Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of a supernatural element into everyday human experience. The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, or exceptionally suspenseful or frightening theme has come to be called "horror". Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Suspense is the Feeling of uncertainty and Anxiety about the outcome of certain actions most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work Horror fiction often overlaps science fiction or fantasy, all three of which categories are sometimes placed under the umbrella classification speculative fiction. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Speculative fiction is a term used as an inclusive descriptor covering a group of Fiction Genres that speculate about worlds that are unlike the real world in See also supernatural fiction. Supernatural fiction is a classification of Literature used to describe Fiction exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace
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Early horror writings
Horrific situations are found in some of the earliest recorded tales. Many myths and legends feature scenarios and archetypes used by later horror writers. The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to An archetype ( pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer Tales of demons and vampires in ancient and more recent folklore were often quite horrific. Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living History The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of Romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological
Modern horror fiction found its roots in the gothic novels that exploded into popularity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, typified by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764) as a prototype, and refined by Ann Radcliffe's Gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Horace Walpole 4th Earl of Orford ( 24 September, 1717 &ndash 2 March, 1797) more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a politician The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 Novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, and it was indeed the Ann Radcliffe ( July 9, 1764 – February 7, 1823) was an English Author, a pioneer of the gothic novel. The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe, was published in the summer of 1794 by G A variation on the Gothic formula that remains one of the most enduring and imitated horror works is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818, revised version 1831). Mary Shelley ( Née Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, generally known as Frankenstein, is a Novel written by the British author Mary Shelley Frankenstein has also been considered science fiction, a philosophical novel or a 'novel of purpose' by some literary historians. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language At the same time, John William Polidori devised the kind of vampire story that has since become familiar with his short story The Vampyre. " The Vampyre " is a short story written by John William Polidori and is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of Fantasy This kind of supernatural character, combining evil with sinister charm, has since been much used and elaborated by horror writers.
The first published American horror story was Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Washington Irving (April 3 1783 – November 28 1859 was an American Author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " is a Short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gent
Later gothic horror descendants included seminal late 19th century works such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912 was an Irish writer of novels and short stories who is best known today for his 1897 horror Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary Antagonist the vampire Count Dracula. Henry James, OM ( –) son of theologian Henry James Sr, brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James The Turn of the Screw Early horror works used mood and subtlety to deliver an eerie and otherworldly flavor, but usually eschewed extensive explicit violence.
Other early exponents of the horror form number such luminaries as Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft who are widely considered to be masters of the art. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Among the writers of classic English ghost stories, M. R. James is often cited as the finest. A ghost is said to be the apparition of a Deceased person frequently similar in appearance to that person and usually encountered in places she or he frequented Montague Rhodes James, OM, MA, ( August 1, 1862 – June 12, 1936) who used the publication name M His stories avoid shock effects and often involve an Oxford antiquarian as their hero. Oxford is currently bidding for the 2010 Wikimania Conference Oxford () is a city, and the County town of Oxfordshire, An antiquarian or antiquary is one concerned with Antiquities or things of the past Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" and Oliver Onions's "The Beckoning Fair One" have been called the best horror stories. Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE ( 14 March 1869 &ndash 10 December 1951) was an English writer of Fiction George Oliver Onions, (pronounced by his family as in the vegetable not oh-NY-ons) (born 13 November 1873; died 9 April 1961 Lovecraft and Sheridan le Fanu called some of their writing weird fiction or weird stories. Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814 &ndash 7 February 1873 was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels Weird fiction is a subgenre of Speculative literature written in the late 19th and early 20th century
Horror fiction reached a wider audience in the 1920s and 1930s with the rise of the American pulp magazine. Pulp magazines (or pulp fiction; often referred to as "the pulps" were inexpensive Fiction magazines The premier horror pulp was Weird Tales, which printed many of Lovecraft's stories as well as fiction by other writers such as Clark Ashton Smith, E. Hoffmann Price, Seabury Quinn, C. Weird Tales is an American Fantasy and Horror fiction Pulp magazine first published in March 1923. Clark Ashton Smith ( January 13, 1893 - August 14, 1961) was a Poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy Edgar Hoffmann Trooper Price ( July 3 1898, Fowler California – June 18 1988, Redwood City California) was a writer Seabury Grandin Quinn (aka Jerome Burke) (1889 - 1969 was a Pulp magazine Author most famous for his M. Eddy, Jr. and Robert Bloch. Robert Albert Bloch (April 5 1917 Chicago – September 23 1994 Los Angeles) was a prolific American Writer, primarily of crime At a lower intellectual level were the weird menace or "shudder pulps" such as Dime Mystery and Horror Stories, which offered a more visceral form of horror. An intellectual (from the adjective meaning "involving thought and reason" is a person who tries to use his or her Intelligence and analytical thinking, Weird menace is the name given to a sub- Genre of Horror fiction that was popular in the Pulp magazines of the 1940s and 1950s Horror Stories was a US Pulp magazine that published tales of the supernatural horror and macabre
Some stories in highbrow "literary" fiction could arguably be regarded as horror narratives: examples include Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" (Die Verwandlung) and "In the Penal Colony" (In der Strafkolonie) and William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily. Literary fiction is a term that has come into common usage since around 1970 principally to distinguish serious fiction (that is work with claims to Literary merit The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung is a Novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915 "In the Penal Colony" ( German: "In der Strafkolonie" is a Short story in German by Franz Kafka. William Faulkner (born William Cuthbert Falkner) ( September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American Author " A Rose for Emily " is a Short story by American author William Faulkner first published in the April 30, 1930 issue
Contemporary horror fiction
Some modern practitioners of the genre use vivid descriptions of extreme violence or shock to entertain their audiences, often recalling Grand Guignol theatre (see splatterpunk). The Grand Guignol ( pronounced giɲɔl was a theatre ( Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol) in the Pigalle area of Paris (at 20 bis rue Splatterpunk is a term that David J Schow coined in the mid-1980s at the World Fantasy Convention in Providence refers to a movement within Horror fiction This development has given horror fiction a stigma as base entertainment devoid of literary merit. Literary merit is a quality of written work generally applied to the genre of Literary fiction. Other writers, such as Ramsey Campbell and Thomas Ligotti, are cited as rejecting the portrayal of violent acts in favor of more psychological writing. John Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946 in Liverpool) is an English Horror fiction author Thomas Ligotti (b July 9 1953, Detroit Michigan) is a Writer of horror stories
Nevertheless, popular contemporary writers such as Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, and Stephen King will sometimes bring off the horror effect without the extreme violence that characterises much of the current mainstream of this genre. Dean Ray Koontz (born July 9 1945 is an American Author. Best known for his Novels that could broadly be described as Suspense thrillers Koontz Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English author film director and visual artist Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American Author, Screenwriter, Musician, Columnist,
Horror fiction does not confine itself to literature, however. Countless horror-themed movies have been released in the 20th century, notably Dracula, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday The 13th, and Night of the Living Dead. Dracula is a classic 1931 Horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Béla Lugosi as the title character Halloween is a 1978 American independent Horror film set in the fictional midwestern town of Haddonfield, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American Horror film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that consists of eleven Slasher films a television show, Novels Night of the Living Dead (1968 directed by George Romero, is an independent Black-and-white Horror film. There have also been many horror television series, such as Dark Shadows, Kolchak: the Night Stalker and Supernatural. Dark Shadows is a Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network from June 27, 1966 to Kolchak The Night Stalker is an American Television series that aired on ABC in 1974 Supernatural is an American horror television series regarding the Paranormal. Many video games have used horror elements in their plotlines or gameplay as well, including Resident Evil, Silent Hill, VtM:Bloodlines and VtM:Redemption, Quake, the Ravenholm chapter of Half Life 2, F.E.A.R and the Doom series, especially Doom 3. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. is a Survival horror Video game franchise developed and published by Konami. Vampire The Masquerade – Bloodlines, abbreviated as Bloodlines or VTMB, is a Computer role-playing game for Vampire The Masquerade – Redemption is a PC role-playing game released on June 7, 2000 by Activision. Quake is a First-person shooter Computer game that was released by Id Software on June 22, 1996. Half-Life 2 is a Science fiction First-person shooter computer game and the sequel to the highly acclaimed Half-Life FEAR First Encounter Assault Recon is a Survival horror First-person shooter developed by Monolith Productions and published by Doom (officially cased DOOM) is a 1993 Computer game by Id Software that is a landmark title in the First-person shooter Doom 3 is a Science fiction Survival horror Video game developed by Id Software and published by Activision. Also there are some horror-based role-playing settings such as Ravenloft and World of Darkness. Ravenloft is a Campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying game. The World of Darkness (or WoD) is the name given to three related but distinct Fictional universes The first was conceived by Mark Rein-Hagen, while the There are also many modern horror-themed board, card, and role-playing games, such as Betrayal at House on the Hill, Zombies!!!, Zombie Fluxx, and Call of Cthulhu. Betrayal at House on the Hill is a Board game by Bruce Glassco published by Avalon Hill. Zombies!!! is a tile-based strategy board game for two to six players Fluxx is a Card game, played with a specially-designed 84-card deck Call of Cthulhu is a Horror fiction Role-playing game based on H
Horror in early cinema
- See also: Horror film
As mentioned above, there have been "countless" horror films made. Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers Many consider the Edison Studios version of Frankenstein, made in 1910, to be the first, though Georges Méliès' 1896 film Le Manoir du diable ("The House of the Devil" or "The Devil's Manor") is considered the first horror film by others. Edison Studios was an American Motion picture production company owned by the Edison Company of inventor Thomas Edison. Frankenstein is a 1910 film made by Edison Studios that was written and directed by J Georges Méliès ( December 8, 1861 &ndash January 21, 1938) full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French Le Manoir du diable (The House of the Devil is a two-minute-long French Film directed by Georges Méliès. In the silent film era a great many films were made in the United States and Europe, particularly Germany, with such legendary directors as Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, and F.W. Murnau. Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang ( December 5, 1890 &ndash August 2, 1976) was an Austrian German - American Robert Wiene ( April 27, 1873, Breslau – June 16, 1938, Paris) was Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, better known as F W Murnau ( December 28, 1888 &ndash March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential They, and other members of the German Expressionism movement, produced such classic films as Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and M. German Expressionism is the term used to refer to a number of related creative movements which emerged in Germany before the first world war which reached a peak in Berlin Nosferatu A Symphony of Horror is a German Expressionist film by F Caligari redirects here For the company see Caligari Corporation. In Hollywood, Carl Laemmle's Universal Studios produced silent film classics with Lon Chaney, including The Phantom of the Opera. This article is about Carl Laemmle the founder of Universal Pictures. Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American Lon Chaney may refer to Lon Chaney Sr (1883-1930 Lon Chaney Jr The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 Silent film directed by Rupert Julian adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same Universal, with such celebrated directors as James Whale and Tod Browning went into the "sound" era, making some of the most archetypal horror films of all time, including Frankenstein, Dracula, The Invisible Man and many others (see Universal Monsters). James Whale ( July 22, 1889 – May 29, 1957) was a British born Film director, best known for his work in the Tod Browning ( July 12, 1880 &ndash October 6, 1962) was an American motion picture Actor, director Frankenstein is a Horror film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and very loosely based on the novel of the same name Dracula is a classic 1931 Horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Béla Lugosi as the title character The Invisible Man is a 1933 Horror film based on H G Wells ' Science fiction novel The Invisible Man, published Universal Monsters are fictional characters created or popularized by Universal Studios in a number of famous Horror films The approach began with the 1923 film version By the 1950s in the United States, horror or "monster" movies had become so popular, especially among teenagers, that most major studios were producing horror and/or science fiction films. Some small, new studios were apparently created solely to produce films of the genre.
Notable horror authors
See also
External links
- Horror Writers Association
- Horror fiction at the Open Directory Project
- Horror books ranked by honors
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