Description
Book SynopsisThe tradition of supernatural horror fiction runs deep in Anglo-American literature. From the Gothic novels of the eighteenth century to such contemporary authors as Stephen King and Anne Rice, writers have employed horror fiction to unearth many disquieting truths about the human condition, ranging from mistreatment of women and minorities to the ever-present dangers of modern city life.In Journeys into Darkness: Critical Essays on Gothic Horror, James Goho analyzes many significant writers and trends in American and British horror fiction. Beginning with Charles Brockden Brown's disturbing novels of terror and madness, Goho proceeds to discuss the influence of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher on H. P. Lovecraft, who is treated in several penetrating essays. Lovecraft was a uniquely philosophical writer, and Goho approaches his work through the lens of existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, while also probing Lovecraft's racism as exhibited in several tales abou
Trade ReviewAnyone interested in Gothic literature—especially by the authors examined herein—will find much to ponder in Goho’s essays. * Journal of American Culture *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Dark Beginnings: Fear and Trembling in the Novels of Charles Brockden Brown Chapter 2: Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”: A Predecessor to Lovecraft’s “The Outsider”? Chapter 3: The Realm of Suffering: Ambrose Bierce and the Phantoms of the American Civil War Chapter 4: Suffering and Evil in the Short Fiction of Arthur Machen Chapter 5: The Haunted Wood: Algernon Blackwood’s Canadian Stories Chapter 6: The Sickness unto Death in H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Hound” Chapter 7: The Aboriginal in the Works of H. P. Lovecraft Chapter 8: What is “the Unnamable”? H. P. Lovecraft and the Problem of Evil Chapter 9: From Salem to Eastwick: Witchcraft in the American Gothic Chapter 10: The City of Darkness: Fritz Leiber and the Beginning of Modern Urban Horror Selected Bibliography Filmography About the Author
