express exactly what I saw but I will do my best. It was worse than any horror story ever made there was a thick liquid dripping down the walls that looked suspiciously like blood. And it was not just dripping; it was splattered over the walls as if someone had been brutally murdered there. There were scratches in the walls, like someone- no not just someone- but a child by the size of the marks-had literally worn their fingers down to the knuckles trying to escape, as if that was there only way to survive. It did not seem logical that they stopped there at the time for it looked then like there were miles and miles left before the end of that gruesome tunnel. But then my feet felt as if they...
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...he was little and develops fear within himself. When his second child dies that is when he fears the place he lives in and the closet. Lester didn't want another child because he was afraid it can happen to his third child but of course, Lester ended up having another child. When Andy was born, he moved places because there were too many bad memories and he added "And too many closets." (King 101). He acted strange about closets ever since the two events. He would keep his boots in the hall because he didn't like to open closet doors. He would constantly think whether "The Boogeyman" would be there or whether it's ready to get him. A year after he got settled into a new home, "The Boogeyman" came back to get Andy. He remembered all the horror stories and said "Maybe all the monsters we were scared of when we were kids, Frankenstein and Wolfman and Mummy,...
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...Stephen King is a horror writer who writes novels. He writes in a pretty special way, as he doesn’t know how his horror stories will end. He tells that some of his colleagues (or other horror writers) always start with the last line. That mean they know every single line, detail and so on, before they even start. But not Stephen King. He starts somewhere and then ends up a complete other place. He let his imagination and story get formed by what he already has written – he let the story make itself and make what he already has written inflate himself to something new. For example he tells about a character called the mumbler which he think is fun to write about, but is only a small and more or less indifferent character, but develops itself to a more and more important part of the story. So he let himself inspire of what he already has wrote but also his surroundings. For example he wrote a lot of kids, when he had young kids himself. When he is done with a book he only accept if it’s good enough to be read twice. Stephen King has written, and is known for the shining, which scare me a lot. Some of the things that scare me the most are actually kids. Of course not normal kids on the street and so on, but kids in horror movies is the absolutely worst. I don’t know why, but I think it’s because kids is nice, pure and not evil at all. And when they in movies are, it’s just so scary. It would be like if you took an angle and made it dark, evil and full with...
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...American Horror Story, better known as AHS, is one show that has horror written all over it. After four seasons of terror, it was time to add the fifth season: American Horror Story Hotel. Season five began airing this fall, and just after the first few episodes people around the country were hooked. This season would keep people eager to watch every Wednesday night just to see what was going to happen next. This show provides all the right materials to fit a horror genre: scary scenes, violent and bloody scenes, scary atmosphere, a good story, unseen events, values at stake, a monster, and a hero. While watching an episode of AHS, viewers are warned about the scary and violent content of the show. This warning should not be taken lightly. From the very beginning of the season, every episode has had its own twist of horror and gore. The setting of AHS:Hotel is the Hotel Cortez located in Los Angeles. In the opening scene of episode one it features two swedish girls that find a creature hiding in the bed of their hotel room.This scene could make anyone want to stay up all night just to make sure there was not a monster underneath his or her covers. During...
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...Warning: Beware of Creature On this, the night before Halloween, there are no more appropriate novels than Frankenstein to read. Although Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s original intent was simply to participate in a horror story contest with her friends (which she rightfully won), she ended up crafting a well-known, full-length masterpiece. Frankenstein is famous not only for being spooky, but also for its commentary on the themes of dangers of knowledge and hubris, and monstrosity via playing God and losing innocence. “‘I imagine you may deduce an apt moral from my tale...nor can I doubt but that my tale conveys in its series internal evidence of the truth of the events of which it is composed’” (19). Through Frankenstein’s voice Shelley describes the greatest moral she has to offer from the suffering depicted in her story: the dangers of discovery and knowledge, which is that sometimes, however well-meant and innocent the intent may be, the expected result of scientific pursuits can turn out completely different than expected. Shelley’s prime example of this is the Creature and all the destruction he brings in his wake. So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein -- more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation (33). This is the epiphany that leads to the creation of the Creature, undoubtedly a somewhat naive and enthusiastic motivation...
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...Essay – Kittens by Dean Koontz The story, “Kittens” by Dean Koontz, is a short story. Back in the day, the families were very religious, and the families were pretty much the same. The father was the “leader” of the family, he made all the decisions. The mother stayed at home and took care of the house, cooking and the children. The story has a lot of religious themes. I don’t think this is a horror story, but it does have a couple of moments that could have that kind of brutal and gruesome theme. The main character is Marnie. She loves kittens and seems like a very normal, curious young girl. She seems so innocent through most of the story, but when she finds out that her parents are killing the kittens and not God, she gets so angry and take her revenge by killing the little twin babies. So she starts out as a sweet girl, who goes to Sunday school, does her homework and listens to her father, but she turns out to be a kind of psychotic. Or maybe she just doesn’t know how wrong it is to kill the twins. Her father is a pastor at the local church, and he is very religious and does not allow people to question God’s decisions and actions. Everyone obeys to the father. He is violent. When Marnie asks her father if God will take the kittens again, he simply answers “perhaps”. She gets mad and frustrated and keeps asking about the kittens and why God did what he did, and then her father hits her. Her mother stays home, cook, takes care of the house and the baby twins. The parents...
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...I was recently invited to review an audio drama production by Brinkman Adventures (https://www.brinkmanadventures.com/); their Season 3 (https://www.brinkmanadventures.com/store) on CD. I was super excited to get the opportunity to do an audio production review knowing that we had a huge trip coming up and my kids really enjoy listening to stories while we are in the car. Today, I’m going to review our experience with Brinkman Adventures’ product and talk a bit about how we use audio books/audio productions as a part of our home school. http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/TOSCrew2011/-2015%20CREW/brinkman%20logo%20small_zps9e4fmspf.jpg What I Received: I was supposed to receive Season 3 on CD. However, because we were getting ready to move right as this product was being shipped, I never received it in the mail. I don’t think they have any shipping issues at the company, I just think I missed the package or something due to my unique situation. Because of this, I e-mailed our ever-patient crew leader and she gave me the link to the download. This product is available for purchase through both formats, either a physical CD or a download. The CD set is 4 CDs, and both versions come in at over 5 hours of listening time. The download is 12 MP3 files, or episodes, and 10 stories total. 2 of the stories are split into part 1 and part 2, presumably for roughly uniform length of the audio. I was actually a little concerned it might take a long time to download, but it was less than...
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...particularly useful in critical applications because it distinguishes a work within a context of similar works. In film, we are familiar with certain broad genre categories such as horror, science-fiction, romance, or drama. Understanding genre helps provide the viewer with certain expectations about the film. For instance, the film The Conjuring trailer (Version 2) is of the horror genre and thus can be discussed in context with other horror films. More specifically, it is of the sub-genre, supernatural horror, so it can be discussed in context with, say, The Exorcist trailer. Making this distinction enables the audience to situate their reaction within a particular framework. ENG 225 WEEK 2 DQ GENRE THEORY To purchase this visit following link: http://www.activitymode.com/product/eng-225-week-2-dq-genre-theory/ Contact us at: SUPPORT@ACTIVITYMODE.COM ENG 225 WEEK 2 DQ GENRE THEORY ENG 225 Week 2 DQ Genre Theory Genre Theory. Genre, a category of artistic production characterized by similarities in composition and style, is a term used to discuss literature, music, art, and film. It is particularly useful in critical applications because it distinguishes a work within a context of similar works. In film, we are familiar with certain broad genre categories such as horror, science-fiction, romance, or drama. Understanding genre helps provide the viewer with certain expectations about the film. For instance, the film The Conjuring trailer...
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...Both “Knocking” by Rick Hautala and “The Road Virus Heads North” by Stephen King are masterfully crafted horror stories that lead readers on a psychological rollercoaster. The authors are able to generate such a detailed and in-depth atmosphere that it causes readers to picture themselves in the terrifying situations that they have devised for those reading. Through the evolution of “monsters”, point-of-view and atmospheric conditions which help to create a mood that engulfs readers both King and Hautala are able to write brilliant horror stories. “Monsters” do not have to be literal to create an enjoyable piece of horror fiction. King and Hautala are both able to create thrilling stories by utilizing fear of the unknown and exploiting the reader’s own fear. In “Knocking” Martin Gordon has become overcome by his fear of the unknown and can’t leave his house. The “monster” created by Hautala exists only in Gordon’s head and it is the fear that something could possibly be out there waiting to get him. “His eyes felt like they were bugging from their sockets as he watched…and waited…wishing that the knocking would stop and the person would go away and leave him alone.” At this point I knew that the monster was psychological because without any proof that anyone is there Gordon becomes convinced that someone out to get him and won’t think logically about what else it could be. It seemed to me like Gordon wouldn’t allow it to be anything else. Fear the “monster” has crept into Gordon’s...
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...A Must Have: Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” Dear Mr. Kennedy, I recently learned that you are getting ready to start your preparations for the next edition of An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. There will have to be many tough decisions made on selections of literature that should be in the next edition. I would like to offer you a suggestion on a piece that I find very interesting and should be used in the next edition. That is a poem by Wilfred Owen “Dulce et Decorum Est.” I consider myself to be a bit of a war buff, and this poem gives you the feeling that you are there in the trenches with the men. Wilfred Owen is able to give you a first person point of view of war through his poem. Owen uses great visual imagery on what life is like during trench warfare to help you feel like you are there beside him during the horrors of war. I beg of you to include Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” in the next edition! Throughout the poem Owen uses visual imagery to get his message of the horrors of war through. In An Introduction, to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing you define visual imagery as “Often this experience is a sight . . .” (751). When reading “Dulce et Decorum Est” Owen gives the ability to visualize what is going on constantly throughout the poem. Owen is able to use visual imagery to show you the shape the men are in during the battle and what chaos goes on during a gas attack. Owen also uses visual imagery about the nightmares he deals with after...
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